Dedicated to my chipmunks, for listening to me read and helping me with my ideas 🐿️ <3 Set against the stark, sun-bleached landscapes of early-2000s New Mexico, your story follows two cowboys-Wyatt and Dallas-whose lives collide under strange and violent circumstances. Dallas arrives at the ranch as a drifter seeking a fresh start, carrying the weight of a past that quite literally should have killed him. Quiet, withdrawn, and hiding a dark secret, he keeps his distance from the other ranch hands, determined not to let anyone get too close. Wyatt, however, refuses to leave him alone. Persistent, open-hearted, and quietly defiant of the rigid masculinity around them, Wyatt chips away at Dallas's walls. As their bond deepens, suspicion and hostility from the other men on the ranch begin to grow, culminating in a brutal act of violence that changes both of their lives forever. What follows is a story of survival, secrecy, and longing-where love blooms in the shadow of fear and difference. As Dallas and Wyatt struggle with what they are to each other, and what Dallas truly is, they are forced to confront jealousy, vulnerability, and the danger of being seen in a world that punishes it. Their relationship evolves from fragile connection to something fierce and enduring, carrying them from the isolation of the ranch to fleeting moments of freedom and joy in the outside world. But even as they build a life together-one filled with tenderness, hope, and plans for a shared future-there are forces, both internal and supernatural, that threaten to unravel everything they've fought for.

Atlas Grove, once a dancer with dreams of dancing under the stars, now lives petrified in the shadows of abuse. To escape her living nightmare she must keep her head down and work hard, being her senior year this is her last chance to get out. Although things don't always go to plan as she comes to lean when the brooding Blaze Beckett storms into her life, bringing more mystery and turmoil than she wished for. Blaze Beckett is the most popular guy at East Meadow High, but no one really knows who he is. The school's star Quarterback is also the school's star mystery, left marked by his past his obnoxiousness walks the halls with dominating power. Underneath the hard demeanour lies a world of pain, constantly looking over his shoulder waiting for his past to catch up and tear everything from him. Fights and Football are his thing. Bruises and Ballet are hers. When the polar opposites are paired together on a wellbeing project, could they find they have more in common than they think? Both conceal emotions that are only freed when on the field or standing at the barre but when they start bringing each other's shadows to the surface, will it be too much to balance? *Contains mature language and themes some may find distressing