TO CATCH A WOLF By Susan Krinard

In the end, that was what had spared Morgan death. What they gave him was worse. They locked him up in a place that would have driven him mad at any other time. They caged him for nine years, and when they judged his silence as rebellion they beat him. He let them. He always healed. After a while they left him alone. Alone with his own thoughts and memories.

That was the true punishment, the one he could never escape. Only the wolf gave him peace. And then that, too, was taken away.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Morgan climbed out of the pit of memory, reaching toward the light of the voice.

Athena’s voice. She held him, and her hazel eyes glittered with tears.

“I would have understood,” she whispered. “It wouldn’t have changed anything between us.”

Ulysses’s voice rang in dramatic conclusion. “And so Morgan Holt paid for his crime. A crime of mercy, a reluctant easing of inconceivable torment. He has served his sentence. He has been punished enough, and must be punished no more.”

People in the crowd began to murmur, a tide of sound suddenly released by the end of Ulysses’s tale. Morgan found his mind remarkably clear. He eased his arm from Athena’s grip and turned slowly to Niall, who had scrambled to his feet, Caitlin solemn and pale at his side. Niall’s gaze slid away from his.

“I offer a bargain,” Morgan said. “Let Athena go. She is not what you are. Give her what is hers, and I will leave and not return.”

“No, Morgan,” Athena said. “It’s not your bargain to make.” She swung on her brother, head lifted, and compelled him to meet her eyes.

“I loved you, Niall,” she said. “I trusted you. I refused to believe ill of you, even when I should have seen the truth. You cared for me all these years. I will never forget that. But now I understand what made you so careful with me. It was guilt—not only about the accident, but because of my mother.” She did not lower her voice, though she must have known how her words would be taken by the avid audience. “You robbed me of her and lied to me all my life. You were afraid that I would become just like her if I had my freedom.” She gave a heartrending smile. “You were glad when I was hurt, weren’t you? I was safe in my chair, with my domestic and charitable work. I let you convince me that it was all I could aspire to. Your mistake was trying to take even that away. And my great good fortune—” She reached for Morgan’s hand. “My great joy is that someone came along to teach me about courage and daring to hope. Someone who has suffered more than you or I can imagine.”

“Athena,” Niall said, swallowing heavily. “You must understand—”

“But I do, Niall. And I pity you.” She looked at Caitlin. “If anyone can help him, you can.”

Caitlin bent her head. “Thank you.”

Niall looked at Caitlin as if she had grown horns and a tail. “You,” he whispered. He stared at Morgan and Athena in turn. It was no longer merely fear in his eyes, but something more complex made up of equal parts bewilderment and desperation. Morgan recognized the kind of madness that came to a man when everything he had believed, every foundation of his world, disintegrated beneath his feet.

As Cecily had done before him, he turned hard on his heel and fled the room at a run. Caitlin hesitated, anguish in her eyes, and ran after him. A hum of excited comment 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.”

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