She could remember every tree she passed and when she didn’t recognize the look of one, she stopped and took a deep breath in through her nose. The scent led the way back.
Once Mackenzie found the main trail, she ran. She was pushing herself to run faster and harder than she had in the past. So fast that she had underestimated the time it would take her to slow down and ran right into Margret.
“Oh! Sorry!” Mackenzie took a few steps back to give the woman some room. Margret just offered the same motherly smile she gave to the others in the lobby.
“It’s not a problem. It’s really beautiful out here, isn’t it?” Margret took in a deep breath and looked around with wondrous awe. “I love being in nature. It’s like it is part of me. It calls to me. What about you?”
It was as if she read Mackenzie’s mind earlier and that didn’t sit well with her. “Yeah, something like that. But look, I ran into that girl you came with. She’s off the path and seems to be pretty upset. I was worried about her. I think you might want to go find her.”
“Analise? Of course.” Margret huffed a little in annoyance, like this was nothing new. “You mind telling me which way to go?”
Mackenzie took the next few minutes trying to explain how to find the clearing. A few times, she had to stop herself from giving details that included the special scent of the trees or leaves, or decomposing materials on the forest floor. Margret thanked her and left in the direction that Mackenzie had pointed.
For a group of people she had tried to avoid, she sure was having plenty of encounters with them.
~*~
Surprisingly, Mackenzie slept well that night, better than she had in the month since she learned her new fate. There were a few times before she fell asleep that she thought she heard someone outside her door, but when she opened to look, no one was there. She chalked it up to her increased paranoia leading up to the full moon.
With just one day left until the full moon, Mackenzie thought she ought to eat as much as possible. Perhaps a full stomach would limit the amount the wolf hunted.
A girl could hope.
The dining area inside the house was really homey. Everyone sat at two large tables that could hold sixteen each. Plates of eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage, fruit, potatoes, and every breakfast condiment you could think of, covered the tables. The food was served family-style. When each platter emptied, it was immediately replaced by a full one. When each plate passed Mackenzie, she took at least two servings worth. She ignored all the questioning looks and just dug in.
When she looked around the room and spotted the three people she couldn’t seem to shake, she was in shock. They all had taken plates full of food that made hers look like a child’s serving. When the man looked her direction, she was caught staring. Looking down at her plate quickly, she tried to hone her new skills and listen to the conversation coming from that side of the room. Blocking out the other noise was harder than she thought. She could easily hear everything in the room, but concentrating on one specific thing, that was not directly in front of her, was a challenge.
With a few moments of practicing on people closer to her, and slowly farther away with every conversation she eavesdropped on, her ears finally were able to pick up on Margret, Analise, and the man. She still didn’t know his name, and with as much of her attention as he drew, that was probably a good thing.
“Stop staring, Geoff! I swear it’s like you have never seen a pretty girl before.” Analise’s voice whispered.
“Now, now. Leave him be. If he is finally interested in someone, even if she isn’t the one, he is more than allowed to look. It’s good for men to explore their options. What would you say if we told you to ignore all the boys you might be interested in?” Margret chimed in.
“You did. If you remember correctly, I had a perfectly good boy back home. Then THIS happened and I had to come with you.” This time Analise wasn’t whispering. Her voice had risen to a level that was just barely below shouting and Mackenzie had a feeling that she wasn’t going to stop there.
“Ana. Chill. The. Fuck. Out.” Geoff said slowly, enunciating each word through gritted teeth.
Analise’s chair flew out from behind her, screeching against the floor as she stood. Her hands slammed down against the table and she shot a death glare at Geoff.
When Analise realized everyone had stopped eating and was watching her, she turned and left the room. Whispers filled the air in her wake, and it became too hard for Mackenzie to block out the other noise. She decided she had heard enough of their family drama. She instantly felt guilty for eavesdropping and more than a little embarrassed that Geoff’s family noticed the interactions between the two, even if they were from afar.
Politely placing her napkin on top of her plate, Mackenzie left the table, making sure to keep her eyes trained forward. She would not look at Geoff.
Okay, maybe just once.
~*~
Mackenzie packed her bag and headed back out to the trails. She was determined to keep to herself. What better way than to familiarize herself with the woods she hoped would keep the wolf occupied and away from wandering humans. Any sane person would not wander the dark forest in the middle of the night, but there were some who thought camping in freezing temperatures was a good idea. Her goal was to explore and identify any campgrounds. If she spotted any, she would turn around and go the opposite direction, to find a place that would allow her to wolf out with the least amount of damage.
A few hours into her hike, she spotted what looked to be an old campsite, but smelling a bit and checking the fire pit told her no one had been there in at least a few nights. Hopefully, they had moved on, but just in case, she turned around and left the trail as soon as she saw a break in the trees.
