Dark Embrace by Brenda Joyce Read Free Book Online Page A

couldn’t see the page, for her vision suddenly blurred. The terrible Wolf of Awe could not be her Aidan. Her Aidan was a Master of Time, sworn to protect Innocence through the ages, a mighty hero defending mankind from evil, upholding God. And Aidan could not hang. He would simply vanish into the future or the past.
    Except he had been badly hurt.
    She started to cry, but wiped the tears away. She read the next sentences.
    His tomb had been carefully restored at the ruins of Castle Awe on Loch Awe. To this day, it remains a popular tourist attraction.
    She was so upset she was shaking. She looked at the plate Tabby had set down before her and wanted to wretch. Picking the plate up, she carried it to the kitchen, set it down and leaned hard on the counter. What did all of this mean?
    If she went to Loch Awe now, would she find the tomb and effigy she’d seen in her vision?
    The Wolf of Awe had been hanged. He was cruel, mercenary. Surely he was not the same man.
    But in her vision of him, she had seen her Aidan before he’d turned into stone. He’d worn a wolf’s fang.
    Good humans were possessed every single day and then they committed unspeakably evil acts.
    Brie moaned. Had Aidan become the Wolf of Awe? Was it somehow possible?
    Her head exploded with pain. Brie stepped behind the counter into her kitchen, opening the refrigerator to chug a glass of wine. She was shaking like a leaf. What had happened to him?
    Brie slammed the refrigerator door closed. She had to know what was in that Level Four file. She grabbed her purse and keys and stormed from the loft. If Nick wasn’t at his office, she’d wait.
    Â 
    H E FELT THE MOON SETTING for the third time.
    Aidan slowly came back to the tower room, a dark despair clawing at him. This hunt had lasted three days and he had not found anything.
    He blinked and adjusted his eyes to the dark, shuttered room. As the swirling black evil and the cries of innocence faded, he became aware of his body and his power. All sense of euphoric invincibility was gone. Most of what he had taken three nights ago was gone. The power in his body was hardly ordinary; it was that of the son of one of the greatest deamhanain ever known to Alba. He was arrogant enough to think he might, even without the extra life coursing through him, be capable of defeating a lesser god.
    Still he was tired. His body and his mind begged him for rest, but it was time to think of other, worldly matters. He commanded an army of four thousand men—some soulless humans, others fierce Highlanders. He usually sold his army’s services to the highest bidders, and had done so for the past sixty-six years. He didn’t care about the land, the mortal power—although he needed the gold to maintain his army, but he took vast pleasure in every single battle. If he could not engage Moray, he would go to war and relish destroying his other enemies, one by one.
    The MacDonalds were marching on Inverness, a royal garrison, and he was joining the rebels, as Malcolm had said. He had personally helped Donald Dubh, their imprisoned leader, escape from Innischonnail, where the Campbell had imprisoned him. Argyll had been infuriated. Had Ian lived, he would have been pleased and proud.
    A cry of alarm filled the tower.
    Aidan was on his feet, bewildered, unbelieving.
    He had met her once in the future, perhaps seventy years ago, and had not thought of her since then. Now he recalled a small woman with white powers, dressed in shapeless garments and ugly spectacles.
    Why had he just heard Brianna Rose cry out in alarm? How had he just seen her frightened face so clearly? He had ceased hunting evil through time.
    No other cries resounded, but he could feel darkness now, encircling her.
    Tension riddled his body. He did not protect Innocence; he used it ruthlessly for his own means, for the attainment of power. He did not want to know what was happening to her. He simply did not care about other