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

The first thing Aron noticed when he awoke was a subtle change in the light. Although the sky arching above remained gray, it seemed brighter and he could see more clearly. The pervasive bone-chilling cold had also subsided. Against his side, Clay now felt warmer as well, and Aron could hear breath and heartbeat without pressing an ear to his partner’s body.


Although he could not sense the familiar flow of energies, some force hummed along the ground. It felt as if each pair of stones communicated across the circle with the matching pair, a constant exchange in a vibration too low to hear and almost too deep to feel. These currents flowed all around him. All around Clay as well, providing them both with urgently needed sustenance.


Chapter 21