He broke his dynamo down and took out the silver wire. The wolf backed away from him, but he jumped on her back and looped it around her neck. It fell on the ground, crying as if it was in pain.
“You oughta cry, after what you put Ma and Pa through,” he said severely, shaking her. The female wolf lay on the ground, whimpering.
“She didn’t mean to,” Tim said. He had gathered a couple leafy branches off the nearest apple tree and had covered his privates with them. “It was my idea. We were going to surprise everyone.”
“You took her in with your wild, university-man ways,” Duncan said. “She was a respectable girl, and now what will people say?”
“I’ll make it right for her. I swear to you!”
“You’re as crazy as bedbugs, both of you,” Carson said hoarsely. Duncan could tell this was all getting to be too much for him. He didn’t have a scientist’s dispassionate interest. He was just in love with Jo. “What do we do now?”
“We wait,” Duncan said.
It seemed to take forever, but the sun eventually came up over the orchard. The wolf, who had given up complaining about the silver tether, began to show terrible signs of distress. She curled up on herself, writhing and moaning. Duncan watched with a scientist’s eyes. As light washed over the wolf, the fur started to fall off in handfuls. Carson crossed himself. Duncan took off his coat and threw it over her body for decency’s sake. Her muzzle shortened and smoothed out. Her feet lost their claws and shrank to dainty proportions. All the hair seemed to gather itself up on her head then fell in a neat brown braid down her back. She sat up, pulling the coat close around her. She looked as healthy as she had the day she went missing. Carson gazed at her in open-mouthed disbelief.
“It’s good to see you, Jo,” Duncan said, swallowing his pleasure and favoring her with a stern look, “but Ma is gonna have a heart attack. What were you thinking?’’
“Tim and I ran away together,” Jo said, apologetically. “We were gonna get married, but I want a proper church wedding. His family’s afraid to set foot in a church because of the curse. Each of them gets it when they grow to adulthood.”
“The parson might be able to cure them,” Duncan said.
“You don’t understand,” Jo said. “They like it. I like it. It’s fun. Tim... well, he bit me that very same night we ran away, and I changed for the first time. I have never felt so free in my life. Whenever the moon’s full, we can run together. I felt like he was my other half.” She glared at him accusingly. “Then you spoiled everything! His wolf half is gone!”
“Two bodies with one soul,” Duncan said, nodding. “Owl Feather was right.”
Jo smiled up at Tim. “That’s the way I feel. We’re meant to be together.”
Tim touched her chin with a gentle forefinger.
“That’s my sentiment exactly, my wild rose.”
“Maybe we can restore the curse and get your wolf back. It might just take a little nip. A love bite,” she said, then ducked her eyes shyly. Duncan felt embarrassed. He wished he wasn’t watching them.
“If not, I’ll live with it,” Tim said manfully. “As long as I have you, nothing else is important.”
Carson let out a sorrowful cry.
“But you were gonna marry me, Jo!”
Jo regarded him with weary impatience.
“I was never going to marry you, Carson McCreary The only person who ever thought so was you!”
“You can’t marry a loop garoo,” Duncan said, reasonably. He never argued with facts. Jo didn’t want Carson and that was that. “You wouldn’t want a wife who went running around naked in the moonlight.”
“I could,” Carson said stubbornly “She could bite me and I’d be one, too. Won’t you, Jo?”
“Never in a thousand years,” Jo said. She flung a hand at Duncan’s Log Splitter. “I’d let Duncan use that thing on me first.”
Carson stood up. His eyes blazed as much as the wolves’ had. “Well, if that’s the kind of gratitude you give a man who almost lost his life for you, then I wash my hands of you.”
Gathering as much dignity as he could muster, he stalked off into the glare of the sunrise.
“There goes a man who is going to be lonely all his life,” Jo said sympathetically.
“Well, you’re going to have a hard time ahead of you, too,” Duncan reminded her.
Jo reached out and put her hand into Tim’s. “I’m prepared. I thought it through pretty thoroughly before I let him do it. You’re not the only scientist in the family. I’ll cope with being a wolf.”
“I don’t mean that,” Duncan said, standing up to load what was left of his greatest invention into the wheelbarrow. He grinned down at Jo. “How are you going to tell Ma and Pa where you’ve been for a month?”
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