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

gets back to the king where you are, he’ll send a small army here to retrieve you. No one in this town will be safe.”

The blood drained from my face and I sank back against the tree.

How could this be happening? A month ago, I was just a girl who wanted to lay low until her eighteenth birthday so she could live life on her own terms. And now? A bunch of supernaturals wanted me dead. Laying low might not be good enough, not if my friend’s lives were in danger. I’d already allowed selfishness to hurt one person I cared about. I wouldn’t do that again.

“I have to leave,” I said numbly, forcing my body upright. All the moving made perfect sense now. Aunt Tess must have known. She must have been protecting me all along, just like she said. Fates, I was such an idiot, stuck in my pathetic little world. I had to leave now. How many more lives would I ruin if I stayed?

No, I wouldn’t cower with my head in the sand, but I wouldn’t stay and jeopardize the lives of others either.

I started to walk.

“McKenna.”

The sound of Lochlan’s voice was like a dagger through my heart. I would have to leave him behind. Kade and Isla too. Even Aunt Tess. Tears threatened to blur my vision, but I kept walking.

“Kenna.”

No, stop talking. It was too much. It made me want to cry. Truly cry. And I couldn’t do that. Once I did, I’d never stop.

Wind stirred my hair, then he was in front of me. I tried to skirt around him, but he wouldn’t let me. A million emotions I couldn’t process rose up and I lashed out, “Let me go, Lochlan. I have to pack.” I’d take one suitcase with me, maybe two. Any more than that would slow me down. He blocked my path again and I growled in frustration.

“You’re going to run after all we’ve been through?” Anger lined his voice, but something else did too. Hurt maybe.

“I have no choice,” I said, exasperated. “People could get hurt because of me. They already have. It’s better for everyone if I just keep moving.”

“Running for the rest of your life is no way to live.”

I stopped to look him in the eye, not bothering to mask my pain. “You’re right, it isn’t. I’ve spent fifteen years on the run. And never staying in one spot long enough to form lasting relationships sucks. Not knowing what stability feels like sucks. Always wondering when the dreaded moving boxes will come out again sucks. Running sucks. But better that than . . . than people dying.”

I shoved past him, and he let me this time.

“None of this is your fault, McKenna,” he called after a few moments. “I brought this into your life. I put you in danger by getting too close.”

I froze in my tracks. Then marched back to him. “And why did you? Why did you get so close?”

When he let the silence stretch between us, the pain of his nearness became too much. I moved to step away but he caught my chin between his gloved fingers. “I had to,” he said roughly. “I couldn’t stop myself.” His fingers slid up my jaw. “But then I wanted to. I needed to.”

“That’s not an answer,” I whispered, wishing he would stop touching me, then wishing he wouldn’t. “Tell me why.”

His hand slowly snaked behind my neck to draw me closer. “You will hate me.”

I swallowed, letting him pull me to him. “I can’t hate you. I’ve tried.”

“You will. It’s inevitable,” he insisted, and slid his other hand to the small of my back. “And when you do, this will all be over. You and me. Us. You won’t want this. You won’t want anything to do with me. And I’m . . . I’m not ready for that yet.”

My heart fluttered at his bold confession. The last of the space between us vanished as he fitted my body against his. My head emptied for a moment, too focused on the way we fit together—and how it felt. His hard length rested on my lower stomach, thoroughly capturing my attention. As if he knew where my thoughts had strayed, he pressed on my back, letting me feel him more fully.

I chomped on my lip to suppress a gasp, stammering, “I-I won’t hate you.”

“You will,” he said, then whispered so quietly that I almost missed it, “What I wouldn’t give to kiss you right now.”

I forgot how to breathe. I clutched his jacket as my legs threatened to buckle.

When his head dipped toward mine, I forgot everything. Everything except the anticipation of our lips touching. My eyes drifted shut. His warm breath caressed my mouth. I trembled, but held perfectly still.

Waiting.

Waiting for our skin to finally touch.

He softly hissed and pulled back. “We can’t. I shouldn’t have done that.”

All the air fled my lungs in a disappointed rush. He was right, but that didn’t make me want to any less.

“I won’t let you run away,” he said after a moment, sliding his gloved fingers into my hair. A pleasurable shiver racked me as his claws gently scraped my scalp. “Not without me. I think you should stay though. I’ll continue to protect you. I’ll keep you safe. But I’ll keep my distance from now on, for both our sakes.”

He put space between us as if to prove his words, letting his hands fall to his sides. With effort, I released his jacket, knowing he was thinking more rationally than me at the moment. He was right again. We needed distance from each other. Only pain and suffering would result from our closeness. A simple kiss could kill him. I couldn’t risk that, no matter how badly I craved to know what his lips felt like pressed to mine.

I rubbed my arms to ward off the chill sinking into my bones. “I can’t promise not to run,” I said when the silence stretched. “It would be