“No.” Caitlin shivered and sat on the edge of the bed, watching Niall’s quiet face. It was the first time she had ever seen him at peace, even for a moment. “Will Niall be all right?”
Ulysses sighed and sat back on his heels. “A man who remains unconscious too long may not recover. You must hope that he wakes soon.”
How coldly he spoke, as if Niall’s life or death didn’t matter. But he still regarded Niall as the man who had murdered his friend.
“Morgan is not dead,” she said, putting her conviction into every word. “Think, Uly. He could have killed Niall if he chose. But other things are important to him now. He must have known that his best chance of keeping himself and Niall alive would be to use Niall’s ignorance and feign death.”
“You assume a great deal, Firefly.”
“I don’t assume. I believe. Morgan has a reason to want to live. If he has any strength at all, he is on his way to Denver at this very moment.”
Ulysses and Harry exchanged glances. Harry fished in his pocket for a handkerchief. After a moment he composed himself and straightened, casting Tamar a stark glance that failed to cover his relief.
“Caitlin is right,” he said. “Morgan does have a reason to live. And if he is alive, he will go to Athena.”
“As Niall would have, once he realized there was a chance that Morgan survived.” She took Ulysses’s place beside Niall, stroking bloodstained hair away from his pale forehead. “I could have let him go on believing that Morgan was dead, but he had already begun to torment himself over what he had done. He is not an evil man. I had to give him a little hope of redemption. But I also had to stop him from going after Morgan again.”
Ulysses’s glance at the bed was evidence enough that he understood. Harry blushed. Tamar took advantage of the moment and pulled free.
“If my wolf is alive, I must go to him at once,” she said.
Caitlin jumped to her feet. “You are not going anywhere. You’ve brought only pain to everything you touch.”
“And who are you to stop me?”
Tamar’s hateful face blurred in Caitlin’s vision. She knew then that she was prepared to do anything, even kill, to protect Morgan and Athena. And Niall, who needed everything she had to give. “If he dies—”
“I fear that Caitlin is correct, Tamar,” Ulysses said, stepping between them. In his hand was a tiny pearl-handled derringer. “We cannot let you leave.”
Tamar stared down at him with unconcealed contempt. “Will you shoot me, little man?”
“If I must. But I think that you also wish to live.”
She spat at him. Ulysses stood unwavering, his gaze fixed to Tamar’s face. “Morgan cannot love you, Tamar. His heart is bestowed upon another, and his kind mate for life.”
Her eyes widened. “And do you think I would turn to you if I cannot have him?”
Caitlin watched with growing bafflement. For Ulysses to threaten violence was unthinkable. But something in his face, the stoic pain of a man pushed beyond his endurance, told a tale that shocked her more than the pistol in his hand.
“No,” Ulysses said quietly. “I do not believe that. But you have done enough mischief, and it must stop.”
“You cannot get to Denver alone,” Harry added, making a last attempt to reason with her. “Ulysses and I will leave immediately and make sure that Morgan is all right. It is better this way, Tamar.”
She answered by turning quickly toward the door. Ulysses raised the derringer and fired. The bullet pierced the doorjamb a few inches to the left of Tamar’s shoulder.
Caitlin had never seen Tamar blanch, but she did so now, staggering back into Harry’s arms. Harry forced her hands behind her back, hardly less pale than she.
Ulysses lowered the pistol. His hand was shaking. Caitlin knew that he had not missed due to lack of skill, or even nerves. In his face she read the conviction that he could never hurt Tamar, no matter what the provocation.
“I know there is one thing you truly love, Tamar,” he said. “Since I knew you were apt to cause further difficulties, I took the liberty of commandeering your serpents and securing them in a safe but hidden location where you are unlikely to find them. They require warmth, and they will continue to receive it as long as you comport yourself reasonably. I trust I have made myself understood.”