Excerpt: The Red Book

Blood seeped from the wound on my knee, smearing across the hem of my gray skirt. I could not move at all, the injury throbbed too much.
Liana had been snatched up in front of my eyes, and we hadn't seen Brandon for a half hour prior. Now I was alone and trapped in the stone corridor, and I didn't know how to make it right.
"Kait?" I heard the whisper, then saw the gleam of silver claws. "Kait, what's wrong?"
"They got Liana," I whimpered. "They got her, and I fell."
"I can fix the cut so there's no infection, but if anything else is wrong, I can't waste time or energy on it."
I nodded resolutely, not wanting to deal with the pain of inhuman healing right now. Still, I needed it if I even wanted to limp alongside him after this. He flashed an apologetic look and dug his claw into the torn flesh on my knee. I bit my lip to keep from screaming, and braced my hands against the wall. He finished, sealing the cut with his poison, then squeezed my hand.
"Can you stand?"