The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series)

by James, Adrianne

  Everyone in the lobby was staring at them. She was thankful that the children had been ushered out by their mother and had not witnessed the argument. Dropping her head into her hands, she let out a small whimper. That was her best attempt at not crying because she had lost control yet again. It was her fault. She tried to help, tried to have contact with someone, and ended up hurting them and almost hurting someone else. She knew then that she had to keep moving as a lone wolf.

  “Mackenzie…” Geoff spoke softly, attempting to comfort her but she didn’t deserve his comfort. She deserved to feel the guilt and the sorrow.

  Chapter 9

  Mackenzie turned and ran from the farmhouse, throwing her key to the desk as she passed. She knew she should stop and ask for a refund for her remaining night, but couldn’t afford to break down and lose control around people again.

  The grass, brittle from the winter, crunched beneath her feet with every step she took toward the cover of the trees. She had always been faster than most. It’s what made her an asset to any team she played on, either softball or basketball, but since the change, she was more than just an above average runner. She was FAST. The weight of her bags would hinder a normal person, but they were feather light to her. She realized this when she needed to flee, she was able to do so with ease.

  When she broke through the tree line that led to the cleared patch where she had found Analise the other day, she threw herself to the ground. While running at top speeds didn’t wear her out, she was winded. She also felt the familiar tingle that meant her body was healing itself from something. Studying her arms and feeling her face proved that while her heart and lungs could stand up to the forest, her skin wasn’t so agreeable.

  She hadn’t even felt the cuts and scratches when she had gotten them. Could the adrenaline pumping through her have helped with that? Mackenzie really didn’t know, and not for the first time, she wished she could find the asshole that bit her to explain some of the ins and outs of this new life of hers.

  Mackenzie lay on her back in the middle of the circle for the rest of the day and into the night. She had been snacking on the energy bars and beef jerky she had brought until she couldn’t stand to eat anymore. When she began to feel a hum under her skin, she knew the transition was about to begin. She stood and removed her clothing.

  A crack came from the tree line followed by what sounded like a sharp intake of breath, but before Mackenzie could even respond, the moon had reached its peak. The light danced on her skin as she fell to the ground in agony.

  ~*~

  The wolf rose from the ground on high alert. Something was out there. Sniffing the air, her fur stood on end and a snarl escaped. Taking one cautious step after another, she followed the noise and the scent of another. The familiarity of the smell told her to be wary, but the scent of blood, fresh flowing blood, distracted the beast. Forgetting all about what lay behind the trees in front of her, the wolf dashed off in search of the hunt.

  The wolf didn’t even take the time to notice what animal lie in front of her. All that mattered was it was warm and slow enough for her to capture it within her teeth. Ripping the flesh from her kill, she heard another noise. Turning her head ever so slowly, a growl permeating from her chest, she spotted another.

  It was large, larger than her, and all black. As it took two steps forward, Mackenzie latched onto her now unrecognizable kill and dragged it two steps back. All the while letting the stranger know, in no uncertain terms, this was hers.

  The black wolf dropped its head, but still kept its eyes on her, then its front legs, followed by its hind legs until in was laying down. Tearing off a final chunk from her kill, Mackenzie wolf bolted in the opposite direction.

  More than once, she spotted the black wolf. Each time her hackles rose and growls rumbled in warning, but it never approached her.

  In an instant, the watching wolf became more than a tolerance. The scent that echoed through her body was one she couldn’t ignore. Howling, declaring her dominance in the blood that called to her, she ran. Knocking down trees and crushing anything that lay in her path, she made it to her meal.

  A thin layer of material covered the warm body whose blood made Mackenzie wolf’s body vibrate with need did nothing to protect it. Her claws ripped through the material as if it were made of tissue, the scream that laced the air of the forest was cut short as her teeth latched on.

  ~*~

  The sun rose and light poured onto Mackenzie’s face. Blinking and holding her hand up to shield her eyes, she was able to see the blood. Oh God, not again. Looking away from her outstretched hand was hard; keeping herself from vomiting at the site that lie around her was impossible.

  Rolling over onto her stomach, she pulled herself up to her knees as she wretched. The vomit that flowed from her mouth was red. More proof that the destruction and utter terror that she sat in was her doing.

  Scraps of fabric covered her and a stray hand lay beside her. She had killed someone. She was a murderer. She was a monster. Mackenzie stood, desperately looking around for something to tell her who it was. Man or woman? Adult or...child?

  Before she found the answer to her question, the trees around her rustled. As if her feet were frozen to the ground, she couldn’t move. She whipped her head to the tree line, and to her utter horror, Geoff stepped through. Naked.

  Chapter 10

  Mackenzie was too shocked at what she was seeing to cover herself. Geoff stepped toward her with his hands in the air, as if in surrender. When she saw him look around at the carnage that lay heart her feet, the floodgates opened and she collapsed, sobbing hysterically.

  It was only when she felt a hand on her back that she moved, and she moved quickly. She was still naked and this perfect stranger just happened to approach her in the same way. That was when it hit her—why the hell was he naked?

