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"If it looks like chicken and tastes like chicken - "

"Yes, I’er "I’ to protect you, Caitlyn"

She plunked the plate down on the desk again "Protect s you don’t know - "

"Then tell erous for you"

Frustration seethed in her "Why should I believe you when it feels so right? Don’t tell me you don’t feel it!"

"What we feel doesn’t matter - "

"It’s all that matters!"

He closed his eyes briefly, his forehead furrowed "Catalina, I cannot bear to hurt you any her eyes Rejected twice in one day That had to be a new record She walked to the door She was halfway out when she remembered the reason why she’d coive Howard a show?"

He looked back at her, his eyes gli with pain "No, menina No one knoe did"

That was a relief, although it did little to soothe her aching heart She trudged down the stairs as tears threatened to fall Daet to her? She’d known him a total of three days

But somehow the last three days seemed like half of her lifetime Her world had turned upside down, and vampires and shape shifters had tumbled out She’d found her sister, acquired a nephew and niece, and discovered her father was amonster She had to be too confused and disoriented to know if she was genuinely attracted to so Her attraction to Carlos had been immediate, the first time she saw him, and that had happened before she knew about va she’d found out since - that he’d rescued the were-panther children and adopted the the Vamps defeat the evil Malcontents - it all added up to afor him

A tear rolled down her cheek He felt the attraction, too She knew it He’d kissed her and touched her with a sense of awe and reverence She hadn’t iined it

She wiped her cheeks and proceeded down the stairs She wasn’t giving up Love was too rare and valuable She hadn’t given up on her sister She wouldn’t give up on Carlos

Chapter Fourteen

"What’s going on?" Shanna whispered to Caitlyn as she finished loading the dishwasher

"Nothing"

Shanna stashed the leftovers in the fridge "You didn’t eat, and you’re as juht now I’ll eat later" Caitlyn dried her hands and smiled at the children "Hoould you like to see my treasures?"

Tino’s eyes lit up "Do you have pirate treasure?"

"Sure Come on" She waved for the kids and Shanna to follow her upstairs to her bedroo, so the bookcases were now full

"Oh, how pretty!" Shanna s the yards of embroidered silk that Caitlyn had draped over the canopy fraht this material back with you?"

"Yes" Caitlyn had turned her plain canopy into an exotic rainboith a different color of silk cascading down each corner of the bed, tied to the bedposts with silk scarves

Tino glanced at her bed, clearly unimpressed "Where’s the pirate treasure?"

"Here" Caitlyn removed a carved rosewood box from a bookshelf "Inside, you’ll find coins from countries all around the world"

"Cool" Tino set the box on her dresser and opened it

Caitlyn separated one of her Russian nesting dolls so Sofia could see the hidden doll inside "You keep opening them until you reach the baby"

Sofia’s eyes widened "Can I do it?"

"Yes" Caitlyn handed it to her, and a sudden thought occurred to her For years she’d hoarded her treasures as if they were her faer needed empty substitutes "I missed your last birthday, Sofia Would you like to keep the doll?"

Sofia’s face lit up with a grin "Yes! Thank you!" She hugged Cait, then ran to the dresser next to Tino "Look!" She lined up the first two dolls "This is the daddy, and this is thebrother, Tino"

Constantine frowned at the third doll "That’s notdolls "And this one is me, and this one is my baby!"

"Thank you," Shanna whispered She sat on the bed andto tellon?"

Caitlyn climbed on the bed and winced "I a" In ave her a sympathetic smile "I kno it is Roman insisted I learn some self-defense, too" She lowered her voice to a whisper "Is Carlos behaving hied "That probably comes as a relief to you"

"I want you to be happy And safe"

Caitlyn wondered again why Carlos considered hi to the erew attached to each other and then he dumped her for a were-panther wo her?

With a sigh, she sat up and crossed her legs "Enough about me I want to hear about you and Roman How on earth did you meet a va story"

"I like this story" Sofia struggled to cliain, Mommy"

"Okay" Shanna pulled Sofia up into her lap "Once upon a tiht shift at a twenty-four-hour dental office called SoHo SoBright"

"I like this part" Tino scrauys were after you"

"Yes," Shanna agreed "I was in the Federal Witness Protection prograainst the Russian Mafia in Boston"

"That’s why you disappeared?" Caitlyn asked

Shanna nodded "I was given a new nauys found out where I was They were coe and very handsome man appeared in the clinic - "

"Our daddy!" Sofia bounced on the bed

"Yes Roht it was a canine tooth fro or a wolf, so I refused to help hi?"

Shanna nodded, set it fixed, or he’d be a lopsided eater for all eternity"