Mated by Night by Milly Taiden Page B

mouse game. She didn’t know it, but he needed to know she was around. Close enough that he could soothe the animal inside with a whiff of her cat. He’d caught glimpses of her coming and going throughout the day. Usually from behind. And what a behind she had. He had stared at her more than once, watching the sexy sway of her hips and the wiggle of her bottom in those curve-hugging dresses she loved to wear.
    Usually he tried to stay away from her. From her scent. That delicious combination of wild animal and warm woman were driving his wolf insane. Not to mention making it damn hard for him to focus on acquiring the upcoming building. She was close to her heat and he could think of nothing more than taking her for himself.
    “She’s in heat and needs to be with a person ready to mate. That’s not me.”
    “Why not?” Brent asked. He tugged off the tie he’d worn to the meeting the three had with the seller of the property Night and Day wanted to buy.
    He didn’t want to explain why he didn’t want to have a mate. The Day brothers didn’t need insight into his previously messy personal life, but he chose to enlighten them with some information.
    “I had a mate once before.”
    Bryan frowned. He leaned forward in the booth. “Well, where is she?”
    “Gone.” He didn’t bother adding how or why. That wasn’t something they needed to know.
    “I’m sorry,” Bryan said. “Losing a loved one can be hard.”
    He didn’t stop them from thinking his previous mate had passed away. She was dead in every sense of the word. Even if he didn’t mourn her.
    “I can’t be Ana’s mate. So I think you need to give her to someone else. Her heat is coming and she’ll need to be away from the shops or you’ll have a fucking riot on your hands.” Fucking hell it twisted his stomach in knots to think of her no longer being right outside his door. At an arm’s reach. He knew it was the right thing to do. He was a loner, no longer interested in the mate and family life. He’d tried that. It hadn’t worked. If he wanted to fuck, then he’d go to one of the Wolfe clubs and hook up with someone there. His friend Mason always had a large number of single shifters ready and willing to help him relax his animal.
    “She’s not going to be happy. She just started this week at the office. Usually we keep her as a floater for our models. We get a lot of hits on our social media pages when we post photos of her shoots.”
    They would too. Ana was gorgeous. Big brown eyes framed by long thick lashes. A tiny nose and bow-shaped lips always covered in red gloss. Then there was the tiny mole at the corner of her mouth. Every photo of her smiling, she’d come out looking like a sex goddess.
    To make her already delectable body even sexier, she had a right arm sleeve tattoo of beautiful colorful flowers in a new watercolor style. She had multiple tattoos that were constantly showed off in the catalog. From the ones behind her neck down to the ones around her feet.
    “I’m not trying to be a jerk,” he said, hating the role but used to it in life. “She needs to go work with someone else. But first give her some time off to get over her upcoming heat.”
    The last thing he wanted to hear about was Ana hooking up with one of the employees. She should be in his bed. Fucking hell why did he have to want her? Why now. He’d spent years ignoring relationships and mate talk. Until he’d seen Royce and Kiara together, he hadn’t even given it another thought. When he discovered Maria’s true colors, he’d known he would never be the same again.
    “But you’re going to be traveling soon. Won’t that make a difference?” Brent asked. “She is hard-headed like Kiara. I don’t see her wanting a vacation. She just got back from spending time volunteering.”
    Unwanted interest lit in his chest. “What was she volunteering at?”
    “Helping build an orphanage in Africa. She only just got back like a month or two ago. It’s why