New West (15 page)

Her laugh was hale and hearty as he ever remembered it. “Whyever for? I’m whole now, and I ain’t got a single pain. You’re here, Em’s here. I reckon I need to find Cyrus and my other babies now.”

“I guess you do. I-You were happy, you and Cy?” Ezrah needed to hear he’d left them to have a good life. A solid one.

“We were. He loved me and built me a new kitchen. I gave him a daughter. I’m happier now that I got to see you again, chat. I get to, when I need to, yes? Emmett said I was welcome.”

Jesse’s voice was gentle. “As flowers in spring, ma’am. You will always be welcome here.”

“You know it.” Ezrah hugged his momma hard, not wanting to believe it, unable to refute what he knew was true. “I love you. I’ll always be happy to see you.”

She squeezed him tight, so strong, so whole. “Good to hear, son. Tell me goodbye, now. I’m fixin’ to have a wander.”

“Good night, Momma.” He wasn’t saying goodbye because he knew she wasn’t gone to him forever, no matter what had happened to her.

She wasn’t lost to him and his Jesse had done that, had given him Em and Momma, both.

Jesse leaned against him. “Ez. Ez, I’m so tired. Can we go home now?”

“We can.” Home to their bed. The pueblo. They wouldn’t have to leave now, he reckoned. “Come on.”

“Oh, good. Good.” Jesse followed him, fingers clinging to his. “So glad you’re with me.”

“Me, too.” His knees shook as he found the silver cord and began to follow it.

“I have you, Ez. I won’t leave you alone.”

“You did promise me. And Em.” He was fiercely grateful for Jesse, for their connection. So many people in his life had been lost and Jesse kept giving them back and bringing him new family.

New friends. New home.

A new west.

About the Author

Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy's Girl, BA Tortuga spends her days with her basset hounds, getting tattooed, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she's not doing that, she's writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting and surfing porn sites in the name of research. BA's personal saviors include her partner, Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.

Having written everything from fist-fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but is feeling the Colorado mountains calling. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery menages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeon-holed by anyone but the voices in her head.

You can find BA at http://www.batortuga.com

The
New Reality
Series
Now Available at Resplendence Publishing

Sanctuary
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For Callie Summers, life after the super solar flare and deadly viral outbreak can be summed up in one word. Alone. Having lost everyone she loved, Callie travels on foot to her family’s remote hunting cabin, where her father stockpiled food and supplies for this type of situation.

Along the way, she meets Noah Hill and Ethan Erikson, a couple traveling the same direction. Callie struggles with her attraction to the pair until they make it clear they are just as interested in her.

With Noah and Ethan, Callie is no longer alone but can she bring herself to trust them in this new world where everyone is trying to survive no matter the cost?

Direct Contact
by Ninnette Swan

Julie Gladwell has a secret. Acting as chief attendant for the New Government’s procreation program, she rears girls to carry the emperor’s heir. Only a few are chosen for the program, called “The Special Ones,” and they are given no names, only numbers. They see no one but authorized personnel until their twenty-first birthday. Which is usually when they die. Direct contact is forbidden. As she cares for these girls, no one ever suspects who she actually is.

Scientist Malcolm Odin hated his job and hated himself. Put in charge of the entire human engineering program, the experiments and suffering he witnessed made him sick. Still, it paid the bills and kept him living comfortably in Terrecina. He knew of far too many who’d fallen through the cracks, living on the earth below. The Level People, they were called.

When he confides his unease to Julie, she lets him in on her secret and into her heart. What starts as fancy ends in revolution, but how will they choose between their fellow man and each other?

Freefall
by Bella St. James

Clancy Reed knew the rules of the Underground. But when the beautiful Jezebel banged against the makeshift medical facility door, begging for sanctuary, he not only crossed the line but totally obliterated it behind him. He should have called for a transfer crew and immediately sent her out of town. But something beyond her beauty and artificially enhanced sex appeal spoke to him.

When Nadine Cooper seized an unexpected opportunity to run from the government that used her as a sex spy, her only concern was leaving the past behind. The last thing she expected when she arrived at the gritty warehouse was a field operation that made her feel normal for the first time in her life – and a man whose kind hands and caring voice touched something deep inside her.

Their acquaintance should have gone by protocol: Twelve hours of recovery and then a permanent separation. But when the enemy comes to their door, their only choice is to go on the run as the world around them drops into a freefall.

Faith’s Revenge
by Michael Graham and Suzanne Graham

Faith Daniels is experienced with using her body to ensure survival for her and her brother, even finding her own pleasure in her encounters with both men and women. When her brother is imprisoned as a Resistance member, Faith will use her talents in exchange for information to rescue him, even at the expense of losing the first man she’s ever loved.

Trake Forrester, a dark-skinned Aristo of New Washington, D.C., has had his eye on his blonde assistant since Faith started working for him. Her curvy build entices him, but it’s her innate kindness that draws him to her. When he has the opportunity to help her rescue her brother, his complicated relationship with his fiancée, Deja Cain, is useful as well as a hindrance to pursuing his feelings for Faith.

Finders Keepers
by Lacey Thorne

Tomorrow the auctions will take place. Some women become brides, and some become nothing more than belongings who must do as they are told. Winter will have none of it. Taking the first chance of her life, she risks it all to escape, running into the desert and hoping to find something better.

When Roar, Scar, Gate, Shadow and Blade find Winter, they only plan to take her back to the safety of the settlement. But Winter isn’t going back. One way or another she will convince them there is no other option than to keep her.