When the sun had set, she pulled her flashlight out of her bag and after 30 minutes, she left the woods that called to her so strongly. The steps that led up to the wrap around porch groaned under her feet. She couldn’t help but think how she agreed with them—groaning was the only way to express how she felt returning to the house. She had seen a rocking chair on her way out and she wanted to sit and rock and enjoy the cold air on her too hot skin. Too bad, it was already occupied.
“Should you really be out in the woods after dark?” Geoff asked, his dark brown eyes penetrating her yellow-green ones. His question and stare annoyed her. Who did he think he was?
“Should you really be talking to a stranger like you are her father?” Her irritation was evident in her tone, but her body language ensured her message was received how she intended. Her arms crossed over her chest, her hip cocked to one side and her eyes narrowed.
“Hey, I meant no harm. There are just a lot of dangers that lurk the woods when the sun sets. A girl like you might want to be careful.” Mackenzie scoffed at his statement. She WAS one of those dangers or at least she would be by the next night.
“A girl like me can take care of herself. I have since I was little.” Mackenzie wanted out of the conversation and away from the devastatingly handsome man before her, but looking at the door of the house, and imagining going inside was torture. Instead, she took the steps back down and sat on the bottom one.
She tried to focus on the sounds of the night. The wind blowing through the trees. The skittering of whatever bug hid beneath the house to try and hide from the winter’s chill. The few animals that roamed at night. But all she could hear was the fast heartbeat and breathing of the man behind her.
Why did she have to be so aware of him? So aware that she knew when he stood and moved closer to her. Aware that with every step down he took, her skin erupted in goose bumps, and aware of the heat he put off when he sat down beside her.
“Can I help you?” she asked, hoping to put him off with her chilled demeanor.
“Nope, I just like being close to nature. Something about being trapped inside a wooden box, no matter how big, doesn’t feel right sometimes. Know what I mean?”
She did know what he meant. It was as
if he read her mind. But she would never admit it to him. Just one more night and she would leave and find a new place to stay for a few weeks. Maybe pick up a little side job, if possible, to replenish some of her funds before the next full moon. “Nope.”
Mackenzie stood up and climbed the stairs slowly. Why did he have to be so nosey? Why couldn’t he have left her alone out there? Now she had to go up to her room just to escape the pull he had on her.
Her room was so closed up. It made her feel as though she were suffocating the minute that she opened her door. She ran to her window and threw it open before going back and closing the door behind her. Pulling a chair under her windowsill, she sat and pressed her forehead against the screen. When that wasn’t good enough and her irritation took over, she punched through it, sending the mesh and metal to the ground. Mackenzie leaned out the window, resting her elbows on the frame and her head in her hands. That was how she fell asleep.
~*~
Mackenzie’s eyes fluttered open the next morning, revealing at least ten feet of empty space before the ground. Jumping back, with one hand to her hammering heart, and the other gripping the windowsill for dear life, she vaguely remembered breaking the screen the night before. She was horrified at her actions. Her impulses were beginning to turn her into a delinquent! Who was she kidding? Running through the woods killing innocent animals was a precursor to being a psychopath. She should hope for delinquent.
Dashing out of her room and down the stairs, she slipped outside and snuck around the building to find the screen. Maybe she could throw it back up and into her room without anyone noticing? Only, the screen wasn’t there.
Mackenzie cursed under her breath. She didn’t have the cash to replace or repair the damn thing. Maybe if she went in and apologized and offered to work it off they would let her? Walking back around the house, talking to herself, practicing what she would say, she was startled by a little chuckle coming from the other side of the stairs that led to the porch.
She knew instantly that it was Geoff. She could feel the change in the air around her and she could (unfortunately) smell him. She had gotten a good whiff the night before when he sat next to her. The scent of cut grass, and the aroma of pure man, both penetrated her so deeply, it engrained itself into her memory.
“What is so damn funny?” He stood walking around the steps to stand in front of Mackenzie with a cocky grin on his face. It may or may not have been dazzling, not that she cared.
“You. First, you throw your screen to the ground, then you sleep half way hanging out your window, and now you talk to yourself, thinking you got busted. You really think I wouldn’t have heard you? The porch is seriously just ten feet around the corner.”
He had a point and she knew it. But if she hadn’t been caught by the owner, where was the screen. That’s when she realized that he must have moved it.
“Where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“You know what. Where is it?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
He was smirking. She was pissed. He thought it was a big joke and she wanted to wring his neck.
“You know damn well what. The fucking screen. Give it back now! I need to put it back. Why do you even care?” She was so angry she was shaking. Her eyes narrowed and she could feel her fingernails slicing through her palm where her fists were balled up.
“So they can see that it was broken instead of just thinking the last person who stayed in that room did something to it? You put a broken screen back, and they will know you broke it. There is no screen and they will just think you never opened your window to see it. It is really cold out after all. Who in their right mind opens their window when the weather is near freezing?”
