Veteran of Hollow Peak (Havenstone Novella)

A grumpy mountain recluse. A sunshine girl with something to prove. One cabin too close for comfort.

Sullivan
I came to Hollow Peak to disappear.
No one here knows my name, my past, or why I can’t sleep through the night. That’s the point. Up in this cabin, with snow in the rafters and silence in my veins, I can finally keep the world safe from me.

Then she shows up.

Tess Carter—my new neighbor.
Blonde, glasses, built soft where I’m all hard edges. Way too bright for the dark places I live. Her inherited cabin is falling apart, and she keeps knocking on my door like I’m some kind of handyman instead of a worn-out vet who’s forgotten how to be human.

I should tell her to leave me alone.
I try.
But every time she smiles at me, something cracks.

Tess
Sullivan Mercer looks like a mountain disguised as a man—huge, bearded, and very allergic to company. He grunts more than he speaks and glares like he wants to scare me off.

Too bad. I’m not going anywhere.

This cabin is my fresh start. And whether he likes it or not, he’s the only one close enough to help me survive it. Beneath all that gruff silence, I see a man who doesn’t know how to stop protecting people—even when he swears he’s done caring.

He thinks he’s bad luck.
I think he’s the safest place I’ve ever been.
Between broken walls and midnight confessions, can we find something worth staying for?