“Wolf Master of Iron Mountain”

Francesca Quarto

WolfMastersofIronMountain-2

 

Chapter 1

 

The sleeping town of Iron Mountain was not in its first yawn of awakening when I stepped foot on its deserted main street. The clouds streaking across the face of the moon obscured much of its pale light. It had taken me twenty-five minutes of heavy trudging through the snow to arrive at this tableau of stores, brooding and silent in the dark. Only the old fashioned street lights shed any warmth on the scene. I gazed around me as my breath billowed out, adding to the fog that clung to the cold ground like a spectral throw rug. I tried to peer into the closed store fronts as I passed, but the lack of light kept their interiors a secret for later discovery.

I straightened up and made a slow semi-circle, studying the mist-shrouded mountains surrounding me like some crouching beasts in the grey light before dawn. It was sadly quiet, like a bell without a clapper. I felt a chill not related to the cold. I looked over my shoulder for the umpteenth time. Nothing. I turned back. Still, there was something off. Geez! I thought, looking back yet again. Still nothing. Totally paranoid, that’s what I am. There was a strange smell riding the waves of cold air, stirring as I moved on.

My senses were on high alert as they always were when I was in an unfamiliar environment. I might be overly cautious, but I was still alive and as my mom says in her understated way, “Life is a careful process, Cathleen, my pet. So watch where you place your feet.” In her slow Irish brogue, it had always sounded more ominous somehow.

Actually, it was mom who convinced me to make this odyssey. I had come to a major cross-roads in my career and life and had to make some serious decisions. Mom knew I needed the mountains and forests to find the peace and freedom I’d lost living in a big city. I’d complained to her many times that the only thing natural about the metropolis of Pittsburgh was the ubiquitous pigeons! And the men I’d met weren’t even as bright as the birds.

The snow crunching under my heavy boots penetrated the frigid air like the sound of muted firecrackers as I made a path into the heart of this Appalachian town. A village really, with so many artifacts from the 1800s, I felt like I’d stepped through a time portal. The weight of its long history bore down on me like the gaze of a hungry raptor. Did I make a huge mistake coming here? I speculated as my thoughts drifted along with the heavy snow.

Like so much in life, surprises and unforeseen circumstances are more common than flies in summer. I came into an unexpected inheritance when my grandfather passed away last year in Ireland shortly after my last visit with him. We always had a special relationship that brought us together in laughter at the wonderful stories of his youth on his beautiful Emerald Isle.

I had no idea that my grandfather was rich… let alone extremely rich. He had lived quite modestly. Overnight, I became a wealthy young woman, which helped support my already independent nature. Simultaneously, I also became the stand-alone O’Brien from my granddad’s side of that far-flung clan.

“Wolf Master of Iron Mountain” Description:

“Wolf Master of Iron Mountain” is Book I in the “Witch of Appalachia” series. It is an Urban Fantasy about Cathleen O’Brien, a Celtic Wizard living in the mountains of Appalachia. She is a sworn Protector of the first realm of natural life and trained by her Wizard father in the service to the Green Mother.

In this first book the young Wizard encounters the beauty of the mountains, a handsome Sheriff and a Skin Walker, long thought to be dead. He is responsible for a pack of werewolves that have been savaging the people of Iron Mountain for over a century. Cathleen sets out to end this reign of terror.

Along the way, she will make a new career for herself as the Witch of Appalachia. Book II “Dangerous Dreaming” continues her adventures.

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