To Catch a Wolf (53 page)

rose and fell about the ballroom.

Athena clenched her fists at her sides and did not follow. Morgan wanted to hold her,

comfort her with all the loving words he had never been able to say. He remained still.

Ulysses and Harry came to join them. Ulysses nodded to Morgan, eloquent in his

silence. Harry's eyes were moist.

"My boy," he said. He reached out as if to pat Morgan's shoulder and tucked his hand

into his waistcoat instead. "My dear boy." He cleared his throat. "I know

I know that

your father loved you, and you loved him in spite of everything. What lies between a

parent and child is not easily torn asunder.”

"He's right," Athena said. She was not afraid to touch him, no matter how little he

responded. "You have lived with this for too many years. Let it go. Walk away from it,

just as I learned to walk away from my chair and everything that held me prisoner." She

placed her hand on his chest, fingers spread, as if she could reach inside his ribs and

replace what was missing. "Forgive your father, Morgan. Forgive yourself.”

To Catch a Wolf – 19th Century Werewolf 04

Page 404 of 410

"Listen to her." Harry blinked, and a tear leaked from the corner of his eye. "Morgan

I

am as proud of you as if you were my own son. That is why I must insist that you do not

throw away the one thing that can give you peace." He took Morgan's hand and then

Athena's. Gently he placed her fingers in his. "Love one another. That is all that

matters.”

Morgan could not have spoken if he wished. The obstruction in his throat had grown

and grown to fill all the hollow places in his body, pressing on his eyelids and the casing

of ice around his heart.

He looked into Athena's eyes. They were clear, sane, bright with love. For him.

"I cannot stay here, among men," he said, so that only she could hear.

"I know.”

"I won't let you give up all this for me.”

"All this?" She glanced around the room, her gaze sweeping over the sea of faces as if

they were so many antique paintings on a wall. "Do you think I want this now? They

would not have me again even if I did. And I wouldn't have them." She cupped his hand

between hers. "I decided even before I returned to Denver that my old life was over. I

should have known before, but a part of me was still bound to that chair. The one you

made me recognize for what it was. You, Morgan.”

"You knew I had killed.”

"And I doubted, for a while. But love—" She glanced at Harry with a warm smile. "Love

is stronger than doubt.”

To Catch a Wolf – 19th Century Werewolf 04

Page 405 of 410

Still he refused to let himself believe. "The people you help

you cannot abandon

them.”

"For all the mistakes he made, my brother was right in one way," she said. "He accused

me of trying to do everything myself, as if I could save all of Denver single-handedly."

She dropped her gaze. "I was arrogant. I wanted to make myself indispensable—to

Niall, to society, to the needy, because I had nothing else then." Her eyes found his.

"There are many good people in my employ who can do what I did. All they need is

money. After what has happened, I think I can convince Niall to release my fortune so

that I can give the charities whatever they require to go on without me. And—" She

turned his hand over in hers and kissed his palm. "There are people who need help

everywhere. It doesn't matter where we go or what we do. I choose a life with you,

Morgan Holt. I love you.”

Morgan's chest rose in a great, heaving breath. The frigid sheath behind his ribs

cracked in one painful, miraculous spasm. Melting droplets rushed up his throat and into

his eyes. He heard the hoarse sound of sobbing and realized the tears were his own.

"Athena," he said. He took her face between his hands. "My love." He kissed her,

tasting salt on his lips and hers, daring the entire world to judge. All the anger, the self-

contempt, the grief that had consumed him flowed out with that kiss, passed into Athena

and came back to him cleansed and purified.

"I love you," he said. "Will you have me, Athena?”

"Yes. Oh, yes." She kissed him boldly, passionately, spitting in the collective eye of

shocked society matrons. "But only if it is forever.”

Morgan responded as ardently as Athena could have wished. She rejoiced in his tears,

for she knew they came as a release—release from the prison in which he had bound

To Catch a Wolf – 19th Century Werewolf 04

Page 406 of 410

himself since his father's death. She felt no shame for her own silent weeping. Only

three people in this grand ballroom mattered to her now.

"Athena," Morgan murmured into her hair. "Will you dance with me?”

She drew back in amazement. "You know how to dance?”

"Ulysses showed me once. I have never practiced.”

"And I," she said, "have almost forgotten how.”

With solemn deliberation, Morgan placed one hand on her waist and took her other in

his. There was no music. Athena didn't need it. It sang out in her heart, a melody too

perfect to be rendered by human hands.

Morgan took an awkward step, and then another. It was the first time Athena had ever

seen him less than graceful. She loved him all the more for his imperfection, and the

courage he showed in a place so alien to his nature. She followed him, gazing into his

eyes, as he grew more sure and his steps took on a smooth, three-quarter rhythm.

Then they were flying about the ballroom and Athena was laughing, glorying in the

dance and the man who held her. Morgan smiled. He waltzed her with wild abandon to

the ballroom doors and carried her with him down the stairs. The same flabbergasted

hotel staff and patrons who had seen them enter singly watched them leave together,

hand in hand.

