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

After spending more time talking with Balinor while Falinora took Marishal off to do something else, Clay gained an understanding of what had taken place and why Balinor had abandoned his human lover and her son. As Aron had always asserted, it had not been his choice.


Balinor seemed to relate the complex tale as briefly and baldly as he could. Still, some of his pain and sorrow echoed in his speech and tone. He explained Aron’s father had been the warden and wanderer of his time. He had begun teaching young Aron of the duties when something had gone terribly wrong. In the disaster, Alondel had barely managed to send his son, though gravely injured, back to Elvenheim. Alon had never again appeared or been heard from.


Chapter 19