Page 28 of Shifter For Hire (For Hire 2)

Janessa seemed to glow with happiness. While she had put on a bit of baby weight, she still appeared healthy. Her cocoa skin looked rejuvenated if anything, and her hair had grown so long, Lachelle was a little jealous.

“How the heck do you have a baby and look like you just got back from the spa?”

“Please, you see my hips, right?”

“That’s natural. I’m saying your skin and—I don’t know. You look stronger, happier, and healthier. Declan must be treating you right.”

“Girl, you can’t even imagine how sweet he is to me. But I’m not going to brag. Everything’s been great, but it’s not perfect.”

“What do you mean?”

Janessa’s eyes clouded. “Some of his people haven’t accepted me yet.”

“His people?” Lachelle recalled that Gerard told her Declan lead their race of dragon shifters. Of course Janessa didn’t know that she knew. She thought she was being vague, but Lachelle put it all together in an instant.

“They’re like his family but aren’t blood related.”

“Uh-huh.”

Janessa focused on Lachelle. “So what about you? Why the call saying it’s urgent you talk to me? Wait, don’t tell me Skip has done something.”

“Something like what? He’s just a reporter, right?”

“Why would I know?”

“You met him before me, and it sure took you a while to tell me about his interesting stories.”

“So what? You’ve come here to rake me over the coals about waiting to tell you? Is that it? I’m sorry, Lachelle. You know I love you, and I wouldn’

t put you in danger for anything. If I thought Skip was dangerous, I would have told you right away.”

The waiter arrived to take their orders. Lachelle kept her comment to herself until the man left them alone. When Bannon started to fuss, she handed him to Janessa to settle him. Then she continued the conversation.

“So instead, you want me to believe his theories are nonsense, but because he has them, I shouldn’t see him?”

“God, where is the hostility coming from?” Janessa pulled a bottle from the baby’s bag. “Last time I checked, I’m not in control of your social life. No one has ever been able to slow you down. So don’t get onto me because I didn’t even try.”

Lachelle sighed. “Truthfully, I’m not mad. I get that you felt you had a secret you couldn’t share under any circumstances.”

Janessa stilled.

“Because the shifters are real.”

Her sister looked faint.

“And because your husband-to-be is the big man in charge of them all.”

Janessa’s mouth fell open. A haunted expression came over her face. She surged to her feet, looking around the restaurant as if she expected someone to jump out of the walls to attack her.

“W-where did you get that crazy notion?” she stuttered.

Lachelle shouldn’t have brought up the subject the way she did, frightening her sister. In a way she was getting back at Janessa for not telling her about Declan and the others. She felt a sense of satisfaction for springing it on her sister that she knew the big secret. However, seeing the nervousness in Janessa’s eyes brought her to her senses.

“Calm down,” she encouraged Janessa. “And sit. No one’s about to charge in here and grab us.”

Janessa took her time sinking into her chair. “You make it sound crazy, but I’ve…dealt with some things.”

“Like what?”

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