The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series) (7 page)

The young man who accompanied the woman, who was tall with broad shoulders and a fitted shirt that showed off the muscles of his sculpted chest, had deep brown eyes that just so happened to be looking directly at her. His lips ever so slowly lifted into a lazy half smile and then he winked at her. Looking away quickly, Mackenzie almost missed the girl with them who kept her eyes to the floor and shuffled her feet as they all moved forward.

~*~

Luckily, for both Mackenzie and the trio who came in after her, they still had rooms available. She could feel the young man watching her, but she refused to turn back around. She had no business looking at anyone like that; nothing could come of it anyway. Men complained about a normal woman’s time of the month, what on earth would any man think of her
time of the month
?

Taking her key from the man behind the desk, Mackenzie practically bolted for her room. With every step away from the newcomers, she lost that safe feeling and her nerves were on edge again.

Once she reached her room, opening the door turned out to be more problematic than it should have been. She put the key in the lock and when she went to turn it, the key snapped in two. Staring down at the broken piece of metal in her hand just angered her. Why couldn’t she get control of her strength? Would it always be like this? What if she tried to shake someone’s hand, or hug someone? She could crush them. The more time that went on, the more of life’s pleasures that were taken from her without her having any choice in the matter. She hated it.

Returning to the front desk, she tried to breathe deeply, tried to count to ten and back down to one, even tried thinking happy thoughts, to calm herself down before she spoke to anyone. But nothing worked. She couldn’t conjure any happy thoughts at the moment. All she could think of was bared teeth, hideous breath, and blood. So much blood.

“My key broke in the lock.” Mackenzie didn’t wait in line. She didn’t say excuse me. Her manners were simply gone and she really didn’t care. They were lucky she was clenching and unclenching her fists to give them something to do because all she wanted them to do was crash through the stupid desk.

“Oh my! I am so sorry about that. Let me get you a new room and room key.” The woman worked quickly, making the adjustment on her computer before handing over another key. “Room seven, just up the hall and to the right.”

Mackenzie just nodded and turned to find her new room when she bumped right into the girl who never took her eyes off the floor. Before Mackenzie could force herself to apologize, the girl looked up with murder in her eyes. Her yellow green eyes.

“Watch where you are going!”

Mackenzie couldn’t respond. It was as if cold water had been dumped on her head. All anger left her body but her heart continued to race, beating faster with a feeling of hope that she might not be alone after all.

“HELLO! What are you fucking deaf?”

“Your eyes? Have they always been that color?” Mackenzie whispered.

“What? Oh. Yes, yes, they have now leave me the fuck alone.” The girl walked away quickly to find her group.

As if she had never found her cool, her muscles contracted, and her eyes narrowed as she watched the girl with the long blonde hair and slim figure retreat. Mackenzie took a deep breath and when that didn’t work, she punched a hole through the wall in the hallway as she walked toward her room. She looked around hoping no one had spotted her and when she was sure she was in the clear, she ducked inside.

Chapter 8

As soon as Mackenzie had calmed herself down, she locked her room and headed for the back door of the large farmhouse. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one with that idea.

The woman from the lobby was standing next to the door, putting on her jacket. While the woman looked to be in her early forties, she was extremely beautiful. Her light brown hair had been tucked into her jacket and when she reached up to pull it out, Mackenzie saw that the woman’s hands were not soft and elegant as she imagined they would be. Seeing her standing there, in designer jeans and a killer coat, with hair that looked to be styled by a professional, she kind of expected to see perfectly manicured fingernails and maybe a ring or two. Instead, the hand had short fingernails with dirt lining the undersides of them without a single piece of jewelry in sight.

“Going out?” the woman asked, opening the door.

The weather was still cold, but it didn’t matter. The beauty that was before her took her breath away. The scent of the earth and the moisture in the air drew her forward. Apparently, being a Werewolf really makes a girl appreciate nature.

“Yeah, thanks.” The moment that Mackenzie walked through the door her skin began to hum as the fresh air and hard ground beneath her feet worked their way into her system. It took every ounce of self-control she had to not run through the grass to the trees to start exploring. It didn’t matter what she was doing, as long as she wasn’t trapped inside the walls of the house. It wasn’t until she heard the footsteps behind her that she spun around with her adrenaline pumping, ready to strike if she needed to protect herself.

“Whoa, sorry about that. I just wanted to walk the trails in the park. I’m Margret.” The woman held her hand out for her to shake and after a moment, Mackenzie took it in her own. Calm seeped into her skin, pushing back her protective nature. As much as she craved the calmness, alarm rang through her. It had to have been Margret that set her at ease, but it was such a sudden change. Pulling back, she stared at this woman, wondering what on earth she was. Was she a vampire? Werewolves were supposed to be able to sense them right? Was she a witch? Somewhere she read that Werewolves were magic and magic could feel other magic. Or was she another Werewolf?

“Mackenzie. Excuse me.” Mackenzie took a harsh right as they entered the tree line following one of three paths laid out. Hoping the woman took the hint and didn’t follow, she stayed the course. Once she felt she was far enough away, she looked over her shoulder. Margret was nowhere in sight. Taking in a deep breath of relief, she hoped she was just over reacting.

When she felt she was far enough from the entrance, and certain that no one was close by, she ventured off the dirt path and into the thick forest. Large trees, each with its own unique scent, surrounded her. She was really beginning to get the hang of the sensory overload she gained with her change.

The quiet snapping of a twig was common, she had found, when out in the woods far from where people roamed. She was in the animal’s territory and they made noises, disrupted the environment around them, and didn’t care for her presence too much. But the twig snapping wasn’t what caught Mackenzie’s attention. Someone was out there, screaming and crying.

Mackenzie sprinted toward the sound. She had to help whoever it was, this far off the path they could be hurt or lost. She at least knew the way back. But when she reached a small clearing in the trees, and found the source of all the commotion, she wished she had never come.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” the bitchy girl from the house yelled without even turning around to look at Mackenzie.

“I heard all the noise, and thought someone might need some help. Sorry.” Mackenzie turned to leave and heard the girl mumble something about “no one can help me now.” Not knowing what to do, Mackenzie went back. Maybe she could find Margret and tell her where to locate the girl. Maybe Margret would know what to do. She really shouldn’t care, the girl was a royal bitch and all, but no one should be alone when they are that upset. But finding the woman who she practically ran from just an hour before wasn’t something a practical person would do. But was she even a person anymore? All she knew was that girl needed someone and it wasn’t her. Unease settled in her. Mackenzie had always followed her gut instincts and she was questioning it. Looking back at the girl, and hearing her tormented cries, Mackenzie knew she had to find Margret to help her. She couldn’t leave her like that without trying to help, no matter how much the two of them clashed.

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.