Page 16 of Mate For Hire (For Hire 3)

Lachelle sighed. Guilt threatened to overtake her emotions because her life with Gerard complicated the happiness her sister had found with Declan. If she could resolve the issues, she would. What she desired more than her own happiness was Janessa’s, as well as the rest of her family’s happiness.

A horn sounded from somewhere nearby, not a car horn but a musical one. Janessa walked into the family room, frowning. “What’s that noise? I’ve just laid Bannon down. It’s going to keep him awake.”

Lachelle shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re the one who lives here.”

“I’ve never heard it.”

A maid stepped into the room. “The guard blows the horn when royalty arrives, or when a special event is about to begin.”

“I’m pretty sure no one ever blew a horn when Declan returned to the homestead.”

The woman smiled a little in amusement. “I’m sorry. I meant when royalty arrives just before a special event. It’s an old tradition, and as far as I know, no one has blown it since just before the civil war.”

Janessa nodded in understanding. The dragon shifters had lost more than lives because of the battle. “So what’s happening that’s so special?”

“For that matter,” Lachelle injected, “who’s the royalty? I thought Declan and Gerard were already here and meeting with the council.”

Someone knocked on the front door, and the maid went to answer it. The woman reappeared in a few moments. “Miss, your presence is requested at the main hall.”

Janessa grumbled under her breath. “I have things to do. Why can’t Declan come here? Jeez, these people and their rituals. Give me a break. I’ll be right back, Lachelle. Can you watch my little man?”

“Sure.”

“Um, all of your presences,” the maid emphasized.

“Huh?”

The maid’s cheeks pinked. “The request is for you, your sister, and for Master Bannon.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Janessa stomped to her son’s room with Lachelle behind her. “Sometimes I think these people toadying to Declan has gone to his head. Really? He has to have someone blow a dumb horn to precede me coming to the main hall? For what?”

“Calm down, girl. There’s no need to get worked up.”

“That council looks down on me more than the rest. I hate going there, and I avoid it like the plague. I don’t understand what’s in Declan’s head.”

“He’s probably trying to force them to accept you, but why do I have to go?”

“And why Bannon? He knows I put him down for a nap about now. And I’ve been trying to put together some plans for an online business. He knows that too.”

“Cool. What are you selling?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Look at me. I’m a mess. I bet he expects me to show up looking like this.”

Lachelle laughed. “Well, I had to shower and dress to come over here. So I’m fine.”

Her sister eyed her with distaste, increasing Lachelle’s amusement. With more complaints, Janessa readied herself and her grumpy son. A short time later, the three of them headed over to the main hall where Declan often met with the elders of his people. The place seemed to be busier than normal with people arriving from every direction and vehicles filling the lot outside.

Lachelle squinted. “Nessa, doesn’t that look like Daddy’s car?”

“Similar, but Daddy has a sticker on the back that says—”

She stopped speaking.

The hall’s doors opened, and Declan appeared. He smiled and held out his hand to Janessa. She visibly shook from head to toe, and her face paled. Lachelle thought she would faint, and she grabbed her sister’s arm.

“You okay, sis?”

“I think,” she whispered, staring at Declan. “I think this crazy man is going to…”

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