It has only been a few weeks since I moved to Shadow Grove, but this place already feels more like home than anywhere else I’ve ever been. Mom’s house was never a home—not when her love for the bottle drowned out everything else, including me and my siblings. And Atlanta? That city had given me nothing but a broken heart and a toxic relationship with a sailor who decided that ‘being single’ was more important than helping me pick up the pieces of my life. After him, I swore off men for good—no more wasting time on people who only show up when it benefits them.

Now, with Valkyrie trotting faithfully beside me, I feel… almost settled. Not quite. Not yet. But closer.

Valkyrie’s ears twitch at a sound in the distance, her sleek red body poised as if ready to spring into action. I smile down at her, grateful—and a little amused—at how quickly the dog has become my constant companion.

I have never had any type of pet before. Mom could barely take care of herself—let alone her kids. There is no way we would have been able to add a pet to the mix. But after leaving Atlanta and starting over, I needed to make this new chapter feel like my own story. Orion, my overbearing younger brother, had insisted I get a dog for protection.

Scratch that–

Orion never asks—he demands. He held me hostage until I made him two promises: firstly, that I’d get a top-of-the-line security system that he approved of.

And secondly, I needed a guard dog.

He sent me 13 different companies that train dogs as well as a list of different breeds that made great companions and could scare away an intruder. He was ready to ship me a canine soldier. Instead, I did what I do best—I found my own way.

I told him I would look into the companies he sent me but while I was researching I accidentally stumbled on a video of a failed TSA dog and knew that was the step I wanted to take. Yes, I could’ve taken a dog that was already trained or put them through training, but seeing their little quirks and why they failed training just made them so much more endearing.

The way their “failures” turned into personality traits spoke to me—like they were a little broken but still perfect in their own way. Like me.