Ivy thought about asking Daphne for growling lessons.
CHAPTER 2
A few hours later, she was summoned to her other boss, Theodore Jensen’s office. As she approached, the door was ajar, and she could hear him clacking away on his keyboard. She guessed closing doors at this firm was hardly necessary most of the time, what with shifter hearing.
“Be right with you,” he said without looking up when she reached the doorway.
Oh my God.
He quickly glanced up at her, then back down at his keyboard, then up again in a double-take. Recognition dawned. Ivy had to snap her mouth shut when she realized it had been hanging open, frozen in shock.
That same devilish smirk she saw earlier today formed on his handsome face as he leaned back in his chair.
Green. His eyes are green. Why did those eyes look familiar?
She cleared her throat and forced herself out of her stupor. This was her new boss, and she was determined to make a good first… erm… second impression. No lusting after him simply because he had a pretty face. Lots of people have pretty faces.
Ivy walked over to him and held out her hand. “Ivy Spencer, Mr. Jensen. You wanted to see me?”
He took her hand firmly, holding on to it longer than etiquette would dictate. Or maybe she held on too long. She couldn’t tell. It was his turn, though, to clear his throat, and Ivy wondered if he was affected by her as well.
Not affected. Not affected!
She really needed to get herself together. She’d have to figure out why she had such a strong reaction to him later. Her life was way too complicated to be complicated even more by crushing on her boss. Who, apparently, had his own stuff to deal with in the form of a crazy lynx shifter named Delphine, an ex his mother was more than happy he was rid of.
“Please call me Theo.” He gestured for her to sit.
Ivy dutifully sat, waiting for him to grill her on this morning’s activities. Instead, he handed her a file labeled Konstantin Petrov.
“Our new client.” Theo explained he had gone to the 135th precinct earlier to meet with Petrov. “The arraignment is tomorrow.”
She opened the file. The guy owned an upscale strip club and was accused of money laundering and the illegal importation of goods. These were some serious charges with a wiretap and all. She said as much to Theo. She also wondered, why go pro-bono on this one?
“Completely bogus,” Theo replied. “The wiretap will be enough for this to go to trial. He’s good people,” Theo explained. “A fellow Siberian Tiger who we’ve offered a place in our pride. Some of my guys… and girls,”—he shrugged—“frequent the Stripe Club and have never seen anything amiss there. Petrov runs a clean operation.”
Ivy couldn’t help wondering if Theo frequented the place and had to quash the stab of possessiveness.
Nope. He could frequent all the strip clubs. Not my business.
Theo filled her in on what he’d discovered so far, mercifully unaware of Ivy’s internal struggle.
“Poor guy’s just found his mate. She has a kid,” Theo said.
Ivy could have sworn she heard a hint of longing.
Reading further, she discovered Petrov’s sister had been kidnapped.
“Wow, he’s really been through the wringer. And the wiretap?”
“Cletus Ermine,” Theo replied with disgust. “A literal and figurative weasel. He’s an idiot!”
Tell me how you really feel.
Apparently, this Ermine guy was a young prosecutor out to make a name for himself as the man who stopped the Russian mob, which made sense to Ivy. She’d done research on the Ivanovich Bratva Pack, mostly for her own purposes. They were all over this, but not without some witchy help.
“He got Petrov’s name from a badly translated wiretap, along with the words ‘wash,’ ‘money,’ and ‘Stripe Club,’ Theo continued. “It was enough to issue the warrant. Only he forgot to wait for Petrov to actually commit the crime, so he added illegal importation of goods to the warrant. I need you to write a motion to get the illegal importation of goods tossed out.”
“You think the judge will go for that?” Ivy asked.
