I watched her agitated movements, waiting for my brain to catch up. “Who’s Bill?”
“Sheriff Andrews. Isla’s father.” She looked at me sharply. “If not for him, you’d probably be dead right now. I wasn’t prepared for all three of them to show up at the house today. What were you thinking, Kenna, lying about your whereabouts so you could spend time with a vampire? Do you know how hard it was for me to keep silent? To let that vile creature pollute your mind with its lies? You should have told me. I raised you to be on your guard. To be safe.”
Speechless. I was struck speechless, incapable of understanding who this woman was. How she knew everything. And apparently knew even more than I did.
She stopped and blew out a long-suffering sigh. Before I could utter a word, she said, “I should have told you sooner. Maybe if I had, we could have been open with each other and avoided this disaster. There’s so much you don’t know about the supernatural world, Kenna. It’s dangerous, and I’ve dedicated my life to protecting the innocent from it. To protecting you. Those vampires only want to use you. They—”
“Need me to break their curse? Is that what you were going to say? Or were you going to keep me in the dark about that part?” I pressed my trembling fists against the cold floor as bitterness rolled through me. “Yeah, I know about the prophecy. I found the jewelry box in the basement, along with pictures of my parents. Were you going to tell me about how they got there? About how we moved to Rosewood and my childhood home of all places? About me being a Syphon?”
I snorted, curling my lip in disdain. “Yeah, the vampires want to use me, but the way I see it, you’re no better than they are. You’ve kept secrets from day one, lying to me about who I am. I’m not human. I’m not an innocent who needs your protection. I’m a freaking witch who can stop a war from starting! How could you keep that from me?”
My throat burned from yelling and I shook all over, sick and angry over what she’d done to me. She’d ruined my life with her secrets and lies. I should have been prepared for this impossible task that no one but me could take on.
Aunt Tess had frozen, her eyes widening with each syllable I spoke. Finally. Finally. The gloves were off. The cards were on the table. The words we’d hurled at each other hung heavily between us. And now that they were out, I couldn’t see how we’d ever recover from them. Maybe she didn’t either, because her expression hardened and she stiffly said, “Did Lochlan tell you who he is? That he’s one of the Demonic Trinity, one of the princes who deserved this curse?”
The blood drained from my face. She huffed a mirthless laugh.
“I didn’t think so. What’s worse, every Syphon he’s hunted down over the past century has died by his or his brother’s hands. He doesn’t want you to save them, Kenna. He only wants to kill you. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can put this obsession behind you and do what you were created to do. Destroy them all.”
She left then. She left me to drown in the heartbreaking words. The door of the room snapped shut, sealing me inside to face my fate.
The story continues in book two of the steamy, pulse-pounding A Touch of Vampire series . . .
Dear Reader,
I hope you survived that cliffhanger, yikes! The series will have a satisfying ending though, I promise! Thank you for giving Shadow Touched a chance, and if you enjoyed it, I would be forever grateful if you could write a short review on Amazon (doesn’t have to be fancy, every review makes a difference).
I am also thrilled to say that book two, Curse Touched, is available for pre-order!
Get it here!
Thank you so much for reading!!
Love, Becky
ALSO BY BECKY MOYNIHAN
The Elite Trials trilogy (complete dystopian romance series)
Book One: Reactive
Book Two: Adaptive
Book Three: Immersive
Genesis Crystal Saga (urban fantasy romance)
Book One: Dawn till Dusk
Book Two: Fall of Night
Book Three: Stars till Sun (coming 2021)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I stumbled across paranormal romance about a decade ago, not realizing what I’d been missing out on. I then devoured all the books, tv shows, and movies I could in the genre.
And now, finally, it’s my turn to add to it. I had so much fun writing this story. Having the freedom to write about things that bring joy to my life and then share that joy with others is such a wonderful feeling. I really hope this series brings a little happiness to your life!
I want to thank my beautiful beta readers—Kate Anderson, Melissa McMurry, and Shiza Khan—for your enthusiasm over this project. I so appreciate your feedback!
I also want to thank the Elite Bananas for your unwavering support as I delved into a new genre. Thank you for always being willing to read my books and love on my characters!
Thank you to the bookstagram community for loving on the cover and helping with the reveal. Your kind words mean the world to me!
Thank you to God for the gift of words. Writing stories has opened up a whole new world for me, and I’m so grateful for this experience.
And last but never least, thank you to my readers, new and old. Without you, this life experience wouldn’t be possible. Words can’t properly express how thrilled I am that you’ve taken a chance on my books!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Becky Moynihan
