Sean’s face was a carefully impassive mask. Damn.
“Now,” Efrén said, picking up his newspaper and his drink. “I don’t have much leisure time, Mr. Quinn. I’d appreciate it if you respected that. Good-bye.”
HE used the drive back from Las Vegas to summon the internal fortitude to call his editor. Or his former editor? Sean wasn’t sure of anything anymore, particularly his job.
His life was a damn mess.
He’d never belonged here, at least that’s what he’d told himself. But with his great-uncle growing older, someone had to take over the family, and Uncle Joe preferred that it wasn’t someone with a criminal record.
In his family, that was a challenge.
If his cousin Marcus hadn’t been murdered, he would have been perfect. Marcus had loved his family but never deluded himself that they were upstanding citizens. He’d built a business. Had a family. Everyone had loved and respected him because he’d still been tough as nails. Marcus should have been the one.
And then he was dead.
Because of an ignorant human and fear.
It had killed a little bit of Sean inside when he’d heard Marcus died. Not only because it meant one of the few cousins he’d felt close to growing up was gone. Not only because he’d left a widow and children behind.
Selfishly, Sean knew the minute Marcus was gone, his bid for freedom was over.
He turned off the interstate and onto the state highway that would take him home.
Home.
It had always been a loaded word for Sean Quinn.
Home meant laughter and mischief and the loyalty of a hundred cousins who would have his back against anyone outside the clan. Home also meant fists and drunken fights and constantly looking over his shoulder to watch his back against those same cousins. Because while loyalty against other clans was a guarantee, within the clan, nothing was given.
And now he’d agreed to lead the rowdy lot of them.
A laughing voice in the back of his mind, overlaid by the sound of tambourines and singing.
“You’ll have to deal with them eventually, Spider. Family has a way of haunting you.”
He pushed the voice back into the mental box of things-no-longer-possible and called his boss.
“RANI, you’ve got to give me a little more time. You, of all people, understand how complicated family is.”
He’d been to her wedding in Bangalore. It was possible his editor had more family than he did.
“I love you, Sean, but you know this is getting ridiculous. Shooting off for an assignment once every three months or so is not enough to keep you on staff. Even if I’m paying you a fraction of your old salary. There are people who have been waiting years for a staff position, and you—”
“Send me more editing! I’ll do it all. That leaves everyone else on assignments. I’ll do all the editing you want.”
It would kill part of his soul to do nothing but edit other photographers’ images, but he had to do something. If all he could get was glimpses through the window of other people’s adventures, he’d take it.
Rani sighed. “I know that worked well for you and Juniper. Chati might take you up on it too. But you know some of them won’t let anyone edit their images, even if it is you. I’ll… see what I can do.”
He had great relationships with most of his colleagues, but there was always competition. No one was making a fortune, but everyone was doing what they loved.
“There’s a spa resort coming to my hometown. Very exclusive. Hellacious expensive. It’s beautiful, Rani. I can do a feature on that.”
“A spa?” She paused. “The new Cambio Springs resort?”
“Yes!”
“I didn’t know that was your town,” she said.
“I know the owner. I know this area. I grew up here. I’ll cover it. It’ll be a great feature.”
“Well… shit.”
“What? Shit what?”
“That would have been perfect, but I already assigned Juniper.”
He could almost hear her laughing in his ear.
“Juni?”
“Yeah. I guess she has family in that area.”
“Juni’s from Albuquerque. I’d hardly call that in the neighborhood.”
“She’s been in Southeast Asia for almost three years. She almost jumped at the chance. She probably needs the dry air.”
He knew she’d been in Southeast Asia. He could still see her laughing and soaked to the skin during Songkran.
“You’re saying our Juni is coming to Cambio Springs?”
“Yeah, just before the opening. She might already be there. She flew back to the States last week. You know she likes to wander.”
Jena and Caleb’s house came into view in the distance. The passel of kids his friends had produced were running in circles in the front. Chasing each other. Riding bikes. It was the kind of childhood he’d always envied. One he’d only glimpsed from the edges of his life.
“Rani, I gotta go.”
“Why don’t you and Juniper collaborate again? Every time you do, it ends up being fantastic. Let her write and you can focus on the photography. Play to both your strengths.”
“I’ll call her.” He parked a little ways down the street. He hated being late for Sunday dinner, even if he did feel like the odd man out these days. He needed to drag Willow to some of these things. Alex’s sister could be such a hermit, but at least then he wouldn’t be the only one not paired up.
“Take care, Sean. And… sort out whatever family stuff you have, okay? We miss you.”
