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

“Now,” he whispered. He thrust his arm into the stone and followed it, leaving Clay no choice but to come along. The stone did not seem large enough for them to pass through it, but somehow they did. As the same dark whirling maelstrom swallowed them, Aron shouted a final word and slashed a glowing red sigil in the darkness. An explosive crack of sound morphed into a clashing boom behind and then around them.


His eyes were still dazzled by the flare of brilliance and his ears ringing from the roar when he felt ground beneath his feet again and inhaled familiar scents of juniper, creosote and other desert foliage. If they were not back in Texas, it was somewhere very similar.


When Aron’s vision cleared, he saw they stood at the foot of the same pale cliffs. Now there was no hint of difference in the face of the rough stone. When he extended a hand toward the spot the gate had been, he could feel no trace of energy or power.


Chapter 4