She needed a fresh start. She didn't expect a neighbor who notices everything and says nothing.
Nora came to Ashenvale with sixty pounds of camera equipment, a lease she signed at eleven at night, and a very specific list of promises to herself. The neighborhood is unfamiliar, the apartment is small, and the orc across the hall is the largest, quietest, most unsettling person she has ever shared a building with.
Kael has lived in 4A for six years. He's seen neighbors come and go. He wasn't planning to notice this one.
He noticed her on the first morning.
He noticed the way she carried her own equipment without asking for help. He noticed the four minutes she sat in her van before she made herself get out. He noticed, three weeks later, that she'd taken a photograph of the station he works at — from her window, every morning, for longer than she'd been willing to admit.
He hasn't said anything about it.
He's a firefighter. Showing up without being asked is just what he does.
He fixes things. He leaves the building manager's number where she'll find it. And when something gets into her wall at 2am, he's at her door before she finishes knocking — calm, capable, and completely uninterested in making her feel foolish for needing him.
Nora has very good reasons to be careful. She learned them the hard way.
Kael isn't asking her to stop being careful. He's just going to be here anyway.
Claimed by the Orc Next Door is a slow-burn, cozy-spicy orc romance featuring a quietly devoted hero who falls first and hardest, a heroine who is done making herself small, and a happily ever after that is absolutely, unambiguously earned.
For readers who love: he falls first, grumpy/sunshine, found family, touch her and regret it, acts of service, forced proximity, guaranteed HEA
Book 1 of The Ashenvale Chronicles. Each book features a new couple and can be read as a standalone, but readers who start at Book 1 will be rewarded.
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Nora came to Ashenvale with sixty pounds of camera equipment, a lease she signed at eleven at night, and a very specific list of promises to herself. The neighborhood is unfamiliar, the apartment is small, and the orc across the hall is the largest, quietest, most unsettling person she has ever shared a building with.
Kael has lived in 4A for six years. He's seen neighbors come and go. He wasn't planning to notice this one.
He noticed her on the first morning.
He noticed the way she carried her own equipment without asking for help. He noticed the four minutes she sat in her van before she made herself get out. He noticed, three weeks later, that she'd taken a photograph of the station he works at — from her window, every morning, for longer than she'd been willing to admit.
He hasn't said anything about it.
He's a firefighter. Showing up without being asked is just what he does.
He fixes things. He leaves the building manager's number where she'll find it. And when something gets into her wall at 2am, he's at her door before she finishes knocking — calm, capable, and completely uninterested in making her feel foolish for needing him.
Nora has very good reasons to be careful. She learned them the hard way.
Kael isn't asking her to stop being careful. He's just going to be here anyway.
Claimed by the Orc Next Door is a slow-burn, cozy-spicy orc romance featuring a quietly devoted hero who falls first and hardest, a heroine who is done making herself small, and a happily ever after that is absolutely, unambiguously earned.
For readers who love: he falls first, grumpy/sunshine, found family, touch her and regret it, acts of service, forced proximity, guaranteed HEA
Book 1 of The Ashenvale Chronicles. Each book features a new couple and can be read as a standalone, but readers who start at Book 1 will be rewarded.
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Used availability for Sera Vane's The Orc Next Door