Eat Prey Love (2010) by Sparks Kerrelyn

Author:Sparks, Kerrelyn [Kerrelyn, Sparks,]
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-01-14T19:08:17.437000+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Oh, I like it,” Caitlyn said as she entered Coco’s and Raquel’s dorm room at the Dragon Nest Academy. “It’s so colorful.”

“This is my bed.” Coco leaped onto a twin bed with a bright purple comforter with hot pink hearts.

“Mrs. MacPhie let us pick out our own stuff,” Raquel said in Portuguese. She climbed onto her bed, covered with a hot pink comforter dotted with purple princess crowns.

Caitlyn perched on the end of Coco’s bed as she looked around. The walls had been painted pink, and a purple shag rug rested on the floor between the two beds. Toni had tried hard to make the two girls feel welcome. Even so, the dresser and bedside table looked sadly bare of toys and girly things.

Caitlyn dug inside her silk tote bag and pulled out two Russian nesting dolls. “I have too many of these, so I was hoping you would look after these two.”

“Oh, they’re pretty.” Coco crawled up close.

The little girls gasped when Caitlyn pulled one of the dolls apart.

“There’s another one inside,” Raquel whispered.

Caitlyn handed each girl a matryoshka.

“Thank you!” They quickly opened each doll, laughing and chattering in Portuguese.

Caitlyn smiled. Her treasures were bringing her even more joy now that she was sharing them.

She’d been at the school for over an hour now. It had taken a few trips for the Vamps to teleport her, Toni, Carlos, and Fernando and his luggage. The were-panther children had been eagerly awaiting their arrival, and the foyer had filled with happy squeals and laughter as they hugged Fernando.

Caitlyn couldn’t help but notice that he was much more at ease, hugging and talking to the children, than Carlos. She didn’t doubt that Carlos loved them. She could see it in his eyes. And she knew he was fiercely protective of them. But for some reason he was reluctant to bond emotionally with them.

The oldest were-panther child was sixteen-year-old Emiliano. He was lanky and a bit awkward, but Caitlyn had no doubt that he would eventually be as handsome and graceful as Carlos.

The next two were-panther children were twelve-year-old twins, Teresa and Tiago. Teresa was wearing a ton of makeup, as if she desperately wanted to look about eight years older. Caitlyn made a mental note to herself to get to know her better, so she could convince the girl she was naturally beautiful and didn’t need to try so hard.

When Raquel and Coco ran up to hug Caitlyn, her heart squeezed. The nine-year-old and six-year-old always looked so young and vulnerable to her. She suspected they touched her so much because she had been nine years old when Shanna had left. She’d felt abandoned and alone, even though she still had parents and a brother. Raquel and Coco were even more alone.

All of Caitlyn’s life, lost cats and dogs had come to her for help. Instinctively, they had known she would understand them and open her heart to them. With Raquel and Coco, that phenomenon had risen to a new level, and her heart had responded.

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