Can two broken men build one life? Ten years. That’s what Makai lost for a crime he didn’t commit. He’s been exonerated, but the abuse he suffered in prison isn’t so easy to leave behind. He heads to the one place he remembers being happy: Acker, Wisconsin, where he spent summers with his grandpa. Unfortunately, not everyone wants Makai there. Ten days. That’s how long Emil, now twenty-one, was held prisoner as a teenager. The mental and physical injuries he suffered at the hands of a drug trafficking ring still haunt him. Nightmares, anxiety, and PTSD challenge the connection forming between Makai and Emil, though together, they might find a way to move beyond their pain and into a future -- and a relationship -- that both had thought impossible. Now they just have to convince Emil’s father, the town sheriff. It won’t be easy with danger closer than they know ...

He rolled over again, pushing his hair behind his ear and sighed. Sleeping wasn’t going to happen, it seemed. He wondered if he should just find a book, when he heard a funny sound.


He peered around in the dim light that came from the cracked open bathroom door and listened.


“Mouse? Is that you?” he asked finally, hearing the sound again.


The cat had abandoned him during his tossing and turning at some point, but now she wobbled into the beam of light and mewed at him.


“Are the babies coming?” he asked, because by now he knew all the different noises that came out of her, whether it be content purring or different vocalizations when she expressed hunger or that her litterbox needed cleaning.


She turned around and walked out of the bedroom. Frowning, Makai pushed his covers aside and got up, an inexplicable feeling making him walk carefully and quietly through the little cottage.


Chapter 24