Irritation flowed through her blood like lava. Not only had he insulted her, but he was right and that just pissed her off more. He helped her and she never asked for it. She never asked for anyone’s help.
“Whatever.” It was a lame response, but it was all she could come up with. She turned and walked away from him and into the house just to run straight into Margret.
Margret opened her mouth to speak but even before she could get a word out, Mackenzie said, “Geoff’s outside,” then pushed passed her.
It was a bad start to what she knew would be a bad day ending with a worse night. When she got to her room, she flung herself onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours. Maybe if she stayed in one place, she would keep her temper, her strength, and her emotions in check. Her skin itched with the need to be outdoors, but she willed it to shut the hell up, especially when there was a certain infuriating man wandering about.
Except, the longer she laid there, the more her mind had the chance to wander to dark places. What did she look like as a wolf? Was she a full animal, or because she was bitten, was she half-human, half-animal? Not one of the articles or books or websites she found on Lycanthropy had the same information. Not one detail was corroborated in all documents. Would she wake up in the morning covered in blood again? Would she be able to clean up before coming back to her room or should she just check out and hide her bag away, hoping that the wolf wouldn’t tear into it?
Her bag had remained in tact the last time, so she decided checking out would be best. No one would see her covered in blood and ask questions she couldn’t and wouldn’t answer.
Packing her belongings back into her bag, what little of them she had, she left her room and headed for the front desk. The children who had been chasing the poor cat were standing quietly beside their parents in a short line, waiting to speak with the woman at the desk.
“Hi.” The little girl waved at her, but her energy from the day before was gone.
“Hi,” Mackenzie smiled brightly at her, hoping to cheer her up. She didn’t know what was wrong, but seeing small children sad always made her heart hurt. It reminded her of her own sad childhood.
“We have to leave. I don’t want to.”
“This place sure is nice, but don’t you miss your own bed and your toys?”
“We’re moving. I don’t know where my stuff is. Mommy said it’s on the truck.” Mackenzie knew exactly what the little girl was feeling. They moved around many, many times in her childhood. Before her father got locked up, they moved constantly to keep him from being arrested. After the police caught him, they still moved constantly because her mother wasn’t able to hold down a job and they had to go wherever she could find work.
“I moved when I was little, too. It can be scary. Anything that changes can be scary. But you know what? There can be a lot of good to come with change.”
“Like what?”
“Well, were there any mean kids at your old school?” Mackenzie waited for a minute and the little girl nodded her head. “Well, you won’t have to see them ever again. They can’t be mean to you from far away.”
The little girls eyes began to open wider and a smile played at her lips. She was almost there. Mackenzie just had to push a little more.
“And is there anything you have wanted to do before? Or maybe other people thought you could only do one thing but you really want to do something else? Like when I was little, before I moved, I really wanted to play softball but the team was full and everyone told me to play basketball instead. I was okay at basketball, but I wanted to try something new. When I got to my new school, I tried out and made the softball team.”
“I like math. I heard some schools have math clubs. My old one didn’t. Do you think the new one will have it?” Finally, a full-blown smile filled the girls face. Mackenzie’s heart melted for her and a stray tear slipped from her eye.
“If they don’t, maybe you can ask a teacher about starting one.” Before Mackenzie knew what was happening, the little girl threw herself into Mackenzie’s arms, hugging her. Smiling at being able to help the girl, Mackenzie wrapped her arms around her, and hugged her back.
“OUCH!” The girl screamed and Mackenzie automatically let her go. T
he parents turned so quickly and her mother scooped her up while her father approached with fierceness in his eyes that you only see when a protective animal sees their baby in danger.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt her. She hugged me. I was just hugging her back.”
“Stay away from her. I don’t care if she did hug you, you should have backed away. What kind of sick freak are you, hurting little girls?” She could hear his blood thrumming through his veins. His breathing had increased and his nostrils were flaring with every breath he took. His aggressive position did not help her keep her cool. In fact, she lost it completely.
Mackenzie stood abruptly. Taking two steps forward, she went toe-to-toe with a man who had at least two inches on her, staring him in the eyes.
“It was an accident. I apologized. I suggest you back up. NOW!” Mackenzie could feel a growl in her chest begin to rumble forward, just as the man lifted his hands to push her out of his way. Before he was able to connect with her, Geoff stepped in, pulling the man in another direction while Margret placed her hands on Mackenzie’s shoulder.
Whirling around to glare at the woman who just squashed her chance to beat the shit out of the man willing to lay hands on a woman, she stopped short. When their eyes connected, she was able to calm down. She began to breathe slower and was able to think about what had almost happened. In that moment, it didn’t matter that Margret forced the calming presence upon her. All that mattered was that it worked.
The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series) Page 6