Blast From the Past

Ryker Hale has two rules:
Don't get attached.
Don't lose control.

He's already broken both.
At seventeen, Ryker lives a life most people envy: the famous, confident boy at school with the popular, pretty cheerleader at his side. People whisper about him, watch him, want to be him. But they don't see what's underneath.

They don't see the secret he's kept hidden.

The only thing keeping him grounded is Seraphina, his mute little sister, the only person he's ever cared about.

Then everything shatters.

A call from the police. His adoptive father died in a car crash. And then the truth, one that should have stayed buried, Seraphina was never meant to be his. Stolen at birth, her real family has been searching for her for years... and now they've finally found her.

Ryker doesn't care about blood ties or legal claims. He was the one who stayed. The one who protected her. In his mind, that's what makes a family, and he's not about to let her go without a fight.

But something else caught his eye-a girl about his age, with eyes holding a mysterious calm, hair as dark as a raven's feather, and lips the color of cherries. Her gaze was as still as the surface of a lake, yet he found himself inexplicably drawn to her. Soon, he discovered that her family carried dark secrets to match his own. She's a mystery, and somehow, she's tied to the past he's spent his whole life running from.

Because when the past rises, someone always pays the price... and Ryker fears it will be him.