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

More popping sounds filled the air and I reacted instinctively, covering Lochlan’s inert body with mine. When there was a lull, I searched Lochlan’s face for signs of life. His eyes were closed, face deathly pale. My heart twisted in agony at the sight. I reached out to check for a pulse, then yanked my fingers away.

Crap, I wasn’t wearing gloves!

“Lochlan? Lochlan, look at me. Look at me!” I yelled. It couldn’t end like this. Not after everything. “I’m not letting you freaking die, do you hear me? Wake up. Wake up.”

Prying my eyes away to look for Kade, I blinked, stunned to find the sheriff’s car parked on the lawn. He and his deputy were hunkered down beside it, guns drawn. As one, they peeked over the side and fired shots.

Kade suddenly appeared, streaking toward them.

Just as suddenly, a force threw him backward several yards. He crashed to the ground in a shower of snow and dirt.

What the crap? Nothing had touched him. Nothing had freaking touched him.

I looked to the sheriff again and blinked hard at the sight of his hands. They were lit up like two mini suns.

A weak groan nearby caught my attention and I focused on Everett’s prone body. The shaft of two arrows were sticking out of his back.

None of what I was seeing made sense. How was this happening?

And then I heard it. My aunt’s stern voice. “Get inside the house, Kenna.”

I turned my head and there she was, gripping a . . . crossbow? A quiver of arrows poked over her shoulder. What the freaking fates was going on?

“He needs help, Aunt Tess,” I said, swallowing when she glanced down at Lochlan with pure hatred.

“Get away from him, McKenna,” she hissed, striding toward me. “He’s a vicious monster.” Before I could guess her intentions, she shoved me aside and raised a silver dagger. Then brought it down, aiming for Lochlan’s heart.

“No!” I screamed and threw myself at him. The blade halted mere inches from my face.

“Have you lost your mind?” Aunt Tess shouted, dropping her weapons to grab my shoulders. When I struggled to remain where I was, she jerked back with a curse.

I made a terrible mistake then. I looked away to make sure Lochlan was okay. Underestimating my aunt entirely.

So when she muttered, “You’re giving me no choice,” I didn’t for one second see the blow coming. Pain splintered through my skull and I slumped against Lochlan, my ear pressed to his heart as the world faded to black.

29

“. . . can’t thank you enough for accepting her. Once she understands, I’m sure she’ll give you no trouble. It’s her ignorance that has caused her to make poor decisions lately.”

“We are happy to have her, Tess. But if she proves to be a danger to the other students—”

“She’s a good girl and normally very responsible,” the voice that I recognized as my aunt’s quickly said. “I should have trained her years ago but thought keeping her in the dark would be best, all things considered.”

“Of course,” an unfamiliar woman replied. “Protecting a young Syphon from the Demonic Trinity must have been a trying task, one that Thornecrest Academy fully intends to take on. Your ward will be safe here.”

Aunt Tess thanked her again, and after a few moments, a door clicked shut.

As silence fell, I struggled to open my eyes. They felt glued together and sluggish to respond. I raised a hand to rub them, except that it wouldn’t move. Something was firmly holding down both my wrists. I frowned and tugged at the restraints, growing more agitated with each passing second.

“It’s okay, Kenna,” Aunt Tess said soothingly, but I flinched when her fingers brushed my hair back. “It’s just a safety precaution. I’ll remove them after you answer a few questions.”

“What . . . happened?” I croaked, peeling my heavy lids open. “Where . . .”

Blinding brightness greeted me, and I blinked repeatedly to clear my vision. Besides my aunt’s fiery red hair, everything in the room was stark white. And something was weird about the walls, like they’d been specially reinforced.

Oh fates, did she stick me in a mental institution? My heart galloped in frenzied bursts.

I was five days away from turning eighteen. Five days. I’d spent years counting down the months, hours, minutes until I could be free of the constant moving and lies. All to end up here, wherever here was, strapped to a bed.

I twisted my wrists, but the restraints held fast. “Let me go.”

“I will. But first, we need to make certain your system hasn’t been compromised. Are you experiencing any unusual urges? Heightened hearing and sight? An unbearable thirst, perhaps?”

“What? No. Let me go!” I struggled in earnest, wincing at the pounding ache in my skull.

Her lips pursed, but she reached over and unbuckled the leather bindings. The moment my wrists were free, I sprung off the bed. And promptly sprawled onto the floor.

The room spun, and I clutched my pounding head. Despite the pain, I fought to remember how I got here. And why I was wearing a loose white shirt and gray sweatpants. No shoes.

“I apologize for the disorientation. The drugs will leave your system soon.”

I raised my eyes to Aunt Tess with a gasp. “Drugs? Wait a second, you hit me. You knocked me out!”

She had the decency to look guilty, at least. “I’m sorry for that. I couldn’t think of any other way to protect you. That vampire obviously had you under his thrall. But everything’s okay now. You’re safe. They can’t get to you here.”

I gripped my hair as my mind desperately tried to keep up. “I-I don’t . . . Lochlan. Is he okay? Is Lochlan okay?”

Aunt Tess frowned heavily, then rose from her chair to pace the room. “He still has a hold on you, I see. I’m sorry, Kenna. I should have intervened sooner, but Bill assured me the leech