He swallowed the lump in his throat and bid farewell to everything he’d worked for. “Bye, Rani.”
Sean gave himself a few minutes before he opened the truck door and stepped into the dust.
Dust. Grit. Cactus.
He missed the lush green of Yunnan Province and the flowers in Indonesia. He missed laughing and drinks with fellow wanderers and the tug of longing when he’d stayed in a place just a little too long.
Sean was grounded in the Springs. Grounded. It was a feeling that killed his soul.
“Hey, Uncle Sean!”
“Uncle Sean, watch this!”
“You’re heeeeere.”
Little bodies tumbled into him and called his attention. Christopher scrambled up his back like a monkey. Jena and Allie’s kids weren’t really his nieces and nephews, but they were as close as family.
Actually, no, they were closer.
He adored every single one of them. He watched skateboard tricks and yo-yo fumbles before he begged off to go grab a drink and whatever was left of Sunday dinner.
“Hey!” he called when he walked through the door. He could already hear his friends laughing and chatting in the kitchen and on the back porch. “Sorry I’m late, but I had an interesting—”
“Spider?”
He lifted his head and worlds collided when he saw her perched on the counter in Jena Crowe’s kitchen.
“Juni?”
With a grin and a laugh, she jumped down, running into the living room and jumping into his arms, her currently-blue-streaked hair flying behind her. “Sean!”
“Juniper Rain Hawkins.” He caught her and spun her around. Such a little thing. So young. So damn alive. He hugged her tight and took a deep breath. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes? I just called Rani. She mentioned you were covering the… Wait, what are you doing at Jena’s?”
She slid to the ground and pinched his cheek. “It’s not just Jena’s house, old man.”
Sean lifted his face and saw Caleb Gilbert leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.
Cambio Springs’ current chief of police looked grim. “So you know my baby sister, huh?”
Baby sister?
Sean looked down at Juni.
Oh yes.
Back up to Caleb.
Oh no.
The End
Acknowledgements
There are always so many people to thank, and I always seem to f
orget some. As a single mom, this book definitely hit home for me. Allie is a heroine I can relate to in many ways, particularly regarding her “people.”
Here are some of my “people:”
My son, the most understanding ten-year-old in history. You are my favorite not-so-little dude.
My sister, who is the best assistant ever and keeps my life manageable, so I can get lost in my head and write books for you.
My parents, who are the bestest parents and grandparents ever.
My friends. Writing friends. School friends. Friends close by and halfway across the world. I love you all so much.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Thanks, as well, to all the professionals who make my books shine. Thanks to Damonza.com for their amazing cover work. Thanks to Anne and Linda at Victory Editing. Thanks to Lora Gasway, my amazing developmental editor. And thanks (again!) to my sister, Gen, my first reader.
Many thanks to Jane and Lauren, my agents at Dystel and Goderich Literary Management.
Thanks most of all to my readers, who buy my books, talk about my books, and make all this possible. I have the best readers in the world, and I love bragging about you.
ELIZABETH HUNTER is a contemporary fantasy, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance writer. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Honors College and a former English teacher. She once substitute taught a kindergarten class but decided that middle school was far less frightening. Thankfully, people now pay her to write books and eighth graders everywhere rejoice.
She currently lives in Central California with her son, two dogs, many plants, and a sadly empty fish tank. She is the author of the Elemental Mysteries and Elemental World series, the Cambio Springs series, the Irin Chronicles, and other works of fiction.
Website: ElizabethHunterWrites.com
E-mail: [email protected].
Twitter: @E__Hunter
Also By Elizabeth Hunter
The Irin Chronicles
The Scribe
The Singer
The Secret
The Elemental Mysteries Series
A Hidden Fire
This Same Earth
The Force of Wind
A Fall of Water
Lost Letters & Christmas Lights
The Elemental World Series
Building From Ashes
Waterlocked
Blood and Sand
The Bronze Blade
The Scarlet Deep
Beneath a Waning Moon
The Elemental Legacy Series
Shadows and Gold
Imitation and Alchemy
The Cambio Springs Series
Shifting Dreams
Long Ride Home (short story)
Desert Bound
Five Mornings (short story)
Waking Hearts
Contemporary Romance
The Genius and the Muse
The Cambio Springs Mysteries
NOW AVAILABLE
SHIFTING DREAMS
"Take a simple contemporary plot, add a pinch of paranormal, sprinkle with insightful, down-to-earth, wry characters,
mix with a murder mystery, shake vigorously and enjoy Cambio Springs! "
—NOCTURNAL BOOK REVIEWS
~~~
Somedays Jena Crowe just can't get a break. Work at her diner never ends, her two boys are bundles of energy, and she's pretty sure her oldest is about to shift into something furry or feathery. Added to that, changes seem to be coming to the tiny town of Cambio Springs, big changes that not everyone in the isolated town of shapeshifters is thrilled about.
