Neal James is a space station navigator whose lover, Dylan Teague, left him for a starmapping mission. But when Dylan radios in a distant signal one night, Neal discovers that he hasn't managed to put the relationship behind him in the two months they've been apart. When he's one of the crew members sent to investigate the signal, he finds that his ex-lover feels the same.<br><br>The source of the signal is a lost colony ship. Only a handful of the original colonists remain, survivors of a deadly disease that killed most of their fellow shipmates twenty years ago. To keep the threat of disease to a minimum, the colony adheres to strict laws, including the prohibition of same-sex relationships.<br><br>When the same fatal virus seems to appear again, Neal and Dylan find themselves in the midst of an irrational panic and hate that threatens to destroy everything the colonists have worked so hard to attain.

Operation Starseed

“You’re fucking crazy if you think I likethis shit. We


broke up, Dixon. That’s it, it’s over between us, he said so


himself and I thought I’d have time to get over that. The


lastthing I need is to be thrown into the lion’s


“You’re a navigator,” Dixon reminds


me. “It’s your job. I don’t care if you have a personal problem


with the commander of the Semper Fi—I don’t care that he


dumped your ass or that you let him fuck you—”


“Just stop right there,” I warn. My


cheeks heat up and my head feels light, dizzy, my blood surges


through my veins, making my hands shake and I have to curl them


into fists so he doesn’t see how badly he’s gotten to me. “You


don’t want to touch that, I promise you.”


He stares at me for a long moment as if


weighing how far he can push me. Not much farther, I’ll


guarantee,I think, and maybe he reads that in my eyes because


he turns back to the console, dismissing me. “You have a job to


Chapter 13