As head of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Paranormal Operations Unit, Clay Chiles has found a place where he can serve with honor and a surrogate family to replace the one he never truly enjoyed. When he meets Elven warrior Arondel and begins to build the partnership he had never hoped to find, life seems good. Still for two life-long loners to merge their lives, hearts and minds, an occasional conflict is bound to arise.<br><br>Clay’s discovery he has not only a father but a half-brother on Arondel’s home world of Elvenheim creates new and different challenges -- can he accept and trust relatives so different from all he has known? Can they accept him? Finally, faced with incredible tasks and dangers, Clay and Aron are torn asunder. Will the strength of their still- fragile bond be enough to bring them through hell and back to one another’s arms?

Runes of Redemption

“This isn’t accomplishing anything,” Clay said after a few minutes.


“No, it looks like we’ll have to test it. Stay close, but behind me.” Aron stood, starting for the rock face. He halted a short stride from the spot they had seen. Slowly, he reached with one hand until the very tips of his fingers lingered an infinitesimal distance from touching the stone. Within a few seconds, he nodded, as if he sensed some betraying tingle of energy. “There’s something here. Can’t you feel it?”


Clay edged forward to stand beside him and reached as Aron had.


“Don’t quite touch it. Go close, but leave a hair’s breadth of space.” Aron watched as Clay reached.


“I feel something, almost a tickle, and there’s a faint hum, like the sound from high tension electrical lines, only very muted.”


“Right. I’ve decided—I’m going through. Grab my belt and don’t let go. I don’t want to lose you. As long as we’re physically linked, we won’t be separated and should end up in the same place.”


Chapter 3