They dashed into the street, past the waiting carriages and out of the business district to

the very edge of town. Morgan shed his clothing, eyes alight with challenge. Athena

never hesitated. She flung her clothes aside and took Morgan's hand. He bent back his

head and howled loudly enough to wake the dead. Naked man dissolved into great

black wolf.

To Catch a Wolf – 19th Century Werewolf 04

Page 407 of 410

In seconds Athena was beside him. He licked her muzzle tenderly, and she could hear

the words he did not speak, the words that had set them both free, I love you.

Ulysses gazed at the open doors, vaguely surprised at the tightness in his chest. It was

not his way to become sentimental, particularly when matters had resolved themselves

so fortuitously.

Harry's broad hand came to rest on his shoulder. He didn't speak; no words were

adequate to the occasion. Unlike Ulysses, Harry felt no compunction about his tears. He

sniffled, dug about in his pocket for a handkerchief, and blew his nose.

The din in the ballroom had reached a high pitch, men and women competing with each

other to exclaim most volubly upon the appalling events that had just taken place.

Ulysses glanced up at Harry. Harry nodded, and a smile spread across his round, florid

face.

Together they turned to face their audience. Harry raised his hands dramatically. The

roar of voices faded to a murmur, and them into silence. Harry bowed and came up with

a broad grin that lifted his moustache nearly to his eyebrows.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "The performance is finished. Good night.”

Denver looked very small from the top of the hill, and very far away.

Athena adjusted her knapsack and leaned against Morgan. He would have no regrets

about leaving the city far behind. What surprised her most was that she had so few.

To Catch a Wolf – 19th Century Werewolf 04

Page 408 of 410

The only matters she had left undone since the ball had found their own sort of

resolution. Niall had fled Denver that very night, and so had Caitlin. When Athena had

returned to Fourteenth Street the following evening, she had found a message from the

family banker informing her that she had been given full control of her inheritance, as

well as a substantial portion of the Munroe fortune.

Niall, wherever he had gone, had made that one last act of atonement. The money was

more than enough to keep Athena's charities going indefinitely, under the care of trusted

employees. As she had told Morgan, her direct supervision was hardly necessary. And

whatever the Denver society ladies thought of her now, they would not entirely stop their

own contributions. Athena had them too well trained.

Cecily Hockensmith had certainly believed she had all of Denver at her feet. Athena

could not guess what she was thinking now. Since the ball, she had remained locked up

in her house and had issued no invitations or ventured out to a single luncheon. Once it

might have mattered to Athena whether or not the harpy received her just punishment

and became persona non grata among the very people she wished to impress. Now her

fate was unimportant. No matter how she schemed and simpered, she would never be

happy.

And as for French's Fantastic Family Circus

"Where do you suppose Harry will take the troupers after the winter is over?" she asked

Morgan.

He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. "I don't know. He will need to find

replacements for Caitlin and Ulysses—and Tamar." His lips wrinkled on that last name.

Tamar and her serpents had been gone when Harry and Ulysses returned to Long Park,

and no one had bothered with inquiries as to her whereabouts.

To Catch a Wolf – 19th Century Werewolf 04

Page 409 of 410

Only Ulysses, Harry had told her, seemed troubled. A few days later he had announced

his intent to return to the Wakefield mansion in Tennessee, there to face his family for

the first time in many years.

"It took great courage for Ulysses to stand before Denver society as he did," Athena

said. "I think that was what made him decide to go back home.”

"He has always hurt because of their treatment of him," Morgan said. "It will not be

easy.”

"But it is worth it." She laced her fingers through his. "It's worth it to know what you are

truly meant to be, without fear. And yet—" She sighed. "I worry about Caitlin. If she went

after Niall, she cannot expect happiness. He will have to change a great deal before he

can accept love.”

"As I did?" Morgan gave her a twisted smile. "I didn't think I needed anyone. You proved

me wrong." He kissed her fingers. "Do not be concerned for Caitlin. She can take care

of herself. You didn't think she was an ordinary woman?”

She peered up at him. "Are you saying

She is not

not—”

"No, not like us. She was traveling this country alone before you and I were born.”

Athena was well past the point of amazement at such revelations. "I see. And yet she

chose Niall.”

They were silent for a while, watching light and shadow roll across the prairie beyond

the city's edge. Snow settled lightly on Athena's hair. A new, increasingly familiar

restlessness came over her, and she knew that the time of farewells was over. She

tugged at Morgan's hand.

To Catch a Wolf – 19th Century Werewolf 04

Page 410 of 410

He held back, scanning the horizon once more. "Are you sure, Athena?”

She knew what he asked. Quickly she stepped up behind him and wrapped her arms

around his waist. "I'm sure, Morgan. As sure as I am standing here with the man I love.”

He twisted around and looked into her eyes. "Then let's go," he said. "The whole world

is waiting.”

THE END