  “What is going on?” She thought back on their brief interactions, all of them with Geoff and his family. It was as if the pieces to a puzzle were falling together and she could finally see the whole picture. “Are you...like me?”

  “Yes.”

  Mackenzie wasn’t sure if she was relieved she wasn’t alone or scared out of her mind. The only other werewolf she had met, had been in wolf form, and it was a vicious beast. As if he could feel her apprehension, he moved back a little more.

  “Did I do this?” she couldn’t look at him when she asked. She couldn’t look anywhere but at the hand. The only piece of the person left behind, at least the only piece recognizable as a person. Bones were broken into small bits. Some looked a lot like her old black lab’s rawhide bones she would get him for Christmas. The ground was covered with blood so thick it could have been painted on.

  “Yes.” Geoff said without a hint of apathy. It was as if it were just a fact of life. But if he knew she did it, why didn’t he stop her? Did he try?

  “Yes, that’s it? Tell me. Tell me what I did. I need to know. Why can’t I remember? Why the fuck can’t I control it?” She was screaming. She stood and began pacing around the area, picking up rocks or sticks and throwing them with all her strength, shattering wood into a million splinters.

  “Because you’re new.” This time it wasn’t Geoff’s voice that pulled her from her rant. Instead, it was Margret. When she turned and saw the elegant woman covered in dirt and leaves without a stitch of clothing on her, she knew the truth. They were all Werewolves and for some reason she had a feeling it wasn’t all that coincidental that they found her out in the woods.

  “Where is Analise?”

  “She is cleaning off, the blood bothers her. She’s new, too. Only been turning for four cycles now.”

  “What is happening to me?” the words came out in a whisper, she didn’t want to know, but she needed to. “Will I ever be able to control it?”

  “There is so much happening inside of you right now, Mackenzie. So much, and I promise to explain everything in detail if you want me to, but basically? Right now, your body is adjusting to i
ts new form. It’s like mixing hot and cold. You have to do it slowly, to give it time to adjust without completely exploding. Have you ever poured boiling water into an ice-cold glass? The results aren’t pretty. You have to temper it first. Slowly introduce the hot to the cold. Your human body is the glass. The wolf is the boiling hot liquid. You’re in the tempering stage. That’s why you have no control, no memories of your time as a wolf.”

  Mackenzie stayed quiet for a long moment. She looked back and forth between the two and knew she needed them. They could teach her what she needed to know, about what she was and who she was going to become. But why hadn’t they told her sooner? Why wait until after the change? She knew she needed them, but she wasn’t sure she trusted them.

  ~*~

  Analise came through the way Margret had come with a scowl on her face.

  “Whoa, looks like I’m not your biggest issue this cycle, huh, Margret?” Mackenzie glared at her, felt her body shake with anger, which quickly turned to utter despair. She was right. She was a huge problem and she needed to be locked in a cage. She needed to be put down like a rabid dog. She needed to be a lot of things and a fucking Werewolf wasn’t one of them.

  “Analise! ENOUGH! We have all had bad cycles, you included!” Analise put her hands up in front of her in mock surrender.

  “Geez, can’t take a joke? You gotta lighten up or this whole wolfy business is going to drive you insane.” How could she be so nonchalant about the whole thing? Mackenzie was appalled. Her life was crumbling around her and this girl makes it into a huge joke.

  “There is nothing funny about this!” Mackenzie motioned around her, yelling at Analise. “This is murder! I killed whoever it was and I don’t even remember it! It could have been a kid or a mother or a preacher! They didn’t deserve this!”

  Turning her back on the group she began walking around quickly, picking up any piece she could that belonged to her victim. Victim. It was hard to even think the word, but that is what this person was—a victim. She had turned from the victim into the perpetrator.

  “What are you doing?” Geoff asked, looking at her puzzled.

  “I’m not just going to leave them like this! The least I can do is bury them. Otherwise, some other animal is going to come out here and cart off each piece as some treasure meal. Leave the blood and the tent so when their family sends someone out, they will know something happened and get to say goodbye, but I refuse to let this body be any more destroyed than it is now.”

  Without having any tools lying around, she began to dig with her fingers. After a few minutes, there were two more sets of hands helping her. Margret and Geoff just looked at her with pity.

  “What? Don’t feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for them. They died and I did it. I don’t deserve any sympathy.”

  “Mackenzie, that isn’t true. We all have a hard go of it to begin with, but many Werewolves don’t have to go alone. There are packs, families that look out for each other. Help each other. You don’t have to be a lone wolf.”

  When the hole was big enough, they began putting the bloody bits and pieces in. The dirt fell in on top of the body with the help of Geoff and the others just stood, watching at least part of the evidence of the night before disappear from sight.

  ~*~

  After cleaning up and dressing, they all walked back to the trail together in silence. Mackenzie had so many questions but she just didn’t know where to start. Looking at her companions, she figured she would start off with an easy question to get the ball rolling.

