Thomas is released from prison, only to find liberation somewhat daunting

Honey leaned in, the silver hairs on her muzzle twitching. To his surprise, she stretched her neck, pressing the weight of her head into his

He thought he was imagining it, maybe, trying to focus his eyes in the same spot. There was another star, tumbling through the darkness befo

"...contrition is best saved for those who aren't actively choosing to do the wrong thing,"

Animated illustration of a coyote skull with a knife lodged between its jaws, slowly tilting and opening as if coming to life. A red rose grows from the eye socket, symbolizing the tension between violence and rebirth. Haunting, symbolic artwork from The Reluctant Domestication of Thomas Calloway, a Western fiction series by Anneliese Brubaker.

Thomas remembers the woman who briefly changed everything—and the man who nearly ruined him. As the memory of a past love surfaces, so does the violence that followed. A dark, haunting chapter that blurs the line between mercy and revenge.