Lawful Mate, page 1
LAWFUL MATE
A DOWN IN FLAMES TALE
ELENA KINCAID
Lawful Mate: A Down in Flames Tale © 2022 Elena Kincaid
Edited by: Sandy Ebel - Personal Touch Editing
Cover Design by: C.D. Gorri
* * *
*This story is part of the Tempted & Tantalizing NYC Author Event (TNTNYC2022) Lawyered Up/Locked Up Author collaboration.
* * *
This is a work of fiction. All the characters, names, places, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are part of the author’s imagination and/or used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to a person, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights are reserved. No part of this book is to be reproduced, scanned, downloaded, printed, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of any materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
CONTENTS
BLURB
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Author Bio
Also by Elena Kincaid:
DOWN IN FLAMES CHAPTER 1
BLURB
Lawful Mate: A Down in Flames Tale
By: Elena Kincaid
* * *
Blurb:
Ivy Spencer has known about the existence of her true mate since her thirteenth birthday. When she comes face to face with the man who has haunted her dreams for the past seventeen years, her secrets keep them apart. Uprooting her life to a new city and taking a new job is just the first step in getting the proof she needs to stop a dangerous killer.
Easy there, Tiger! Theo Jensen has to mentally chide his inner animal every time he’s around his mysterious, gorgeous new hire at his law firm. It doesn’t take long for him to realize that Ivy Spencer is his mate, but he knows she’s hiding something from him, something life-threatening. Add to that, he’s got his own baggage to deal with in the form of a cheating ex.
Will Theo be able to uncover Ivy’s secrets before he loses her forever?
* * *
*Get the other side to this story in Sealed Fate by C.D. Gorri
To #TNTNYC22 the Final Ride and to all of you lovely readers who come to hang out with us!
PROLOGUE
The wind howled as the golden leaves swirled in a perfect circle around the giant Silky Willow, her ancestral tree. Ivy saw it clear as day in her dream. It’s what woke her and got her out of bed, her bare feet padding noiselessly as she strode out of her room, out of her house, into the center of the dancing leaves.
She had just turned thirteen the day before. The hanging lights adorning the willow tree from yesterday’s celebration twinkled with the rising sun. Looking at the sky, she closed her eyes, reveling in the warmth and peace that surrounded her. When she reopened her eyes, she saw she was no longer alone. A boy, maybe a year or two older, stood before her, wearing flannel pajama pants with a Metallica T-shirt, along with a shocked expression and his mouth slightly agape.
The leaves swirled faster, the sound of the wind grew louder, and the boy looked around wildly before setting his sights on her again.
“What’s happening? How did I get here?”
“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. She barely remembered walking the near quarter of a mile from her house to the willow tree. It also seemed odd how they both spoke in normal volumes with complete coherency, as if wrapped in their own private bubble, while the wind practically roared, as if from a distance. Perhaps her powers were growing. It dawned on her that her mother and grandmother were capable of doing the same thing.
Clawed nails suddenly extended from the boy’s right hand, and Ivy instinctively stepped back. She was about to go into defense mode when a gut feeling told her to stop. She didn’t want to hurt him. Her instincts proved right when, a few moments later, he retracted his claws and raised his hands up in surrender.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
He’s a shifter. What kind, she couldn’t tell yet. “You didn’t,” she lied. She realized the lie was less about her bravado and more about not making him feel bad. They were both creatures of instinct.
She took a few steps closer to him, examining his face—his long, dark lashes accentuating his green eyes, perfectly sculpted nose, narrowing cheekbones leading to a cute, pointed chin with a slight dimple at its center. He had a light spattering of symmetrical freckles on the bridge of his nose, fanning out across the tops of his cheeks that made him look even more attractive. The wind ruffled his golden-brown locks, still messy from sleep. He’s beautiful. She had never had the desire to kiss a boy until now—until she zeroed in on his pillowy cupid’s bow lips.
His face softened as she stopped inches from his tall, lanky frame. He seemed to be examining her as well. Then he smiled, revealing straight pearly whites, and she could have sworn her heart stuttered.
“You really don’t know how I got here?” he asked, his voice a soft velvet sound with a slight rasp.
Ivy shook her head. “Maybe we’re both dreaming?”
The boy tilted his head as if pondering the same thing. “It doesn’t feel like a dream, though.”
Ivy didn’t think so, either. “I know.” She thought about the blessings her grandmother and mother had bestowed on her last night—one was to one day find her true mate. Her grandmother had been lucky to find hers later in life after both her children were fully grown. Ivy’s mother, though she had once loved Ivy’s father, had not yet found hers. Perhaps this was destiny giving her a glimpse. Or Ivy’s powers were growing, and she just wanted to hang out with a cute boy. Ivy smirked at the aforementioned cute boy.
