Wolf Incarnate (Shadows Over the Realm) by Tara Bennet Read Free Book Online

 
    Chapter One
    “True love is just over the horizon, my dear,” said the old woman, smiling and patting Amber’s hand gingerly. “ The coming dark times will allow you to see its glowering light.” The woman put on a pair of reading glasses and pulled out receipt paper.
    “Now then, dearie. That’ll be thirty dollars. Will that be cash or charge?”
    Amber reached into her purse and finished the transaction, unsatisfied. Walking out the door of the woman’s tenement, she checked the horoscope app on her phone.
    Pieces - watch out! Today’s surprise fortune may have unforeseen consequences.
    She sighed. Amber didn’t consider herself a gullible woman, but despite the fact that she had never found herself walking away from a fortune-telling session or horoscope satisfied, she couldn’t give up her strange hobby. Addiction, more like , she thought, turning the engine of her car on and backing out.
    As she drove, she put on a favorite mix tape of hers. Time passed on the freeway, and her mind wandered and her eclectic tastes boomed through her open windows. Classics songs from the Rolling Stones and Isley Brothers intermingled with modern hits from The Strokes and Usher.
    Her friends were going out on the town tonight, and had invited her to hit the clubs with them. As usual, she’d passed. She rarely went out in the first place and, when she did, she preferred bars to clubs. Besides, there was a good book waiting for her at home.
    Her phone rang in the d ashboard cup holder below her radio. Picking it out and looking at it, it was her grandmother. She put it back down and let it ring. Not tonight, Big Momma.
    Amber loved her grandmother. After her mother died, Big Momma raised her. Shortly before she’d moved out, they’d had a falling out over whether Amber should leave for college. That woman can be so selfish at times , she mused, turning up the volume to drown out her thoughts.
    The truth was , the rift between them had started when Amber realized her grandmother wasn’t being entirely honest about her mother’s death. The bits and pieces she’d heard about what happened didn’t match up, and Big Momma was incredibly reluctant to speak about it. That might not have been so strange, but Amber always had the nagging suspicion that it wasn’t because it was painful to her so much as because Big Momma was hiding something. Amber was tired of being protected.
    The day rapidly approached in which she would wish for such simple times .
    The phone began ringing again, and Amber didn’t bother picking it up. She knew who it was. Big Momma was one of the most persistent people she had ever known. It was part of what made her such an effective person.
    “You know, you really should answer that,” said a voice next to her.
    Amber swerved the car, and everything blurred as she skidded to a stop sideways in the middle of the freeway. She backed against the driver side window, her mind taking a moment to catch up to what her eyes were seeing. Next to her, casually stretching his neck - as if from a tiring journey - sat a naked man. Her glance lingered between his legs a few moments, her eyes somehow growing wider than they already were. 
    The handsome stranger chuckled, his grey eyes smiling as he rubbed his five o’clock shadow with one hand.
    “Damn, looks like you sent me back too far. So much for Mistress of Time, eh?” he laughed, and took out a cigarette. “Speaking of which. Listen to me, I don’t have much --”  he broke off mid-sentence, terror growing in his eyes as his unlit cigarette fell from his mouth. He pointed behind Amber in horrified astonishment.
    Amber turned her head looking into the oncoming traffic. Still recovering from the shock of having a man appear in the seat next to her, she’d forgotten she was in the middle of a freeway. Seconds from the car, she could see the menacing grill of an eighteen wheeler, its horn honking urgently.
    “Amber, start the car,” said the stranger