"Withered" is a bridge novella by Heather Killough-Walden linking The Lost Angels series and The Kings series to the Monsters series. During an ultimate war with evil and the battle that brought it to an end once and for all, The Kings and Queens of the Thirteen Realms joined forces against Hatred, Lust, and Death… and in the ensuing catastrophic chaos, the fabric of time and space was fundamentally fractured. Two dimensions collided, bringing changes both large and small, sudden yet eternal. It has forced the Sovereigns of the Thirteen to exist in a brand new world that only they are aware has changed. In this brand new world are new humans, and alongside them in the shadows and hidden doorways, new non-humans. Some are strange and splendid. Others are wonderful but wrong. Melody Margaret Tannym is eighteen years old, and she goes by the name Mimi amongst her friends. Mimi is a dragon. However, one of her friends is quite special too - or about to be - and neither one of them has any clue. This new world carries with it new forces, and those forces play upon the young man, altering him as much as the altered world and plunging Mimi and her companion into the dangerous underworld depths of the new supernatural kingdoms. Worse yet, the colliding dimensions weakened a very old barrier, one that has kept a primordial and powerful atrocity at bay for countless millennia. Only one creature, one darkly brilliant soul, stands between this evil force and the new world. But Bantariax the Great Black Dragon can only remain vigilant against his deadly foe for so long. For even he in his ancient draconic splendor has his weaknesses… beautiful and precious beyond measure. And new worlds have brought new chances for his enemy to prey upon them.

Introducing a brand new, dark and dangerous, scary-sexy paranormal romance world by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Heather Killough-Walden. Read… and step into a universe of unrelenting desire and uncompromising passion, where the inhumanly cursed share a love both frightening and forbidden. Enter a world of Men, Motorcycles, and Monsters, and ultimately submit to the warm, possessive embrace of your most torturous dream, and your most tantalizing nightmare. Give yourself to him. Stay with him forever. Leave the mortal world behind…. Monsters, Book One excerpt: Cain was quiet while Jake filled his own gas tank. Jake could feel his eyes on him. It was unnerving to be scrutinized by such a perceptive man, even after all this time. Cain was thinking. And Jake had the sinking feeling he knew what about. "She knows what we are?" Cain finally asked point blank. Jake didn't have to reply. Cain knew damn well Angel had found out about their true nature. She'd neither set him on fire nor chopped off his head. Given she was a warden, he was considering it a win. Jake braced one arm on the seat of his bike as he filled the tank. "So, you baptize this union yet?" Cain asked as he took the fuel pump from Jake's hand and inserted it deep into his own gas tank. Jake stiffened. He turned and leaned back on the seat of his bike, crossing his arms over his chest and his legs at the ankles. "You serious right now?" "I've met your girl, Jake," Cain said. No need to remind me. Even that made Jake mad with jealousy. "She's one in a billion," Cain continued, "and I'm betting she's under your skin. So if she knows what you are, then what's the hold up?" Jake looked at the ground and sighed. "I'm not having this discussion with you." But he probably was. Because no one said no to Cain. Sometimes they begged it… but that was different. Cain replaced the fuel nozzle in its casing at the pump. "Jake, a member of my team is driven to the point of distraction, and I can't have that." His voice was steady and calm as always, but stern. "Angel wants you, right?" Jake recalled her hitching breaths, the hammering of her heart, and the scent of her arousal as he'd pinned her to the shining black paint of his car. That, at least, she couldn't hide from him. "That isn't the problem," he ground out. "Well, I know you want her. Hell, we all know that much. So, take her already." "Damn it, Cain…." Cain recapped his tank. He studied Jake in silence, and finally draped his muscled forearm across the left handlebar of his bike. "I get it. You're scared shitless. You think you'll lose control and turn her." No, I don't think I will. I know I will. "Would that be such a bad thing, Crow?" If Jake had been drinking, he would have choked. His head snapped up, and his green eyes met eyes of powerful blue. "I wouldn't let her go, Cain." If he turned her, he would keep her. Because there was no way in hell he would let her sink her little fangs into another man's throat. "I know," said Cain. Jake's gaze narrowed. "What are you telling me right now?" Cain straightened, coming around his bike to mount it. Once in the seat, he kicked up the stand with the heel of his boot and rolled the bike backward with strong legs until he was parallel to Jake. Cain stopped flush with him and looked him in the eye. "Jake, this isn't Neverland. Boys grow into men. And men need women." He nodded at Jake's bike. "That saddle is big enough for two.

Fathom Everett, or Faye, is an angel. She isn't the winged, intangible kind, but the living, breathing kind. She risks her safety and future to acquire and share medicine that is off-limits to the misunderstood. She has a gift that helps a little, along with a lot of guts. But one night she arrives to find her scheduled contact dead in the hands of a six-foot-three monster with glowing eyes and a hauntingly beautiful face. Once trustworthy and tried enough to ride as the Monsters clan's second, Ezekiel Stone's dark deeds have now turned him. The more-monster-than-man has earned troubling command over the underbelly of Chicago’s already infamous world of crime. And when he meets the lovely and brave Faye, the handsome ghost becomes enamored, using this scary control to hunt her down. Faye runs, racing against time and space from someone or something she can’t fathom. Until the Monsters' fourteenth rider is there before her, blocking her path. “You cannot run from me, angel. But, there is no need. I mean you no harm.” He speaks the truth. She knows because that's her gift. She also knows nothing short of obsession has turned the once valiant spectre into a ruthless and hell-bent man. And he isn't the only one hunting her, either. Living, breathing Chaos has set his sights on her, his evil the most monstrous of all. Sometimes you can only fight fire with fire, and monsters with monsters. Exactly how brave is Fathom? Brave enough to face her greatest fears - and become the monster, herself? Trouble is brewing in downtown Chicago...