Deep, Inner Backwoods

Four years alone in the Oregon wilderness cured Ethan Reed of a lot of things. Corporate burnout. Panic attacks. Any expectation that life would ever surprise him again. Then a wounded elf collapsed in his yard during a blizzard. Lyra is a silver-haired ranger fleeing hunters who've been capturing her kind. Mara is a born werewolf with amber eyes and a tactical mind sharper than her fangs. Nerissa is an ancient naiad who moves through water like it's an extension of her soul. None of them should exist. All of them need his help.

When reclusive Ethan’s solitary winter in a mountain cabin is upended by the arrival of a wounded, mysterious elf, his world flips like a snowflake in a storm. Suddenly, he's patching up Lyra’s strange, non-human wounds while a bizarre HUD system reveals unexpected magical talents—his own and hers. Before long, his cozy refuge transforms into a chaotic sanctuary, where a protective werewolf and a healing water nymph join forces with him.

After surviving winter’s siege, Ethan’s next project isn’t just repairing the cabin—it’s expanding it into a fortress. But when a rogue quartz vision hints at his power to breed with magical beings, priorities shift from walls to wonders. Joined by Mara, Lyra, and Nerissa, he ventures to the Elvin kingdom Silvermist, and to the ancient stone golem, for guidance. Yet nothing’s as treacherous as the face from his past—his brother James, whose return could make or break everything Ethan’s built.

When Ethan's hard-won sanctuary faces its greatest test, the Chronos Flux threatens to unravel reality itself. His supernatural family—werewolf, elf, water nymph, and fierce newcomer—must venture into the scorching desert trials where ancient harmonies await and government hunters close in with deadly intent.