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As soon as he got off the phone with the appointments made, Ian knocked.
“I’m heading up to the cave to see the damage. Some of the other shifters from other clans are going that way. Do you wanna come with us?”
“Absolutely,” Zac said.
The climb up the mountain didn’t seem quite as long as it did the first time when they were looking for the women.
“Wow,” Zac exclaimed when he saw the cave.
It had completely collapsed. Rocks filled the entrance and there was an indention in the side of the mountain where it had fallen in.
“Whatever was in that cave will be hidden forever,” Matthias said, looking at it. “I would like to know whether the relics were in there.”
“If they were, it is better that they are buried. No one needs to have anything with that kind of power,” Marvin said.
“True enough,” Matthias said. “That kind of power in anyone’s hands would be extremely dangerous.”
The wolf shifters were sniffing around the area. One of them said, “Over here. You can smell it. Death.”
Everyone carefully dug in the area and found the graves of four younglings and seven adult shifters. The bodies were carefully pulled out of the graves and wrapped in the sheets that were brought for this purpose. It accounted for all of the missing people. Marvin and the other dragon shifters carefully transported the dead to the clearing where most of the shifters changed into their alternate forms.
The elders were waiting for the wolf shifters that had been found. They would be honored that evening and then their bodies would be cremated on a pyre.
Zac and Elder Ivan visited the families and gave them the news. The families already had an idea that their loved ones were gone, but hearing it ripped their souls into shreds. Zac’s heart broke for them. He felt helpless to comfort them. There were no words he could say to take away their pain. Even knowing that the people responsible didn’t take away the anguish of losing their family members.
He was still feeling distressed when he got back into the office to document the notifications when Tami came into his office. She had a smug look on her face.
“Tami, I don’t have time for whatever crap you have up your sleeve,” he growled at her.
“You’ll want to hear this,” Tami said. “I was worried about you because of whatever spell Olivia seemed to have on you, so I did some digging. Olivia was dumb and never bothered to do something about her license plates on her car. I searched using them and found out a lot of information. She was supposed to marry the alpha of her own pack, but he denounced her when their sage prophesized that Olivia was going to cause a war between her pack and another pack.”
Tami paused and waited for a reaction. Zac just stared at her and waited for Tami to tell him the rest of what she had discovered. She took it as a sign that he was shocked because she gleefully continued her report.
“The alpha, whose name is Declan, put her in prison and planned on having her executed for betraying her pack. She escaped and now because of that, the entire pack has been cursed. They’ve suffered some terrible things lately. Now, she’s brought her curse to us,” Tami declared. “You have to make her leave Angel’s Creek.”
Fury exploded inside of him. Zac stood up and roared at her, “You have crossed the line and overstepped your bounds. I already knew about Olivia’s past. This whole thing is ridiculous. Olivia is a terrific person. Prophecies aren’t real, and curses only come true when people think they are coming true. It’s like when someone gets a chain email and doesn’t send it out, their brain can look at ordinary events as bad luck.”
“That’s not true,” Tami protested. “I know witches who do curses. Look at Marsden.”
Zac sucked in a huge breath, trying to control his temper and not say something that he would regret.
He calmly said, “You are being ridiculous. You need to back off. As a matter of fact, I think that you should go home. Don’t worry about coming in tomorrow. I’ll find a new place for you next week.”
Tami started to cry and Zac said, “And if I hear one word of this from anyone else, there will be some very significant consequences. Now, get out.”
“But, I…” Tami started.
“I said get out,” Zac thundered.
Tami ran out the door, pushing past Ian who was coming in.
“What the fuck?” Ian asked.
Zac sat down heavily in the chair and ran his fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes and sighed. “Tami decided to do some research on Olivia and found out about her past. She also found out that Declan is claiming that Olivia has cursed the pack.”
“Damn,” Ian said. “I wouldn’t put it past her to do something stupid with the information. I think that her little crush on you has become a monster. Between her and the guys from Nebraska, I’m pretty sure that Declan knows where Olivia is or soon will.”
“You’re right. I’ll talk to Olivia tonight and see if she’ll stay with me, at least for a while, so that I can protect her. I hope her pride doesn’t make her too stubborn and she refuses,” Zac said.
