The Wizard's Shield — Karen McCullough

A powerful wizard with a physics degree and a checkered past invents a shield to ensure he'll never again be tortured almost to death. The wizarding powers-that-be fear the repercussions of such a device and send his former girlfriend, an accomplished wizard herself, to retrieve the device or destroy it. When the shield is stolen and makes its way into the hands of the magical underworld, Ilene McConnell and Michael Morgan have to set aside their differences and work together to recover it. Michael claims he needs the device as insurance against the kind of injury and injustice he suffered once before. Ilene insists its potential to upset the delicate balance of power makes it too dangerous and that it needs to be destroyed. None of that will matter if they can't retrieve it before a ruthless, powerful wizard learns how to use it for his own ends.