What Remains: Untainted
by Kris Norris

The apocalypse has passed. The dead have risen. But what remains…

Colby, Darcy and Barrett are hardened soldiers with a new war. A deadly disease has decimated the human population, reducing it to small pockets of survivors who fight daily again the raging hordes of undead plaguing the planet. The three men are part of a recon mission, scouting locations where humans have been reported still alive amidst the dead. But after ten months of searching, they're ready to give up.

Abby Brennigan has been surviving on her own for half a year, hiding out in an old abandoned control tower. She hasn't seen anything remotely alive in what feels like forever, until the three men stumble upon her hideout and into her heart. She'd promised herself she wouldn't get close again…wouldn't put herself through the torture of watching another person she cared about slowly fade until they turn into a monster straight off the pages of a horror novel.

But the boys aren't taking no for an answer and as they face one test after another, the big question is—how long can they all remain untainted.

This Sin Called Hope
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Hundreds of years ago, Earth as we know it was laid to waste by the war to end all wars. Hunger and plague followed, and in the gaping wounds of a society thick with terror, greed and corruption took strong root. It split the human race apart. Those clinging to civilization fell to ruin, those who turned from it were left little more than cannibalistic monsters. From the darkness, Enoch has watched as the worst traits of humanity have destroyed the world he once knew. Denied even the mercy of a quick demise, the immortal “Angel” fills his days maintaining the Network, if only to bring some form of connection and order to a broken world, even as he has grown to despise the very beings left upon it.

From the unlocked backdoors and open windows of the Network, Jacobi has watched the world with love and delight, relishing in the little human moments that remind him of why life is worth living. The offers of kindness when there is none to be found, the small acts of charity when there is so little to give, and the good deeds performed when all appears lost is the hope that keeps him going—this and his unfailing belief that, perhaps, tomorrow will be a better day. The optimistic “Hacker” does not remember Earth before the destruction, but he spends his days and nights searching the remote recesses of a data-banked past, looking for the hope people seem to have misplaced along the way.

When Enoch captures Jacobi’s attention, the hacker can’t help but want to learn more about the rough-tempered Angel who has given up on humanity. Can Jacobi, with all the love he has to give, teach Enoch to care again? Will Jacobi be able to reach Enoch in time? Can these two solitary watchers come together to help save a world where hope is considered a sin?

**Warning** This title contains a graphic rape scene that may be upsetting to
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Refuge
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Best friends, Jack Penn and Isaac Ryan had each other's backs long before the super solar flare and deadly epidemic sent the world straight to hell seven years before. When Jack falls ill, Isaac is terrified of losing the one constant in his life - the very straight man he's been secretly in love with forever.

Unable to face, or even understand, his new feelings for his friend, Jack is intent to push them aside for the sake of their friendship. When beautiful Chloe Collins and her family offer them aid, he can’t deny the pull he feels towards her, but it only complicates things as his erotic thoughts about Isaac refuse to fade.

The last thing Chloe expects is her attraction to the two men they've taken in. She can see the way they feel for each other, and for her, even if they refuse to acknowledge it. Can Jack and Isaac admit what they want and give in to it, especially when the threat of violence from their past dealings looms ever closer?

What Remains: Wasteland
by Kris Norris

One deadly mission—one last glimmer of hope…

After fighting to survive for eighteen months, Emersyn Harlow has become emotionally withdrawn. Hardened by loss, she’s hidden away what’s left of her heart, keeping it under lock and key. While she secretly harbors feelings for members of her recon team, she refuses to act on them—not when she knows the eventual outcome.

Hunter Brown never knew how much he cared for Emersyn until he lost her. Though she’s no more than a breath away from him, her heart is long gone. It’s not until a desperate mission changes the rules of engagement, that Hunter’s willing to throw caution to the wind and make a play for the woman who’s stolen his heart. But he’s not alone. Armed with two other men worthy of her love, Hunter doesn’t plan on losing.

Three men against one might not seem fair—or it might be the perfect combination to finally turn the tides in their favor and prove to Emersyn that what remains is more than an endless wasteland.

Also Available from
Resplendence Publishing

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Four years ago, a violent and abrupt attack changed Abram’s life forever. Thrust into the world of vampires, he was forced to leave the man he loved behind, determined to shelter him from the horrors and dangers of this new existence.

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Anaboris Clan
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Can Jamie and Ethan overcome their hatred for each other before the vampire marriage they are cursed into kills them both?
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It becomes very clear that the magic of the marriage bond will get what it wants for them, regardless of the men's feelings toward the situation. The curse wants them together, and as they spend time with each other they start to wonder if this really was a curse at all.

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Stolen away from his cradle as a child, Leinad has been a plaything of the Faerie for thirty years. He has been broken and put back together so many times that he cannot even remember what he used to be. He has given up all hope of escape, until a soft breeze through his cell leads him home, only to find out that home has gone on without him. A man with Leinad’s face is there in his place, with his siblings, acting out his life. A changeling. The creature who enabled his imprisonment and torture for all those years.

Daniel Tessel is a thirty year old folklorist. He is meeting his brother and sister at their family cabin, to spend the anniversary of their parent’s deaths together. His biggest worry is the séance his little sister is insisting on, and trying to stave off her inevitable disappointment. That is, until he looks up during the ritual to see his own face watching him from the window. He is pulled into the consequences of a plot he cannot even remember, accused of stealing his own life. Confused, angry, and frightened beyond reason, Daniel tries to escape from Leinad, but there is something pulling them together.