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

They rose, gathered and donned their gear in a few economical and practiced movements, drank some water, and started off down the hills. Admiration and affection filled Clay as he watched his partner, who took the lead. Aron loped along in his normal long-legged pace, swift and silent as a wild creature and totally at home in this environment. He seemed to be thus wherever he was, although the wild lands were like his special milieu.


Chapter 6