Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just an writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site! or click on the banner above.

This month, I’m posting another except from Copper Kiss, to celebrate it’s release today from Liquid Silver Books! You can read more excerpts here and here, and if you like what you see, head on over here to buy it.

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Logan’s car was in the driveway when they pulled up, and lights glowed within the house. Reina’s heart started to flutter with hope, until she saw Kynan walking towards the house from the car. His shirt was ripped and stained with blood, his face and arms smeared with it.

“Oh my God.” Reina threw herself out of the car before it had stopped moving. She ran to him. “Kynan! Are you all right?”

He took her arms, held her still when she might have whirled off in a hundred different directions. “I’m fine, Reina.” He hesitated and glanced towards the house.

She didn’t wait to hear more; she ran for the door.

Inside, the house was in an uproar. People ran from one place to another, shouting to others as they went. Everyone bore wounds, but all were on their feet and more or less intact.

Everyone but Logan, who sat on the couch in a daze, the eye of the storm of activity. Reina ran to his side. She dropped to her knees in front of him, took his hands in hers. “Logan?” Her voice wavered, caught, broke like ice on the pavement.

He turned slowly. His eyes took too long to focus on her. “Reina. Got your message. Too late.” He closed his eyes and listed forward. She caught him, held him close, and swallowed panicked tears. “Thank you,” he whispered, lifting his hand to her cheek.

It was a clumsy move, completely devoid of his usual grace, but Reina gave him a tremulous smile and pressed her hand over his.

“Don’t thank her, you damned idiot,” Keachan growled from behind her. He leaned close and spread a pale gel on the wounds on Logan’s face. It smelled strongly of antiseptic. “If you hadn’t gotten her message, you wouldn’t have gone running off like a fool and gotten half your blood spilled on the asphalt.”

“What happened to him?” She half-turned to look at Keachan over her shoulder.

“The stupid bastard tried to protect us, to keep us out of it. He took the brunt of the attack on himself.”

Reina looked back at him. She hovered her hand just above his heart. Beneath the tattered remains of his shirt, his skin was blistered and blackened in the silhouette of a cross. Tears stung her eyes. She had to look away.

Logan listed further forward. His head rested heavily on her shoulder. Reina stroked his hair and looked up at Keachan. “He ought to lie down. Help me take him to my room?” It would take more manpower than they had to get him up the stairs.

Keachan nodded and slipped Logan’s arm over his shoulder. Reina helped, and the rest of the brood trailed anxiously behind them. Keachan laid him down on the bed. Reina knelt by his head, gently stroking the strands of hair that spilled across his cheek.

Logan looked up at her through a heavy-lidded gaze. “Tá mo chroí istigh ionat, ma mhuirnín.” He gave her a drowsy smile. “Tá mo chroí…” His eyes dropped closed. The Gaelic slurred into incoherent syllables.

“He’s going into shock,” she muttered. “Damn it. He needs blood.” She stripped off her jacket and began to roll up the cuff of her sleeve.

Everyone in the room was suddenly staring at her, motionless.

Reina stopped and looked up at them. “What?”

Keachan cleared his throat. “Reina–”

“I’m the only mortal here, aren’t I? What else do you suggest?” She didn’t wait for a response.

She leaned over Logan and pressed her wrist to his mouth, but the angle was awkward. He barely seemed to notice. “Come on.” She lifted his head and shoulders onto her lap. “Come on, Logan, you need this.”

The angle was better this time, and he roused at the touch of her skin. His lips parted and his tongue slid wetly along her wrist, but he still wouldn’t feed.

Reina pressed her eyes shut against the sting of frustrated tears. She tightened her other arm around his shoulder and pressed her lips against the top of his head. “Please, Logan,” she whispered into his hair. “I know what you are, and I know what I’m doing. It’s my choice. I offer it to you freely. Please, take what you need.”

With a brief, violent shudder, he closed his mouth around her wrist and bit.

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