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

As they approached the pillar, they could hear as well as feel it, a dissonant musical hum, rising and falling in a variable pitch and cadence. At times, there almost seemed to be words with the music, a chant or lyric in a language they could not understand. The ground beneath their feet shuddered like a dog shaking itself. Then the sand shifted, moving away from the monolith on all sides so it appeared to rise from a subterranean shelter.


A faint glow began deep in the heart of the column and the dulled surface seemed to slough off along with the sand until the needle of crystal gleamed. Now it reflected the light of several suns, a shimmering rainbow with many more colors than any spectrum on Earth or Elvenheim. Finally, the sound resolved into words, half heard and half sensed.


Chapter 25