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

There I lie him down on my bunk, pull the


sheets up to his chin, smooth his hair back from his face and press


my lips to his forehead like my mother used to do to me when I was


a little boy and sick with a fever. His skin is hot, flushed and


pink and feverish, too damn warm. “Hot,” he sighs, tugging at the


I take off the sheets and he starts to unzip


“It’s hot,” he complains. “Take it


off, Neal, please. Take it—” The zipper catches in the fabric and


he tugs at it, hard yanks that threaten to tear the material before


I manage to catch his hands and hold him still. “Take it off,” he


sighs. His breath is like a furnace against my cheek. “Please,


“You’re not dying,” I tell him, but he


iswarm so I unzip his jumpsuit and help him out of it. Then


he tears at his boxers, trying to take those off, as well. “Dylan,”


So I ease the boxers down and he kicks them


Chapter 25