Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

the end of his braid and started unraveling it. He eyed Sam warily. “I have to say, Sam, I thought you’d argue about this.”
Sam gave him a wry smile. “I’m not done yet.”
Sighing, Bo plopped onto the bed beside him and fixed him with an expectant look. “Okay. You think we should take the case. So what’s the argument?”
Taking Bo’s hand, Sam wound their fingers together. “I don’t think you should go,” he said quietly. “I think you should stay here.”
A crackling silence fell. Sam waited, staring at his lap, resigned to his fate. When Bo remained unmoving and unspeaking after several endless seconds, Sam risked a glance at his face. To his surprise, Bo was gazing at him with solemn sympathy in his eyes.
“If we take this case—and I think we all know we’re going to—we will need to split up,” Andre mused, rubbing the back of his neck. “We can’t risk waiting for someone to get hurt up at the Lodge.”
Nodding, Cecile wound an arm around David’s waist and leaned against him. “I’d suggest that half of us stay here with the tour group and finish the Kimberley Inn investigation, and half of us go to Sunset Lodge.”
“I’ll volunteer for the Sunset Lodge detail,” Dean offered. “I have some training in wilderness medicine. Might come in handy.”
“Excellent idea.” Bo smiled, but the expression in his eyes remained troubled. “Okay, here’s what I’d like to do. Andre, I’d like you, Cecile and David to stay here, since you three are the most capable of handling this bunch. Dean, Sam and I will head up to Sunset Lodge tomorrow.”
Sam held his tongue with an effort. Letting go of his hand, Bo stood and herded the rest of the group out the door. He didn’t look at Sam. Dean shot a worried glance at Sam as he left, then the door closed and Sam and Bo were alone.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Bo walked over to the window and stood staring out at the city below them. Sam picked at a loose thread in the thick royal blue comforter and watched Bo from under lowered lashes.
“Go on and say it, Sam,” Bo said finally. “I know you want to.”
“I don’t want you to go,” Sam told him. “I know it’s stupid. I know it doesn’t make any sense, and I know you hate it when I get all protective. But I can’t help it. I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you.”
Turning from the window, Bo perched on the end of the bed and met Sam’s gaze. “I understand that. I don’t want anything to happen to you either. But, Sam, you know people’s lives could be at stake here. Not just yours or mine, but lives of people who have no idea what they might be facing. At least you and I, and Dean, know what we’re getting into, and we have some idea of how to defeat it.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a bitter half smile. “I’d leave you here in a hot minute, if that were an option. But it isn’t. You’re the only one who can close the damn things. So I can’t make you stay here, no matter how much I’d like to.”
“I know, but…” Sam’s throat constricted, and he had to force the next words out. “You almost died, Bo. I have never felt more scared or more helpless in my life than when I saw you unconscious in that hospital bed, and I didn’t know if you’d ever wake up. I can’t face that again. I just can’t.”
Bo didn’t answer. For a long moment, they sat there, neither moving, neither talking. Then Bo crawled up to Sam, and without a word put his arms around him and pulled him close. Slipping his arms around Bo, Sam buried his face in his lover’s neck, closed his eyes and breathed in Bo’s scent.
Chapter Three
    Bo called Lex the next morning as soon as he and Sam woke up. At breakfast, the group discussed the plans for the upcoming days. Andre would be in charge of the overall investigation at the Kimberley Inn, while David and Cecile would each lead a team of three in each day’s activities. Bo, Sam and Dean would ride to one of the Lodge’s trailheads with Lex, and Andre would pick them up in the BCPI van in four days. They couldn’t stay any longer than that, since they only had rooms at the Kimberley for five more days.
    Sam hoped they would be able to resolve the case at Sunset Lodge one way or another by then. With any luck, what the people had seen would turn out to be a bear after all. Twilight shadows often played tricks on the eye, making ordinary things seem weird and frightening, and Sam fervently hoped that would