Shadow Touched: A Paranormal Vampire Romance (A Touch of Vampire Book 1) by Becky Moynihan (great reads TXT) 📕

man pulled me close, hissing through his teeth as he brought his face within inches of mine. He greedily eyed my cheek, the scraped one. I felt it then. Blood trickling over my jaw.

His head dipped and he flicked his tongue out as if to lick me.

Freaking fates, no!

I latched onto his shirt and drove my knee up, right into his groin. The satisfying groan of agony never came. Instead, sharp pain flared in my knee, bringing tears to my eyes.

He chuckled, wholly unfazed. “Naughty girl. You like to play rough, eh? I was going to make this slow and pleasurable for you, but rough is fine too. I can’t promise you’ll have a head when I’m finished though.” He swung me around like a ragdoll and yanked my hair back, opening his mouth wide.

Before I could scream, before his fangs could descend, an unseen force whipped his head sideways with a violent crack. Then he was gone, jerked away in a rush of wind. I stumbled forward, falling onto my hands and knees. I looked up just in time to watch the man’s head leave his body.

My throat worked, trying to expel a scream, but no sound left me. I simply stared while the headless body crumpled to the ground. Stared while a little flame sparked to life, then grew and grew as it consumed the body. But where was the head? That part seemed important. I needed to know where the head was. I glanced around me, expecting it to have rolled my way.

“McKenna.”

I paused, blinking at my hands splayed on the road. That voice. I knew that voice. But where was the head? I couldn’t find it, and that really creeped me out.

Someone crouched before me and I quickly rocked back on my heels, so fast that I landed hard on my butt. I looked up and immediately cringed away, whispering, “You’re dead.”

I had seen the man die. Seen and believed it.

A gloved hand reached for my face and I scooted back even more. “Not again. Please don’t. Please.”

“She’s in shock, Lochie. Give her space,” a voice said from behind me and I froze.

“I can’t,” the voice in front of me said, clearly distressed, which was weird. I should be the distressed one. But I wasn’t. Everything was blurry and unreal and I couldn’t understand why there were two sets of red eyes staring at me now.

There had always been one.

I only wanted there to be one.

And then he had come, a demon of a man who had wanted to . . . to . . . Fates, he had wanted to drink my blood.

My stomach heaved and I slapped a hand over my mouth, fighting back the nausea.

“Yeah, this isn’t good. Try taking the memory away.”

“I can’t,” that voice repeated, the one I knew. “She resists me. I don’t know how, but she’s not like the others. And it doesn’t . . . it doesn’t feel right, making her forget.”

A chuckle, then, “Did the Lochness Monster just use feel in a sentence? Miracles do happen.”

I let my arm fall. “Where’s the head?”

Silence.

“Did she just ask—?”

“Yes, she did.” A dark form settled in front of me, blocking out all light. I flinched away, but a hand captured the back of my neck, firm yet gentle. Cool leather gripped my chin and tilted my face up. “McKenna, look at me.”

I tried to shake my head, but couldn’t.

“Careful, Loch, she’s bleeding.”

A thumb stretched along my jaw, wiping the blood away. “Look at me,” the voice repeated, this time in rich, velvety tones that immediately slid beneath my skin. I closed my eyes and sighed, clinging to that voice. I didn’t know why it affected me so much, only that it did.

My lashes fluttered open again and I saw red eyes mere inches away. I tensed, fear trickling back in.

“It’s me. It’s just me. You’re safe.”

Safe.

Why did I suddenly believe him?

Hesitantly at first, then with growing awareness, I let my gaze explore the face before me. It wasn’t the strange man from earlier. Even with shadows curling around the edges, obscuring his features, I knew who he was.

“Lochlan.”

He stiffened, his red eyes flaring brighter. I could feel the moment he started to pull away, preparing to vanish like he always did.

I gripped his leather jacket before he could. “Don’t leave.”

His gaze slid to my hand, but I didn’t remove it. “You know who I am,” he said after a lengthy pause.

“Yes.” I swallowed, trying to find the courage to continue. “And I know that you’re a . . .”

His eyes snapped to mine and I sucked in a breath. “I’m a what?”

Fates, he was going to make me say it. Everything had been turned around. I could no longer deny what he was though. What Kade was. What the man who’d attacked me was. I’d been given a front row seat to all the proof I needed and then some.

“A vampire,” I blurted, almost hoping he wouldn’t hear. Almost hoping he would, then laugh at me for being so ridiculous.

But I knew he had heard. And he wasn’t laughing.

After a long moment, he quietly said, “Do you fear me?”

I raised an eyebrow at that, remembering our conversation in the graveyard. “I don’t know. Should I?”

Someone close by snickered. “Told you.”

Lochlan shot a glare at them. “Go make sure the roadkill is disposed of properly.”

More awareness leaked in and I tipped my head back to see Kade. His face was dimly illuminated by the still-burning fire—rather, the still-burning body. Despite his pitch black skin and red eyes, his features were still the same, free of shadow. He grinned at me, revealing a bit of fang. Okay, crap, he really was a vampire.

“Don’t go wigging out on us again, little Kenna,” he said with a wink. “You’re doing good.” Then he flashed from view.

I lowered my gaze again, fixing it on the hand still gripping Lochlan’s jacket. “A vampire just winked at me,” I muttered, blinking rapidly. How was any of this