Map of Pain by Gale Ian Tate
He was built to hunt monsters. He never expected one to heal him.
Nick Walsh has been living on borrowed time for months—hiding in junkyards, fighting infection, and slowly dying from wounds that should have been treated long ago. As a former member of the Daylight Society, he knows exactly what monsters look like. He’s been hunting them for years. But trauma has fractured his mind into competing voices, leaving him unsure which thoughts are truly his own.
When fever and blood loss finally claim him, Nick wakes up in the care of Luka Jovanovska, a vampire who should be his enemy, not his savior. Luka can’t speak, but his touch brings relief from pain Nick has carried for years. Yet everything Nick was taught screams that this kindness is just another form of manipulation.
Luka didn’t plan to get involved with a Society hunter, especially one who tried to kill him. But something about Nick calls to every protective instinct he possesses. As they build a fragile language of gestures and whistled melodies, Luka discovers that helping Nick means learning to communicate not just across the silence, but across the fractures in his mind.
When Nick’s past comes hunting for him, both men must choose between the safety of isolation and the dangerous hope of connection. Because sometimes love is less about finding your other half and more about helping someone become whole.
Some conversations happen without words. Some healing happens note by note. Some love stories are written in scars and song.
***Map of Pain is the third book in the Neon Scars series, and while you’ll enjoy it more having read the first two books, the author has included a “For New Readers or Readers with Poor Memories” section that serves as a refresher on the relevant information that happened in those first two books. It can be read as a standalone.***
Content Warning: This book contains explicit depictions of consensual sex, trauma, torture, SA (not explicit and not between MCs), PTSD, and violence. It deals with themes of conditioning, captivity, and recovery.
