His Reluctant Mate

in

here. Tiger shifters tended to be more solitary, sticking to family groups. I'd been shocked when he'd decided to leave New York City to spend his life in the boonies with a bunch of mangy wolves. For the first year or two, I expected my brother to change his mind, but I even

d nephew were a handful. Alena, Kyla, Azlyn, and Rush were the center of my brother and sister-in-law's world, and traveling all the way to the East Coast with the

you and Calliope finally decided you're ready to leave your sle

I was exhausted. Opening a successful restaurant in New York City wasn't easy, but I'd just finished launching another one last week. It was already my third for the year, and the first had ear

row wrinkled as I wondered wh

oping you're free to take a little

t me to agree to his request, especially now that I'd lost someone else to a wolf. My best friend from childhood, Cor

" His voice took on a pleading tone. "None of them can come watch the kids, and I want to take Cal

love yo

whom I loved, he interrupted me. "Alena, Kyla, Azlyn, and Rush would love to see their Auntie Trinity. It

at the screenof my phone even though Tane c

e, I

t mean I couldn't fight back against my little brother. "Fine, if you insist on being a jerk, then I'll be forced to share all sorts of fun stories about their daddy the next time

play fair,"

ith himself, which made me grin.

again. "I guess I'll just have to resort

the side, intrigued by what he thought h

xt child," he offered

and did a little dance, excited by the pos

in on the secret before I told Calliope if you weren't being such a pain in the ass about doing me this small favor. All I want to d

haking my head. "As shocked as I am to admi

to come to T

d as I felt. "Yup. Whe

come next

eekend soon. "I need to talk to my boss first. Things are running smoothly at the newest restaurant, but Riggs ma

scoffed. "How often have you taken time off other than for a holiday since y

ied to remember the last time I'd used my vacation days for just a fun tr

ne with you taking some time between projects t

aggeration. "Taking Calliope on an

owl that signaled how close his tiger was to the surface. "I need

yeah. Stop right there. I'll tell Riggs that I have to go out of town to help my little bro

d I heaved a deep sigh, making him chuckle again. "I'm going to tell Calli

other when he offered up the perfect excuse for me to leave seemed shortsighted. "Just don't say when

personal insult against him. I'd never understood why he disliked my boss so much, but I couldn't complain too much when I'd spent even lon

ok a while before I calmed down enough to give Riggs a

my nose between my index finger and thumb. Riggs had a one-track mind when we were opening a new place. The trait was a big part of why he wa

ould've realized." He paused

t notice, but I was hoping I could take a few days off starting on Friday.

e headed back. I haven't set up any meetings for our next project yet, and things are runnin

t not enough for me to run the risk of him changing his mind if I offere

won't be gone more than a minute necessar

ited about getting away from work and spending time with my nieces and nephew, bu