  “So, why did my and Analise’s eyes change, but yours didn’t? I mean, that is if her being born with them was a lie and all, which I’m pretty sure it was. Not that I really know if she is lying but the coincidence is just—”

  “You two were bitten, we were born. When you are born as a Were, your eyes only change when you do.” Margret interrupted her rambling.

  “So only at the full moon?”

  “No. Born wolves can change whenever they want. Bitten wolves can only change at the full moon for a while. Eventually, when they gain more control, they can change whenever they want to as well. Part of the whole ‘little at a time to keep your human body intact’ thing.”

  “Tempering, right. Can you tell me more about the packs?” Mackenzie really did want to know about them, she just hoped that Margret would tell her about their pack in particular. Margret smiled that motherly smile at her, tipping her head to the side a bit.

  “Of course. Our pack is large. We have seventeen living with us in Montana, then another ten in California, and twelve in Alaska. I travel between them all throughout the year. Lucky for you, we got an anonymous tip about a pup—or newly bitten— that seemed to need some guidance. We found Analise at the last cycle, and then just happened to run into you at this one. You know, the Montana house has room for one more.”

  “For Analise, right?” She shouldn’t expect this woman to just offer her up a place to stay. Her luck wasn’t that good.

  “Analise is going to the California house. It was the only way to get her to agree to come with us.”

  “Screw snow; give me surfer guys any day!” Analise hooted from the end of the line they were walking in. Mackenzie laughed a little. Her first smile since before the incident with the little girl the day before.

  “So what have you been doing for the last month? Why not just go back right away?”

  “It took a while to convince her. First to the house, then a promise that I wouldn’t be staying there,” Geoff said, slightly offended.

  “Oh, where do you live?” She tried to be cool and collected like she didn’t really care, all the while her insides were buzzing with the thought of possibly living in the same house. She tried to calm herself; there was no reason to get all girly about it. He wasn’t going to be interested in her.

  “Montana. Someone has to keep the boys from wreaking havoc in town.”

  Margret and Analise fell back and let Mackenzie and Geoff walk together. Their whispers started to fade as she listened to Geoff go on and on about the winter sports that he was sure she would love. Something about getting the aggression out in a safe and fun way.

  “Snowboarding is great, and when you don’t have to worry about breaking your neck, you can do all kinds of shit that most people can’t. You should see the looks we get, half are in awe and the others are terrified we are going to kill ourselves.”

  “What about the girls?”

  “What about them?”

  “You said you have to keep the boys from wreaking havoc, what about the girls? With everything that’s happened since I changed, I can’t imagine the girls not causing trouble, too.”

  “Oh, they do, but it’s different. Have you ever seen two best guy friends fight? They get into it, knock each other around, get bored, and find something to do. Usually something knuckle-headed that can get them in trouble outside the house. Girls? When they fight, it’s emotional warfare. They don’t bother with the getting past it by bonding over paint-balling a bowling alley.”

  “The boys paint-balled a bowling alley?”

  “Sure did. They went out in the middle of the night, scaled the buildings surrounding it, and had a blast. When the sirens went off, they ran and since they never touched anything, and are fast as fuck, they never got caught. Margret was pissed. Made them volunteer to help clean up when the local college was doing a community service drive.”

  “Do you guys go to college?” Her hope was rising that she would be able to return to school someday. She really didn’t want the label of drop out. Wasn’t Werewolf enough?

  “Some do, but only the ones with some years under their belt. Why? You want to go back to college?”

  “Yeah, when the chances of me yelling at my professors or breaking desks is a thing of the past.”

  “I hate to say it, but those will always be possibilities. You can learn to control it, but we all have bad days.”

  The edge of the forest drew near, and Margret and Analise retu
rned to their side. Mackenzie hadn’t realized how long she and Geoff had been left alone to talk. The knowing grin on Analise’s face was expected, but definitely not welcome. She tried to plead with the girl with her like-colored eyes to knock it off. She couldn’t mess this up just because some boy made her feel safer than she had since her entire life had been turned upside down.

  Chapter 11

  The three pack members entered the farmhouse, leaving Mackenzie outside where she leaned against their car. She refused to go back in after the scene she caused with the little girl’s father. But standing there alone, she couldn’t help but try to search her mind for any small memory of the night before. Something had to have stuck. The more she tried, though, the more her head hurt.

  I deserve the headache. Without warning, images flashed through her mind. The severed, gnawed on hand, the tent torn to shreds, the bloody remains being buried. Falling to the ground, she cried. She needed to be stronger. This was her life now. She had no control over what had happened in the past. She needed to look forward. She needed to learn everything she could about her new life and she needed to make it work. No more tears. She had to make shit work her whole life. She did it then. She could do it again.

  Wiping the salty droplets from her face with her sleeve, she stood. The resolve she had coursing through her made her stand straighter, breathe easier. If her father taught her one thing before he was locked up, it was how to appear strong until you were strong. Appearance is everything. If you allow yourself to look weak, you will be weak. She would no longer be weak, no matter how long it took for her insides to catch up with her exterior.

  Analise came down the steps first with the car keys and popped the trunk open. The girls loaded their bags before Analise looked to Mackenzie with a sad smile.