Page 66 of So I Won a Werelion

The path got steep and the air changed. It got cooler, damper, like we were near water. Wendy considered a fork in the path, and led us down the darker one.

“Are you sure about this?” Bibi asked.

“Yeah. I remember it now. I can’t wait for you to see it. It’s amazing.”

We turned a corner and were greeted by a waterfall. But that wasn’t the most magnificent thing. In the walls of the cliff were the remains of ancient houses.

Wendy put her hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe I got us here. It looks even more majestic at sunset.”

The fading sunlight made the red rocks glow.

“It looks like it’s haunted.” Bibi shuddered.

“It has history.” Wendy was beaming. “Secrets, answers, and maybe a ghost or two. I want to go check out the inside of those old dwellings before it gets dark out. If I remember correctly, they’ve been picked clean, but some of them had writing on the walls. That might give us some clues.”

“What are we looking for?” Hugo asked. “More importantly, what shouldn’t we find?”

“Any artifacts, ancient writing, any sign of life. Recent or ancient. This was a thriving settlement a thousand years ago. They might not have been in possession of the Sempiternal Scepter, but they were obviously affected by losing it. So we’re looking for any signs that they were trying to save themselves.”

“What should be considered red flags?”I asked. It was amazing to see Wendy come alive at the site. It was a living, breathing representation of her life’s work and as much shit as I’d given her for letting it come between us, I’d make damn sure no one would ever take it away from her again.

“The last time I was here was ten years ago. It was almost perfectly preserved. My professor thought it was odd, considering the humidity from the waterfall.”

“It’s cursed,” Bibi said. Wasn’t like her to show any fear, but she didn’t like this place.“That’s why you were attacked the last time you were here.”

“Makes sense.” Lars was a man of few words, and it was a shock when he spoke. “I remember this settlement in its heyday. These wolves refused to go down without a fight. Wouldn’t surprise me if they were still fighting.”

Chapter

Twenty-One

Wendy

“Wait. You were here when this was a thriving village?” I couldn’t have heard Lars right. That would make him…a thousand years old. At least.

Lars nodded. The giant man often looked out of place when I saw him as part ofThe Mating Gamesecurity crew, but here, he looked at home. “There were cabins all along this path, but they weren’t protected as well as the cliff houses. The wealthiest shifters lived in the cliffs, and the workers had huts made of wood and mud along the path we were just on. They got wiped out every year with the snowmelt, but when they had the Scepter, it wasn’t as much of a problem. They had to rebuild, but they survived. Once the shifter king took the Scepter from them, that first winter saw great suffering. Disease. Death. The shifters in the cliffs lived, but without the workers they weren’t able to keep the village thriving. At first, they thought they were lucky, but in the end, they suffered far more than the ones who perished first.”

Every mouth in the group was hanging open as Lars told us about a civilization that had existed centuries ago as casuallyas he’d share the details of the latest Continental Football Association game.

Mind. Completely and utterly. Blown.

“Whatareyou?” Bibi asked. There was too much going on to be freaked out by the fact Lars was part of the security team and she didn’t know what he shifted into.

As long as Hugo knew…

“I’m part of the mountains,” Lars simply said.

Gabe squeezed my hand. Lars might not want to answer that particular question directly, but three minutes of him talking had taught me more about this settlement than four years of college-level study.

“Did you live in this village?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nearby. Still have my home in the same place, but I’ve definitely given it some upgrades. This used to be a thriving community. Many packs worked together as one. The river ran much higher, and the forest wasn’t quite as thick. We grew many crops. Hunted for food. But once the curse settled in, it was all gone.”

“How did you survive?” I wasn’t sure I believed him, except what he was saying lined up with what I’d learned in my studies.

“Guess I’m immune to the curse. Which was a curse all on its own.”

What a heartbreaking statement. He must have lost so much. Dealt with so many changes. “Do you have a mate?”

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