Read The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series) for Free Online Page A

to stop the pain and end her life so she would never have to feel it again. Except, when she tried, it felt like it clicked into place.
    As she crawled through the mouth of the cave, her spine snapped. That was the moment that Mackenzie fell to the floor, the fight gone from her as the animal inside took over.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    Snarling, the beast that had been Mackenzie just moments before stood. Taking a step out of the cave, the scent of the woods and all the animals that lived there woke her wolf from its stupor.
    Racing through the trees, knocking anything small enough out of the way and dodging around the others, the large black wolf with yellow-green eyes was hungry. It could smell the blood and the fear of something close.
    The forest went silent, with the exception of the thundering paws and heaving pants that the wolf left in her wake. Grinding to a halt, her eyes narrowed. Her vision was superb in the dark, her hearing so sensitive she could hear the ants scurrying beneath her feet. She focused on a copse of trees just across the way.
    Then she smelled it. Blood. Once she smelled it, all of her senses honed in on it. She could hear the animal breathing, and hear its heartbeat. She could see the glint of its eyes hiding behind the brush. Without a moment’s hesitation, she darted after it.
    Not able to match the speed of the wolf, the deer had no chance. The wolf clamped down on the animal, the blood spurting into her mouth. Ripping the flesh from the bone, the blood flowed until the creature was no longer breathing.
    The blood and meat had done nothing to satisfy the beast. It needed more, wanted more. With every animal taken down, with every drop of fresh blood, the wolf grew stronger. The night wore on and as the sky began to lighten with the rising sun, the wolf grew tired, falling asleep in the middle of a kill, muzzle still buried deep in the hide of a bear.
     
    ~*~
     
    Mackenzie’s eyes fluttered open. Every muscle in her body was sore and every joint ached. Her teeth were chattering and her skin was covered in goose bumps. Other parts were numb. Pressing her hands into the damp earth, trying to sit up, she saw that she was completely naked. That wasn’t the most disturbing part.
    She was also covered in blood.
    Letting out a scream, she tried to stand, but only slipped in the remains of the animal she must have killed the night before. She sobbed, sitting on the dirt with her knees pulled to her chest and rocked. She had no memory of the night. The last thing she could remember was the excruciating pain. She stood, wiping the tears from her face, but smearing blood along the way.
    “I’m sorry. I hope you didn’t have a family,” she whispered to the bear. Carefully stepping around the animal, trying not to look at it for too long, she searched for anything that might look recognizable. She hoped to find her way back to where she changed; maybe her backpack with the spare clothing had survived.
    Every birdcall or wind-whipped tree set her on edge. What had happened to the heat her body was throwing off the day before? She was burning up the whole day and then, as if she went from the Sahara to the North Pole in a single day, she was freezing. Of course, being outside in the middle of November without a single stitch of clothing on her body could have something to do with it.
    Finally, after two hours and many cuts (and subsequent healing) on her feet and legs, she came upon the cave. Lying off to the side were the tattered remains of the clothing that had adorned her body the night before and her backpack, completely unharmed.
    Diving for the bag, she stumbled and fell onto the leaf and needle covered ground. The zipper couldn’t open fast enough for Mackenzie to pull a water bottle out and drink the whole thing in one gulp. Tossing the bottle to the side, she opened up a second, this time, drinking a little slower.
    Deciding she needed to wash the blood off before trying to