S. E. Wendel Halfling

A half-orc, half-human belongs nowhere... Orek has spent his life trying to prove himself to a clan that despises him. The son of a deposed orc chief and human captive, he must try twice as hard to prove himself a worthy male, a strong hunter, a potential mate... Resigned to a thankless place in the shadows, Orek ekes out a living on the fringes of the clan, just waiting for an opportunity. But what he finds instead one cold autumn night could ruin everything he's worked so hard to gain-a human woman, captured just as his mother was so many years ago. The choice to protect her from the clan isn't a choice at all, but what will protect him and his lonely heart from her? A life about to begin, usurped by fate... Sorcha has spent her life helping raise her many siblings, but now finally has the chance to seek her own adventures. At least, she did, before she was snatched from her horse and peddled by slavers. Taken far from home, she's brought to the worst place imaginable-the craggy western mountains infested with brutal, brutish orcs. All humans know to fear them and stay away, and now she's been sold to the cruelest clan-chief of them all. But the first orc she meets is nothing like the stories. He's gentle. Hefrees her. Nothing is what it seems as they lose themselves in the forest, hunted by trackers and slavers. Out of her depth, Sorcha has no choice but to rely on the mysterious halfling who saved her-but she's been betrayed already and cannot afford to trust him. Even if, little by little, the quiet male reveals himself to be everything she could ever want. A human and a halfling, lives ripped apart, brought together by coincidence or fate. Running for their lives, they may find the most dangerous place is together...