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

Sensations became too fragmented and uncertain for him to know whether or not Clay still held to him. He reached, as through burning wet sand, while the particles of space grated against his skin. Did he find his partner’s hand? He thought so. Then he visualized prying it free from his belt, clasping it for a heartbeat in his own. He built a mental image of the one place he knew better than any other. Then, with a shove of pure, concentrated energy, he sent Clay speeding toward that place.


Aron knew he might never see his lover again, but if fate were kind, he would believe Clay survived, safe in a gentle and beautiful place, and perhaps could eventually go from there to his own home. Aron had done the best he could.


Chapter 15