My body is becoming a prison of stone.

For years, I chased a ghost. It is the curse of my without a soulmate to anchor our life force, a golem is doomed to harden into stone. The Marriage Temple never sent a letter; my DNA match never appeared. Now, I am too stiff to travel, dragging my heavy limbs to the nearest bride market as a final, desperate act. The calcification is claiming my breath, my pulse, and my ability to feel. Unless I find her, I will be nothing but a statue, a boulder void of life.

Then I see her.

She doesn't stand tall like the others. She is cowering, shaking, her pale skin mottled with dark bruises. My hardened heart gives a jagged, painful thud. I know the odds are against me. She is likely another match that won’t take, but I raise my paddle anyway.

If I am to end as a cold, unfeeling object, let my last act be her freedom.

Welcome to the bride market! Monsters bid, you choose.
This is a spin-off series to Arranged Monster Mates. We're back on Alia Terra with steamy stories told by your favorite paranormal romance Eva Brandt, Lia Frost, Cara Wylde, and Ava York.