Caleb Gilbert was looking for change, and the quiet desert town seemed just the ticket for a more peaceful life. He never counted on violence finding him, nor could he have predicted just how crazy his new life would become.
When murder rocks their small community, Caleb and Jena will have to work together. And when the new Chief of Police isn't put off by any of her usual defenses, Jena may be faced with the most frightening change of all: lowering the defenses around her carefully guarded heart.
DESERT BOUND
Can you turn the clock back on your first love? Would you even want to try?
Alex McCann and Teodora "Ted" Vasquez left Cambio Springs together. Ted came back. Alex didn't.
Now, years later, the future alpha of the McCann wolves has returned with plans to bring new life to the dying desert community. Plans that could change everything for the isolated enclave of shapeshifters in the California desert. Some love the plan. Others hate it.
As the town's doctor and one of the strongest daughters in the cat clan, Ted has her own concerns about exposing her community to outsiders. The two former lovers are at each other's throats. And everyone is watching to see what happens.
But when murder once again strikes Cambio Springs, can they overcome their past to help the community they both call home? And can the love they shared once burn again when so many stand against it?
DESERT BOUND is an adult paranormal romance in the Cambio Springs Mysteries series.
WAKING HEARTS
When everything you’ve longed for is standing right in front of you, would you find the courage to chase it when you’ve given up on dreams?
Fox shifter Allison Smith gave up on happy endings when her ex-husband walked out, but that didn’t mean she was allowed to give up on happiness. With four growing kids, Allie is determined to look on the bright side and carry on, even when life seems to keep kicking the girl who’s fallen down.
Four kids, two jobs, and a pile of debt left over from her ex seems overwhelming most days. Luckily, Allie has the best friends a girl could ask for. Especially a certain quiet bear who’s always been her rock.
Patient. Oliver Campbell knows what it means to be patient. But twenty years of wanting one unavailable woman might have pushed him to the edge. With Allie working every night at his bar, their friendship has begun to fracture.
Then old ghosts give one more kick to the little family that’s already down, and patience is a virtue Ollie can no longer afford. Allie’s ex-husband may be gone, but his actions are haunting his family. With danger licking the borders of Cambio Springs, the bear and the fox will have to work together. And twenty years of unspoken truths may finally come to light.
WAKING HEARTS is the third paranormal romance novel in the Cambio Springs Mysteries series.
The Elemental Mysteries
A Hidden Fire ~ This Same Earth
The Force of Wind ~ A Fall of Water
“Elemental Mysteries turned into one of the best paranormal series I’ve read this year. It’s sharp, elegant, clever, evenly paced without dragging its feet, and at the same time emotionally intense.” —NOCTURNAL BOOK REVIEW
Welcome to the Elemental Mysteries, where history and the paranormal collide, and where no secret stays hidden forever. Join five hundred year old rare book dealer, Giovanni Vecchio, and librarian, Beatrice De Novo, as they travel the world in search of the mystery that brought them together, the same mystery that could tear everything they love apart.
Continue reading in the ELEMENTAL WORLD
Titles available from all major retailers
BUILDING FROM ASHES
Building From Ashes is what I have been waiting for ever since I read A Hidden Fire! Carwyn is one of my favorite of Elizabeth's characters and it was wonderful to read his story.
The way Elizabeth Hunter weaves the past and present to deliver this story as a whole is genius. 5 STARS.
—Rebecca, BENDING THE SPINE
In a world teetering on the edge of change, two beings struggle to find their purpose. Will their paths lead them closer together or tear their worlds apart?
For a thousand years, powerful earth vampire Carwyn ap Bryn has served others. God. His family. H
is friends. But tragedy and loss disrupt his peaceful existence, causing him to question everything he has committed his eternity to. Brigid Connor has known about vampires since they rescued her from a painful childhood. But not even their vast elemental power can save her from the demons that torment her. As loyalties are tested and new paths are forged, a lurking danger slowly grows in the Elemental World. Carwyn and Brigid learn that even secrets revealed can come back to haunt you when you least expect it.
WATERLOCKED
"Hunter is an absolute pro at giving us steamy, heart melting romance."
—Mandy, I READ INDIE
wa-ter-locked
adjective
Definition: enclosed entirely, or almost entirely, by water
Waking Hearts Page 33