BALACLAVA is a modern gothic stalker dark romance: obsessive, atmospheric, psychologically immersive, and told in dual POV.

The Flame

“You just watched. For weeks. Why?”

“Because at some point, it became about you.” He sounds broken. “And I couldn’t stop.”

My lungs constrict. Fear consumes me—but under that, curiosity. He reaches the doorframe, palms braced on either side.

“I’m sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt.”

He saved me.
He torments me.
He’s crazy.

When he comes back…
I won’t make him leave.

The Smoke

I thought I could save us both.
I was wrong.

Tank’s terrarium glowed in the corner. He was awake, crawling slow circles along the glass. I stripped the bloody gloves off, revealing bruised knuckles.

“I broke again.”

The beetle stilled, wings twitching like he heard me. I turned the terrarium to face the wall. Couldn’t stand the thought of him watching the fall.

I tried to protect her, and somewhere in that promise, I traded places with the devil.

I was some jerk once. Now I’m the danger—demons on my back, gore on my hands, and a fire in my gut only Anna can quench.

You’d think I’d have learned my lesson.
I didn’t.

Anna is alone now.
She won’t be for long.

After her father’s death, Anna refuses to leave the last tether to him—the back-country cottage he left behind. When notes, roses, and a masked figure in the fog start appearing, she thinks she knows the danger.

She locks her doors earlier.
It doesn’t quiet the creaks in the floorboards.

Rowan never involved himself in other people’s lives. That was the problem. He works the door at the bar, keeps his head down, rides his bike hard enough to outrun whatever claws up his spine at night.

At least, he tries to.

One night at the gas station where Anna works, he sees something he can’t ignore.

He tells himself he’s just watching.
Making sure she doesn’t fall into the same trap his mother always did.

He’s lying.

Watching turns into caring. Caring spirals into obsession—until he becomes the man who won’t let anyone else touch her.

Somewhere between the claws at his neck, the mask, the bruised knuckles, and the sound of Anna’s front door locking—

He doesn’t want to walk away.
He wants to knock.

Anna knows what happens when she ignores her instincts.

Is he the man she can trust?

If not… why does she feel like she should?

For readers who love:

• Modern gothic atmosphere

• Psychologically immersive romance

• Morally gray antiheroes

• Identity-fractured protagonists

• Masked men

• Biker boys & bar bouncers

• When he falls first

• Psychological tension

• Slow-burn tension & spice

• Protective, possessive heroes

• Dual POV romance

• Creepy-cute companions