Mated by Night (Night and Day Ink, #3)
by Milly Taiden
Chapter One
“Stop it!” Anabelle Cruz ordered the cat inside. First week on the job and her animal was driving her up a wall. She’d been lucky enough to have her cousin Kiara get her a job at Night and Day Ink. But so far, all she’d gotten to do was try to figure out a temperamental copier and buy coffee for the elusive boss that refused to acknowledge she was around. To make matters worse, she was getting close to her heat. Oh, she could handle it for a while but it wasn’t going to be comfortable.
She kicked the copier for the fourth time, hoping the damn machine would finally work. New lights blinked on and off on the screen showing a paper jam in a location she’d already cleared.
“Fucking hell!” She didn’t even bother stopping the hiss that passed her lips. It was late and the only person left in the office was Stephanie who was mated to her cousin’s bosses, Bryan and Brent Day.
“Hey there, you okay?” Stephanie yelled from the entrance to the copier room. She held a cup of coffee in one hand and a sticky note in the other.
“I may have to quit this job if we don’t get a new copier,” Ana replied. She blew the hair out of her face and stood, wiping her hands with a paper towel.
Steph sighed and handed her the cup. “Here, drink this. It always helped Kiara get through the worst of her day.”
“I don’t understand. Why am I stuck with the Phantom of the Opera?” She grumbled.
Steph leaned into the side of the copier. “Well, you could ask to work with another of Royce’s step-brother’s, but they’re traveling and not around right now. Callum is the only Night around that needs an assistant.”
“I can be a receptionist. Hell, I’ll join the security team if it will get me someone to actually help during my shift.”
Steph passed her the purple sticky note. “Sorry, he asked me to tell you that he was leaving and if anything urgent required his attention to give him a call at this number.”
Ana gritted her teeth. Her cat rubbed under her skin at the first whiff of the wolf’s scent from the sticky note. Frickin’ A. Just like her damn tigress to want a wolf she couldn’t have. Her boss and one of her cousin’s new in-laws. Just fucking great.
“Thank you. So what is it about me that Mr. Night doesn’t like?” The question slipped out. She shouldn’t care, but the bastard wolf ignored her and it made her feel all kinds of insecure.
She knew she didn’t dress in typical professional attire, but nobody did at Night and Day. Her red and white polka dot dress with waist cinching wide belt and red peep toe stilettoes were as dressed up as she ever got. Yes, she was a big girl that loved to dress pinup style, but she had more than enough curves for the outfits. Besides, Ana loved her body and she didn’t mind showing off her curves. Kiara had gotten Royce to put her on a few of their flyers as their model. Her tattoos had all been done at Night and Day. Maybe Callum didn’t feel she did a good job. Whatever it was, she needed to find out what the hell he had against her.
“Maybe he just doesn’t need an assistant,” she said and sipped on the hot latte.
Stephanie followed her out of the copier room back to her desk. “Honey, Night men are so internal. I have worked for Royce for what feels like forever and it took me a long time to figure out what he was saying in his cryptic words and messages.”
“But you’re helping Bryan and Brent now,” Ana said.
Stephanie grinned, her smile showing her adoration for the two men. “Yeah, but only until they’re back from their honeymoon. Once they return we go back to each other’s bosses or nobody would ever get any work done in this place.”
Definitely. With Stephanie involved with both Day men and Kiara mated to Royce, it would be highly distracting for everyone to have their mates working directly for them.
“So what am I supposed to do about Mr. Night?” She said, not using his first name even though she adored the name Callum. She’d only seen him a handful of times. All from a distance and in a room filled with men. The result had been a very agitated tigress inside Ana and many nights of rubbing herself on her sheets. She pursed her lips. The heat hadn’t even hit her fully for her tigress to do that. It made no sense.
Stephanie threw a long lock of hair behind her ear. “Why don’t you come to work at times it will be easier for you to get a chance to talk to him?”