“Or maybe I did bring you here somehow. After all, I am a powerful witch.”
Throwing back his head, he laughed. “Are you, now?” He crossed his arms in front of him. “What’s your name, oh powerful one?”
Ivy opened her mouth, but the sudden stillness in the air caught her attention. She turned her head to the side in time to see all the now flightless leaves fall to the ground. When she turned back to her cute boy, he was gone.
She blew out a long puff of air.
“Okay, so maybe not that powerful after all.”
CHAPTER 1
Ivy awoke with a start, bolting upright. She flopped back down on the bed and emitted a loud, heavy sigh. She’d had that same frustrating dream for nearly two decades now, once a year, every year, the night she went to bed on her birthday. Years later, when she told her mother about her recurring dream—leaving out the part that the dream was a manifestation of what really happened and that the boy was as real as she was—her mother had given her a funny look and waved it off as nothing but a dream. Ivy knew it wasn’t nothing, not then, not now, despite not seeing the boy again other than in her birthday dream, which liked to replay itself. Ivy was sure her mother hadn’t been entirely forthcoming. Poppy Spencer had an annoying way of revealing things to her daughter when “the wind told her to,” as she liked to put it.
Ivy snorted, then shook her head, thinking about her mother’s antics. Turning her head to the right, she glanced at her clock.
“Shit!” She bolted upright again.
“Fuck! Fuck! Shit!”
She was going to be late, and for her first day at her new job, no less. Ignoring the incessant ringing of her cellphone and her growling stomach, she jumped into the shower. Lucky for her, her ancestral magic was wind, allowing her to use the warm air in the room to dry her hair quickly, taming her unruly curls into soft waves as she dressed. After a light touch of makeup, with an apple between her teeth and briefcase in hand, she was out the door, impressed with her timing.
“Maybe I’ll make it in time after all,” she muttered as she reached the elevator.
Her skeezy neighbor didn’t bother to hide ogling her. She gave him a tight smile just as the elevator dinged open and ignored him as they both stepped inside. The incessant ringing of her cell phone crammed into her blazer, however, could no longer be ignored. She knew who it was, and the woman wouldn’t stop calling until Ivy answered it.
“Hi, Mom,”
“I’ve been calling you for fifteen minutes,” she said frantically. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone? Are you alright?”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, Mom. Just overslept and was in a rush.”
“Oh, well… why didn’t you say so?”
I just did.
“Well, no worries. I can clear the traffic for you. Don’t want you to be late on your first day.”
“No, Mom, really…” Ivy moved the phone away from her ear and took a deep breath. She loved her mother, but at thirty years old, she did not need to be babied with her mom’s spells. If she was going to be late, she’d deal with the consequences or manifest her own clear path.
Her mom and grandmother were the ones who taught her not to meddle with human activities or to do so as little as possible, what with the witch hunts, oh… centuries ago. If humans had been privy to the real existence of witches back then, they’d have known never to mess with them. Hell, a real witch may have allowed humans to try to burn her at the
Actual witches were never caught. As if. Too many innocent human lives, however, were taken in those fruitless witch hunts. Maybe her kind should have interfered back then.
Ivy turned her back on Skeezy to face the wall and brought her cell phone back up to her ear, whispering, “Aw, come on, Mom. Don’t do that. I’m taking the train. It will be fine.”
“If you say so, sweetie.”
“Mom!” The line went dead, and Ivy couldn’t help her frustrated growl. Skeezy practically bolted out of the elevator, not glancing back at her.
Good! Two weeks of living in the building and the guy ogled her without so much as a polite greeting every time she ran into him. Maybe now he’d stop being such a creep.
If he knows what’s good for him!
Stepping out into the fresh breezy air, Ivy inhaled deeply. She loved the fall. The lack of humidity did wonders for her hair. Even with her witchy powers, taming frizz was a constant battle. Still, she missed her home upstate. The stars were too hidden in the city for her liking. She had a purpose here, a responsibility she would not take lightly, but she already missed the small law firm she worked for back home. She also missed the one person who she could always vent to, though it had been years since she had the option to do so.
He was the reason she was here.
Ivy took a another deep breath to clear her mind of those thoughts now. She needed her head in the game.
Her three-block walk to the train was suspiciously filled with people who seemed to want to get out of her way. Same thing down the stairs to the train station. One turn-style was avoided by all patrons, though there was no issue with it when she swiped her MetroCard and went through. When she got to the platform, one seat on the bench remained unoccupied.
“I think I’ll stand,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.
Only then, a young woman took the unoccupied seat.
Mothers!
At least her mother refrained from messing with the train schedule—Ivy’s uptown train was three minutes out. Surely, if her mom had tampered with it, the train would have arrived as soon as she stepped foot on the platform.
