Read Eat Prey Love for Free Online Page B

asked.
    Carlos quickly explained. “I’ll take the first available flight.”
    Angus’s brow creased with a frown. “Why the big hurry?”
    â€œWhy not?” Carlos countered. “Things are slow right now, with Casimir and the Malcontents in hiding. You don’t really need me here. And you know I have to find a mate. I’ve been looking for five years. I’m not getting any younger.”
    â€œI understand, lad.” Angus rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’m just concerned about yer children. I hear they’re having some trouble adjusting to the new school and new country. I’m no’ sure ye should be leaving them right now.”
    Carlos groaned inwardly. He knew the orphans were having a rough time. All the more reason for him to find a mate. Coco was only six years old. Raquel was nine, and Teresa twelve. They needed a mother. They needed a woman who could guide them through the shape shifting process when they reached puberty. The change could happen any time now for Teresa. Carlos could feel the clock ticking.
    Angus’s cell phone rang, and he retrieved it from his pocket. “Aye, I’ll be there soon.”
    The big Scotsman’s normally gruff voice had softened, a sure sign he was talking to his wife, Emma. His eyes widened. “They’re missing? Doona worry, sweetheart. We’ll find them.” He hung up.
    â€œWho’s missing?” Carlos asked.
    â€œCoco and Raquel.” Angus studied the monitors. “Emma was fetching cake and ice cream forthe children, and when she came back to the table, the two lassies were gone.”
    Howard dropped his feet to the floor with a thud and stood. “They couldn’t have gone far.”
    Carlos felt the usual heaviness in his chest whenever a problem arose with the children. They were suffering, and he didn’t have a clue how to make it better. His pretense that everything was fine wasn’t working. He knew how to save people physically, but emotionally? Whenever the children looked at him with all that pain glimmering in their teary eyes, he cringed inside.
    He spotted movement on a monitor that showed the garden. Someone was hiding behind a big rhododendron. His heart twinged. The poor girls didn’t want to be found.
    He motioned to the quivering bush. “They’re hiding there. I’ll get them.” He could return them to the party, but God help him, he didn’t know what to tell them. For the last few years, he’d entertained them with jokes, amateur magic tricks, and trips to the ice cream parlor to make the tears go away. It wasn’t enough, but how could he open his heart when all he had to offer was pain and despair?
    He left the security office and trudged down the hallway to the side exit. The heaviness in his chest bore down on him, making it hard to breathe. The orphans thought he was their hero, the bravest man in the world, the one who had rescued them from a horrible death.
    He couldn’t let them know the truth. He was brave enough to face the physical pain of death, but when it came to emotional pain, he was a clueless pretender. Worse than that, he thought with a snort. He was a damned coward.
    Â 
    Caitlyn was deep in thought as she sat on the bench beneath the oak tree. If vampires were real, what other strange creatures could exist? Elves? The tooth fairy? Big Foot?
    A sound close by made her jump. She turned and spotted someone behind the oak tree. Definitely not Big Foot. Not big at all.
    She rose to her feet. “Hello?”
    The little girl peered around the tree. Tears glistened in her big brown eyes and her bottom lip trembled.
    â€œCoco, no,” another girl whispered from behind a nearby bush. Her voice carried a slight accent and sounded tense with pain. “Leave the lady alone.”
    â€œIt’s all right,” Caitlyn assured them. Were these hybrid children like Constantine? Whatever they were, they