Some certainties don’t hold up to scrutiny, no matter how firm your convictions.

Trust becomes a fragile thing when suspicion finds a foothold. In this chapter, the weight of what we believe about the people closest to us meets the unsettling possibility that belief isn't enough. Old grief walks alongside new doubt, and the ground underfoot feels less steady than it did before.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Why is it that some doors without locks are harder to open than the ones with them?

Pride has a way of standing between people and the things they need to protect. In this chapter, the weight of what's at stake presses against the immovable wall of someone who refuses to be questioned — and the frustration of knowing that politeness may cost more than it buys.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Chamomile and blackberry ride the autumn wind, but the air between two people carries something sharper.

Some truths survive burial. They wait in the bones, patient as stone, until someone who remembers you — really remembers — refuses to let you look away. This is a chapter about the cost of hiding what you are, and what it takes to stop.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Some boundaries hold. Others only look like they do.

Old fears and older instincts collide as familiar protections reveal themselves to be thinner than anyone realized. There is tenderness here — quick hands, held breath, the awkwardness of caring too much in front of the wrong audience — but beneath it, a quiet dread is taking root. Something has been wrong for a long time, and no one asked the right questions.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

The morning began with the smell of spiced buns and the careful armor of a favorite dress — and ended somewhere she swore she'd never go.

Secrets have a half-life. The warmth of mended trust gives way to the slow, sickening realization that careful plans are unraveling faster than they can be stitched back together — and the only path forward leads toward the one place that holds too many memories.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Sometimes the hardest thing to carry through your own front door is what you learned while you were away.

Evening settles over a home that feels like everything worth protecting — laughter in the yard, warmth at the table, the ordinary grace of a family in motion. But comfort has a way of sharpening the edges of what doesn't belong, and some knowledge sits heavier the closer you hold the people it might touch.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Some answers hide just beneath the skin — literally.

Patience and precision give way to something no one was prepared for. Old rhythms return, familiar and dangerous, as the search for truth pulls toward a conclusion that refuses to stay quiet. The comfort of expertise offers no shelter when the evidence speaks in a language no one wants to understand.

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.

Some distances can't be measured in miles — only in years of silence.

There's a particular ache that comes from standing in front of someone who knew you before you learned to hide. Old rhythms surface. Old debts. And the question not asked aloud: is it too late to be who you once were?

—

Narrated by Rebecca Hasler.

Set in D.W. Sheppard’s vast interconnected world where protective Gates hold back deadly monsters and treacherous flora, where safety is never guaranteed.

Support the show:

• Grab the full novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWNBQWZM
• Stream sats or boost on Fountain.fm to support more episodes
• Leave a rating or review to help new listeners find the series

New episodes every Tuesday.