The Wolves He Buried Beneath Her Wildflowers

Juniper Wilder left her old life in a body bag—metaphorically speaking. After escaping the fallout of her mother's devastating secrets, she drives until the road ends at Briarwood Hollow, a sleepy mountain town where the pines grow too thick and the locals keep their mouths shut. The town mechanic, a man called Locke, barely speaks. He fixes her truck without meeting her eyes, leaves firewood on her porch without being asked, and watches her from the treeline at dusk like something more than human. The town whispers that he appeared seven years ago with blood under his nails and never explained where he came from. June tells herself she's here to heal—not to chase shadows. But something in Briarwood is waking up. The woods hum at night. Her scars burn when Locke stands too close. And the day she touches his hand, every dog in town howls at once. Locke hasn't felt anything in seven years. He buried the wolf, the empire, and the name they gave him when he was a killer. But the woman with the sad eyes and steady hands is pulling it all back to the surface—and the people he ran from are already on their way. In Briarwood Hollow, secrets don't stay buried. They grow roots.