Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

God’s sake, Sam, drop it!”
Anger and frustration boiled up inside Sam and bubbled over. He kept his voice calm with an effort. “I will not drop it. This is important. I’m sure of it.”
Sighing, Bo pressed both palms to his eyes. “Look. I know you’re worried, and I understand why. But one strange feeling during the investigation and one nightmare do not add up to anything dangerous, or even concerning.”
“Even though I had a very similar dream yesterday morning, and again just now?” Sam persisted. “Even after the dreams at Oleander House?”
“This is nothing like Oleander House.” Turning onto his side, Bo folded an arm beneath his head and gazed into Sam’s eyes with a pleading expression. “Don’t you think I’d tell you if I felt this was anything to worry about? Do you really think I’d put everyone in danger by keeping it to myself?”
“No, of course not.” Sam tucked Bo’s hair behind his ear, fingers brushing his neck. “But I don’t think you’re seeing this situation clearly.”
Bo’s fingers curled, bunching the sheet between them. He looked away. “What makes you think I’m not being clearheaded about this?”
“I don’t know, exactly.” It was hard for Sam to say, but it was true. He couldn’t lie to Bo, no matter how difficult it might be to tell the truth. “All I know is, you’re not acting like yourself. And that worries me.”
With an impatient noise, Bo kicked the covers aside and started to get up. Sam wrapped both arms around his waist and rolled on top of him, pinning him to the bed.
“Let me up,” Bo growled, dark eyes flashing.
“No.”
“Sam…”
Fisting a hand in Bo’s hair, Sam leaned down and kissed him until the angry tension melted from his body and his mouth opened beneath Sam’s.
The kiss went on for endless, blissful minutes. Sam didn’t break it until Bo’s legs opened to cradle Sam in the space between his thighs. Drawing back, Sam stared down into Bo’s heavy-lidded eyes. Bo’s pupils were dilated, his breath coming short and quick. The sight made Sam’s chest ache.
“I love you,” Sam said, putting his whole heart into the simple sentiment. “Maybe these dreams and visions of yours mean something, and maybe they don’t. I think they do, but I don’t know for sure. All I know is, I’ll do anything to keep you safe. Even risk you hating me.”
The lingering anger in Bo’s eyes faded into a familiar affection. He reached up and laid both palms on Sam’s cheeks. “I could never hate you. I’m grateful every single day to have you in my life.”
Sam’s throat closed up. He couldn’t say what he felt right then, but he thought Bo understood.
Bo’s gaze dipped to Sam’s mouth. When he looked up again, lust had replaced the tenderness in his eyes. Sam’s body responded with a predictable rush of desire. He tilted his hips, rubbing his naked prick against Bo’s equally bare crotch. Bo moaned, low and rough. His thighs slid against Sam’s ribs, one heel lodging in the small of Sam’s back. Sam could feel Bo’s cock filling, the hardness pressing against Sam’s own growing erection.
A tiny corner of Sam’s brain wanted to disentangle himself from Bo’s arms and legs and continue the conversation Sam was beginning to realize Bo had successfully distracted him from. But the clutch of Bo’s limbs around him, the increasingly frantic movement of Bo’s hips and the needy little sounds he made, silenced that part of Sam’s mind. One arm beneath Bo’s neck and the other braced on the bed, Sam took Bo’s mouth in a bruising kiss as they thrust against one another.
    Welcome to the jungle—where the found are lost and the lost are redeemed.

The Balance of Silence
© 2010 S. Reesa Herberth and Michelle Moore
    Riv is a man adrift, hoping that running supplies for ReliefCorp will restore his faith in mankind—and in himself. Deep in the war-torn Maltana rainforest, he stumbles upon a local bar that suits his mood: good food, bad attitude. The entertainment, though, is unexpected. A skilled piano player who avoids eye contact, flinches when anyone approaches…and warns Riv of an ambush by tapping out the planetary anthem for Riv’s homeworld of Karibee.
    The least Riv can do for the mute piano man, “Ducks”, is take him to the nearest spaceport for help. On their harrowing journey to escape Maltana, Riv makes a horrifying discovery. Ducks endured torture that scarred his mind as well as his body. Still, before he