Strange Dreams: A Small Town Shifter Anthology

strange dreams Welcome to Cambio Springs. In the desert town of Cambio Springs, the water is cool, the summers sizzle, and all the residents wear fur, feathers, or snakeskin on full moon nights. In a world of cookie-cutter shifter romance, head to the desert for something different. In “Long Ride Home,” Jena Crowe escaped the Springs ten years ago. Now, she’s heading home with two boys to start a new life. With her husband’s ghost keeping her company on the road, Jena will learn that moving back and moving backward aren’t necessarily the same thing, and sometimes the places you try to escape are exactly where you need to fall. In “Five Mornings,” Alex McCann and Teodora ‘Ted’ Vasquez never had a simple relationship… but you couldn’t call it a boring one either. Five mornings in their past shape who they will become to each other. To their families. And to the mysterious town they call home. In Stings & Arrows, Sean Quinn escaped Cambio Springs with nothing but the clothes on his back, fleeing from a scorned clan, an unearned reputation, and the weight of family history. Wandering the world as a travel photographer suited him, until he met one fellow wanderer who would upset everything he thought about his future. Strange Dreams is an anthology of two previously published short stories, “Long Ride Home” and “Five Mornings,” with an all new prequel novella, Slings and Arrows, by ten-time USA Today bestseller, Elizabeth Hunter, author of the Cambio Springs series and the Elemental Mysteries. strange dreams Tall Tales from Cambio Springs Elizabeth Hunter recurve press, llc contents Long Ride Home 1. Night One 2. Day One 3. Night Two 4. Day Two 5. Night Three 6. Day Three Five Mornings 1. The First Morning 2. The Second Morning 3. The Third Morning 4. The Fourth Morning 5. The Fifth Morning Stings and Arrows 1. Meet Me in LA 2. Unexpected Mathura 3. Chiang Mai Temptation 4. Awkwardness in Fez 5. Maasai Mara Resignation 6. Lost in Thailand Preview: Dust Born About the Author Also by Elizabeth Hunter Strange Dreams Copyright © 2023 Elizabeth Hunter ISBN: 978-1-959590-19-4 * * * All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. long ride home Jena Crowe escaped the Springs ten years ago. Now, she’s heading home with two boys to start a new life. With her husband’s ghost keeping her company on the road, Jena will learn that moving back and moving backward aren’t necessarily the same thing, and sometimes the places you try to escape are exactly where you need to fall. Three nights to say goodbye. Three days to come to grips with the future. For Jena and her two sons, it’s going to be a long ride home. one night one Oregon Coast Jena Crowe McCann was driving down the Oregon coast and breathing in the cool night air when her husband’s ghost appeared to her. She slid her hand along the car door, pressing down the button that would crack the window open so the smell of pine and salt filled the air. Then she took a deep breath, holding the fragrance in her lungs for as long as she could before she let out a long sigh. Lowell’s ghost kept her company, silently watching the oncoming lights and occasionally glancing over a phantom shoulder at his sons. The boys were sleeping in the backseat, both exhausted after a final day of packing and saying goodbye to friends and the suffocating helpfulness of their neighbors. Lowell’s ashes rested in a simple urn carved from cedar and placed into a box with a few other mementos from his too-short life. Jena would give the box to his parents when she and the boys got home. Home. “I’m going to miss that smell,” Lowell said. Jena glanced over. “Can you smell that? Really?” His shadowy outline frowned. "I'm not sure if I can smell it or I just remember the smell of it." “Well, that clears everything up.” “Hey, I’m as new at this being a ghost business as you are at seeing ghosts.” “I don’t see ghosts. I just see you.” “Really? Never before?” “Don’t you think I would have told you if I saw ghosts?” Lowell smiled and leaned back in the seat, turning his head so he stared at her profile in the low light from the dashboard. “I don’t know. You always had your secrets.” “I didn’t keep secrets from you.” “I didn’t say you kept them from me, just that you had them. It’s okay. I like that I never figured you out completely. You were my favorite puzzle.” A sharp ache pierced her heart. “Am I still going to see you when we get there?” “I don’t know.” She drove on in silence, his soft voice keeping her company on the twisting roads lined by dark conifers. “Do you think I’m making a mistake?” Jena asked. “Moving so soon?” “No. It’s a good move. It’ll be a new start for all of you.” “I feel like I’m moving backward.” “Nah.” He grinned. “Moving back, not backward.” “What’s the difference?” “You know. You’re just not seeing it.” He crossed his arms. Arms that had once held her tightly. Held their sons. Thrown darts at their favorite pub in college. Arms that had carried her name. The boys’ names. Favorite verses and patterns tattooed permanently onto all too un-permanent skin. “I miss your arms, Low.” “I miss your everything.” She blinked back tears and forced herself