Mortis (Mayhem Manuscripts Season Two: Cryptids)

Some beasts never wanted to be monsters.
The most dangerous ones always did.

For sixty years, Kael has survived by hunting anyone foolish enough to enter Barrowfell Woods. Bound to his inner demon, every meal leaves him drowning in guilt. When he finally refuses to kill again, desperation drives him beyond the treeline and into the world of humans.

Teddy Adler has spent his life surrounded by the dead. As the mortuary technician at his family's funeral home, corpses don't scare him. Demons, apparently, don't either.

Instead of running from the seven-foot cryptid he catches eating one of his clients, Teddy offers Kael a solution neither of them expected. One that lets him feed on the dead instead of the living.

But while Teddy teaches a demon how to survive without murder, a centuries-old cult is preparing to finish what its founders started. Their leader has spent a lifetime searching for the beast his family once enslaved, and he'll burn down an entire town to drag Kael back into chains.

Mortis is a full-length MM dark (ish) monster romance with a hungry cryptid that loves to bite and a sassy human that's great at cooking. Expect black comedy vibes, a wholesome found family, cults and secret societies, and some "ethically sourced" flesh. Mortis is part of the Mayhem Manuscripts Cryptids shared world collaboration. Each book is a standalone containing themes and situations not intended for readers under the age of 18.