Ivy inhaled the air. This seemed to be where the magic ended, or at least for now, knowing her mother. Movement to her left caught her attention. She turned to face a hooded man walking slowly, hands plastered to his side. A glint of metal peeked through his left hand, then a premonition hit her. He would walk a few more feet toward an unsuspecting waiting passenger—a middle-aged man with glasses standing not too far from Ivy. He would then bash the man in the back of the head with his concealed wrench and flee up the stairs as his victim fell onto the platform, bleeding and unconscious. Ivy saw the hooded man hit at least two more people on the stairs before her vision ended.
She couldn’t let that happen, interfering be damned. What use were her powers if she couldn’t do some good with them?
Ivy let out a deep breath and whispered, too low for any human ears to hear her, “Invoco ventum. Sile, impotens.”
The hooded man stiffened, then fell to the ground, face first, his wrench clanking to the floor. A few people near him jumped back and screamed.
Ivy turned away from the scene. She knew her face had remained stoic as the premonition hit her. Trained as she was, no one would have noticed anything amiss, so subtle was the use of her magic. No one human, that is.
Across the platform on the downtown-bound side, a man with a knowing look stared directly at her, then raised a brow and gifted her with a devilish half-smirk. Damn, he was handsome in his sharp navy-blue suit and his thick, golden-brown hair styled in a sexy low-tapered fade look. She couldn’t make out the color of his eyes from this distance, but she could tell they were on the light side.
Ivy breathed in the air around her. Shifter! Of course, he had heard her. She shrugged her shoulders and smirked back.
His train arrived, saving them both from the aftermath of awkwardness. It wasn’t forbidden by any of the supernatural councils to help humans, including the Supernatural Council of New York City or SCNYC as it was more commonly referred to. Not that she cared what they thought. Witches, by choice, were unrepresented on the Council, though given the reason she was here in the first place, maybe that should change.
The handsome stranger stepped inside his crowded train, moved all the way to the opposite doors, bringing himself a little closer to her, and gave her a sexy wink before his train took off.
Her train arrived less than a minute later. Ivy ignored the commotion to her left involving the still unmoving, would-be assailant. Two police officers were already at the scene when the doors to the train car opened. Ivy stepped inside and took the lone empty seat immediately to her right, which she saw a passenger vacate, though he didn’t depart the train.
She thought about the assailant. He’d recover from his frozen state soon enough, hopefully, restrained to a hospital bed once the wrench was discovered lying near him. Ivy closed her eyes and whispered, “Solve. Verum dico,” while picturing the hooded man. He’d loosen his tongue and confess once he regained the ability to speak.
The train ride was blessedly uneventful until she reached her stop. Only the doors in front of her opened. The rest of the train doors remained closed to confused passengers until she was already on the stairs, leaving the morning rush crowd behind her. She was about to skip the coffee shop located a few doors down from her new job when she saw a crowd milling about outside. Only after she found herself first in line did a line form behind her.
Ivy sighed in relief as she arrived ten minutes early at the office of Jensen and Associates, one of the largest, most prestigious shifter defense law firms in the whole of New York. At the helm were mother, son, and daughter—Kim, Theodore, and Roslyn Jensen. Roslyn was currently on maternity leave.
“Good morning, Kim,” Ivy mouthed from the doorway of Kim’s office.
Kim was on the phone, but she smiled at Ivy and motioned for her to come in. Last week’s interview had been just a formality. Kim needed an attorney to fill in for her daughter, and Ivy’s credentials had spoken for themselves. Not to mention, Kim and Ivy’s mother, Poppy, had known each other since college. Kim was also privy to the real reason Ivy was there and graciously offered her assistance.
“Listen, you little fucker,” Kim said to the poor soul on the other end of the line, “You’re a fucking professional. You should know better than to make a personal call to a fucking professional office.” Kim shook her head. “If he’s not picking up, that means he doesn’t want to talk to you.
“Zip it!” she went on, cutting off the speaker. “A grownup is talking. I don’t give a monkey’s ass if he blocked you. I know what you did. You know what you did. And more importantly, he knows what you did. You’re a little skank whore who will never, and I mean never, be with my son.”
Whoa. Ivy stood to leave to give Kim some privacy, but Kim just waved it off as if the conversation was nothing.
“Now, Delphine, if you call my office again, this is what will happen,” she continued calmly. “I will come down to your office, and you know me… I don’t do subtle. I will come in loud.” Kim held her pointer finger up even though Delphine could not possibly see it. “I will come in as the Alpha of my pack.” Kim held up another finger. “And as the head of the tiger council and berate you at your law firm for your unprofessionalism. I’m sure your bosses will love that. Then,” Kim said, putting her hand back down on the table, “I will drag you outside and have an even more unpleasant conversation as a mom, which you will pray to the heavens above doesn’t end with your throat ripped out.” Kim ended the call.
