The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series) (28 page)

BOOK: The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series)

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"Correct and no, there were no kings. Back then, women were in charge. Only born female Weres can guarantee an offspring with the Were gene. Even now, many packs have female pack leaders. Rosalinda’s mother, Gwendolynn and her court were strict with the rules governing their kind. They were diligent in enforcing the rules, both for the wolves protection as well as the humans. Then, one day, Gwendolynn was found dead along side of her was her court and her mate. Rosalinda was heartbroken after her parent’s death and thought that the wolves of the world should have protected her parents instead of killing them. There were rogues that didn't want to live under a ruler. They wanted to feast whenever they wanted and mate whenever they wanted with whoever they wanted and there were strict rules about that back then. So when Rosalinda took over, she really took over. She executed any who would go against her or spoke ill of her parents. She began turning humans to create her army and even infiltrated the human royalty by marrying a duke and having an affair with the King.

"Rosalinda wanted power and obedience. She was the exact opposite of her parents in that way. They wanted harmony and safe living amongst the humans, which was the reason for the rules. Rosalinda had Margret with the Duke. She had planned on having at least one more child, but had hoped to have the King's offspring to further cement herself into the human royal world. But her wolves were becoming overly aggressive and sloppy in their procurement of new pups before she could do that. The humans began to hunt our kind. She was killed by her own husband while Margret, only a small child, was in the back bedroom.

"As Margret aged, she noticed the changes in herself and was so grateful her father did not. When she turned for the first time, she killed him. She had always known what she was and knew that she had to keep it a secret from everyone after watching her mother bleed to death on their stone kitchen floor. She ran in the middle of the night to where her mother spoke of family living and they took her in, taught her how to be a wolf and how to be an example to those who while no longer under their rule, looked to them for guidance and support.

"After a while, she became restless. Wanting to take action against those who had been so careless to get caught and in the end get her mother killed. No one would tell her. No one knows if they were being truthful when they said they didn't know who it was, or if they just didn't want any more conflict among our kind and lied to her to keep her from starting trouble. Margret left the pack and started out on her own. She has lived on every continent and had many lovers both human and were. She believes in her birthright as a royal were and that of her children. Don't ask how many, I'm not really sure."

Mackenzie sat their completely dumbfounded. She didn't know what to say. Liam had stood and was pacing the room, looking to Mackenzie then to Geoff and would open his mouth just to close it again. Finally, he spoke.

"So, where do you come into the story?" Liam asked. He watched Geoff with trained eyes. His pacing had stopped and his body stood rigid. Mackenzie looked between the men, she knew that neither particularly like the other even though just a few weeks prior they were the best of friends. She wanted to remind them of the old saying "bros before hoes" but she refused to call herself a hoe for one and for two...what if they decided to leave her behind because she was causing too much trouble between them?

"Margret found me just after my first change when I was sixteen. I had grown up in an orphanage and like I told Mackenzie a while ago, had gotten a letter just before warning me of what was to come. I knew of Margret's plan to grow our number by setting a quota for each member old enough to have complete control. I knew she wanted a powerful pack. I did not know about her war on the others."

"How is it that you were her third in command, knew about EVERYTHING else, but didn't know about her plan to force everyone into submission like her mother had? Seems like a really big blind spot and I didn't take you for an idiot, Geoff. Well, at least not an idiot when it came to anything besides Mackenzie."

"HEY!" Mackenzie screamed out, standing from the bed. It was her turn to pace while she thought of exactly what to say. When her mind was finally made up she stood directly in front of Liam, her hand balled into fists at her side and she could feel the anger radiating throughout her body. "What was or is between Geoff and I is our business just as what was or is between you and I is our business and I will not have either of you throwing insults at the other over me. Because by insulting him you are insulting me. Do you both understand?"

They each mumbled their agreement and Mackenzie took a calming breath, counted her backward numbers, and when she felt completely in control, returned to sit on the bed. "Now, ignoring our jacked up relationship status for a while, what the hell are we going to do? Find the pack of one of Rosalinda’s siblings? That seems highly unlikely. I mean, they all started off in Europe right?"

"I don't think we should look for any other pack. We become loyal to one another. We become our own pack." Liam stood as he spoke. Mackenzie knew what he was saying. He wasn't ready to trust anyone else. They could only trust one another.

"Our own pack? And who is pack leader? Who makes decisions? Who do we vow our loyalty to? Three isn't a pack. Three is just a few rogues who have nowhere to call home. We need a pack for protection you dumb ass."

"I agree with Liam. I am not ready to trust anyone else. I mean, I thought Margret was this amazing woman who saved me and could show me how to live and look how wrong I was about that bitch. No. We stick to just us."

"You two are going to get us killed." Geoff stormed from the room and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Sighing, Mackenzie flopped back onto the bed and covered her eyes with her arm. With the light blocked out, she could almost pretend that the last few months of her life never happened. That she was in her tiny apartment just on the other side of Harvard Campus and that she had to write a paper on the mythology of ancient Europe. If only that could be true.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Growing up, Adrianne couldn’t get her hands on enough books to satisfy her need for the make believe. If she finished a novel and didn’t have a new one ready and waiting for her, she began to create her own tales of magic and wonder. Now, as an adult, books still make up majority of her free time, and now her tales get written down to be shared with the world.

During the day, Adrianne uses her camera to capture life’s stories for clients of all ages and at night, after her two children are tucked in bed; she devotes herself to her written work. Adrianne is living the life she always wanted, surrounded by art and beauty, the written word and a loving family.

As a young adult author, Adrianne James has plans to bring stories of growing characters, a little romance, and a little magic and mythology for her readers to enjoy.

Where to find Adrianne James:

Twitter:
@Adrianne_James

Facebook: http
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