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Later that day…
Konstantin sat in the back of the limo he’d ordered to take him to the meeting with Ivanovich.Eduardo sat across from him, the big Grizzly deep in thought.That was the way with their kind.Some thought Bears were slow, but they were simply thoughtful.They took their time weighing and measuring before acting.
He left the Grizzly to his own musings and focused on the meeting ahead.Appearances were everything when it came to the underworld, and Konstantin wanted Ivanovich to understand he was no longer a penniless boy in Russia.He needed the man’s respect.
The limo stopped at a brownstone with gaudy statues and sculpted boxwoods somewhere in Dyker Heights.The neighboring houses were more sedate, more stately.The place reeked of ill-gotten gains and new money.A half dozen huge Russian Tigers dressed in all black milled about.Security, Konstantin figured.
“So obvious,” Eduardo grunted.
“They are not big on hiding where they come from,” Konstantin explained.
Why should they be?The bratva owned everything back in their small town in Russia.If they were going to remain here, things would have to be different, but it was not Konstantin’s place to teach the old crime boss.He walked up the staircase and stopped in front of two guards who’d drawn their weapons and leveled them at his face.
“Who?”
The brown haired one asked in a sublime display of his English expertise.Konstantin merely stared.The Tiger struggled, trying to meet his gaze, but that was easier said than done.
Though he rarely flexed his power like this, Konstantin had no choice.He was no ordinary Tiger.With the Alpha gene, and his rare full-blooded Siberian Tiger heritage running through his veins, he was more dominant than any feline in the vicinity.
Most of the living Tiger Shifters in the world were mixed breeds Bengal, Siberian, Indochinese, Malayan, and Caspian to name a few.And yes, bigotry and speciesism were real among certain supernaturals.Tigers too.Especially these Tigers.The Ivanovich Bratva Tigers.
These criminals were responsible for more crimes than Konstantin cared to count.Illegal gambling, prostitution, drugs, smuggling, and worse.It was true, Konstantin had committed petty crimes in his life.It was impossible to own a business and not bend one or two laws.
For example, yes, he smuggled some rare delicacies, illegal in the states, to satisfy some of his foreign clientele.But arranging for some rare Beluga caviar or a case of Absinthe, albeit with a little Green Fairy dust on the side, were not the same as trafficking in people.At least not in his book.
Finally, the asshole moved, and Konstantin walked towards the front door.He heard Eduardo’s steps falling behind him and knew his right hand man was with him.Witnesses were the other important thing during these meetings.Ivanovich would not want any, but the more Konstantin had, the better.
Dominance meant power in the Shifter world.Gleb Ivanovich,or more likely his wife, Galina, was all about the power.He hounded Konstantin’s father because the man would neither join nor would he bend to his will.And though Konstantin had left Russia as a boy, the bastard had hunted him here to New York.
“Ah, the Petrov brat.Come, we shall see my father.”
A shorter, fatter, Evgeny Ivanovich answered the front door wearing an open button down with a stained undershirt.He was drinking a tumbler of Scotch and smoking a cigar that stank up the hallway.How any Shifter could stand it, was something he did not know.
The man opened the door and shouted to his father in Russian about finding an alley cat on his stairs.Konstantin let the insult go.Especially when Gleb merely glared at his son.Evgeny, swallowed another sip of Scotch and sat down next to his brothers.
Rage filled Konstantin at the sight of them.These fuckers had entered his place of business and attacked him.His beast wanted to rip them to shreds, and the Tiger had no doubt he could.But he was not risking his newfound joy with Yasmin for these assholes.Especially not with all the hardware in the room.
Shifters using guns.
It was a downright insult to their species.Tigers especially.When you changed into an eight hundred pound maneater why the fuck would you need a gun?But Konstantin was not there to talk lifestyles.He was there to get the Bratva off his back.
“They told me you were left for dead.You do not look dead to me,” Ivanovich snapped.
His eyes were as cold and dead as Konstantin remembered.The older man stood up, still a good six feet tall and walked behind where his three slovenly sons sat.Then he proceeded to smack each of them in the back of the head.
“When I send a message, I want that message clear,” he snarled at them.Then he turned to Konstantin.
“Petrov,” he growled, returning to his seat.“Let’s see if you are smarter than your father.My sons delivered part of the message at least, yes?I need your club to clean some money.”
“Like my father, I must refuse you, Ivanovich,” Konstantin replied, then added through gritted teeth.“With all due respect.”
“You do not understand.I am not offering a choice.You see what I have here?”
The old man slid a cell phone across the table, and Konstantin looked down.Eduardo lifted it and pressed the play button.What he saw next made him want to tear the world apart.
“Alina.You have my sister.When?”
“We acquired Ms.Petrova yesterday.She is not here, but somewhere close.If you want to see her again, you will do what I say.”
