Happy 2024!! This news comes a little late, (I’m in the process of moving/home reno) the anthology Snow Lights and Monster Nights is now available! It’s a collection of wintery short stories from a bunch of different monster romance authors. You can find it here.

My contribution to the anthology is called Only One Bedroll. I went a little more traditional fantasy setting for this one, but if you’ve loved the Blood Fever from The Orc from the Office, it’s back in this little story!

Also, fun fact, this was originally written as my character’s backstory for a D&D game with my friends a while back (Bianca was a level 3 Circle of Spores druid).

Summary:

Mushrooms, halfling-eating monsters, and orcs, oh my. When Bianca Chanterelle gets lost in the woods, she doesn’t expect the orc hunter that finds her to be any help getting back to her traveling party, but venture, finding a secret microbiome, a terrifying monster, and a budding attraction between them. 

Tanis, son of Dhane the Bloodthirsty, shouldn’t be so curious about the halfling woman who is utterly unsuited to living in the woods, but he can’t resist the way his blood calls to her, especially when they find themselves hiding in a tent, sharing his bedroll. 

When the rest of the orcish hunting party decides to raid the traveling halfling troupe of actors, however, a staged kidnapping and a monster intervention may not be enough to make sure everyone gets out of the woods.

Tropes: Only one bed, fated mates, size differences, slight enemies to lovers vibes.