DutyBoundARe

by Sidney Bristol

  “Four women dead, one scared shitless.”

  “Actually, sir, I think there are more. Maybe not here, but I think this man has been getting away with this for a long, long time.” He licked his lips and leveled his gaze at Rouge.

  It was time to tell the full story, omitting nothing. This was the right thing to do, even if he hated it. Because of Lisette’s connection, he couldn’t stay on the case. Hell, he might get slapped down and suspended until Seth was caught and charged. He only hoped that whatever they got, it stuck to him like glue.

  Lisette placed her backpack in the corner where it belonged, in Mathieu’s room, while scratching Gator’s head with her other hand. The apartment felt as if it wrapped around her, squeezing her like an old friend. This was where she belonged, if she belonged anywhere.

  The front door banged open with a thud. Lisette jumped, but Gator wagged his tail, pivoted, and headed out of the bedroom.

  Mathieu.

  She breathed a sigh of relief and got to her feet.

  “What are you doing out, boy?” Mathieu said.

  Lisette leaned against the doorframe and smiled at the picture of dog and man together.

  “I took him for a walk. What are you doing back so early?” she asked.

  Mathieu’s head snapped up. “What are you doing here?”

  That wasn’t exactly the reception she was waiting for. He’d left her at Fletcher’s house with some mumbled explanation she couldn’t recall. Something about work. It had taken almost two hours by city bus to creep across to where Mathieu lived, not that she minded, but a little concern or smile would be nice.

  “Well, Fletcher wasn’t too keen on adding a third to his relationship, so I figured I would come back here.” She shrugged and remained where she was instead of going to him for a hug and a kiss.

  “Not funny.” His gaze narrowed.

  “Yeah, well—”

  His phone rang. “Hold that thought.” He dug it out and answered before the first chime was over. “Hello? ...Hey… Yeah, that’s fine… Yes, I’m still bringing her… Okay… Oh, I didn’t know… Okay… Fine… See you then.”

  Bring her where?

  He slid the phone back in his pocket. “Dinner’s moved to Saturday. Lola has to go to Baton Rouge and Mom doesn’t want to cancel two weeks in a row.”

  “Oh.”

  “Now, why aren’t you at Odalia’s like we talked about?” He placed both hands on his hips and brought out his Dom voice, but this wasn’t an issue of submission or power exchange. It was their damn relationship.

  Lisette mimicked his pose. “Because I’m just in her way.”

  “Her place is bigger than mine.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t know her like I know you.”

  “So you’re okay being in my way?” he snapped.

  Her jaw worked for a second without sound. “That was—”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

  “Maybe you did. I am, I mean, taking up half your space. You didn’t even sleep in your own bed, so I guess I really am in your way.” Her heart screamed in pain while her mind whispered that something else was amiss.

  “Lissy, I didn’t mean it.” He edged closer, as if he weren’t sure how she would react.

  A swift kick to his nuts might improve her mood. She balled her hands into fists.

  “Please, don’t cry, I’m sorry.” Mathieu closed the distance between them and hugged her to his chest. “Don’t cry. I’m just—I’m scared.”

  Scared? What would Mathieu have to be scared of? She brought her arms up around his waist.

  “Why?” she prompted when he didn’t continue.

  He squeezed her tight, so tight she could feel tiny tremors shaking him. Something had to be really wrong. Her hurt evaporated in the face of whatever had Mathieu home early and scared.

  “Because…because Seth is in New Orleans.”

  Lisette froze in place, her mind replaying the sentence over and over again. She almost couldn’t wrap her thoughts around it, because every time she tried it felt as if a baseball bat were taken to the slowly forming ideas, scattering them to the wind.

  “I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure. I thought I was seeing a pattern where there wasn’t one, and then he came to see me at the precinct. He was in my damn office.”

  “Does he know I’m here?” she blurted.

  “He can’t know for sure.”

  She pulled out of his hold and almost tripped on Gator as she put space between them. He’d knowingly kept this information from her. She could have run into Seth anywhere—at a café, while eating with Leo or even here, because she had no doubt Seth could find her here.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? When did you know it was him?”

  “Two days ago.” Mathieu let his arms drop to his sides, his expression was one of pain, but what did he know? He hadn’t had his body broken or pride ripped to shreds by Seth. She had.

  “You had no right.” She shook her head.

  “I was protecting you. You’ve come such a long way, I didn’t want to take that from you.”

  She blinked at him, his logic baffling. “Seth can’t take away who I am.”

  “I know, but…” He took a few steps toward her slowly.

  “No, you don’t get it.” She pushed him back when he came too close. Her body shook, and it wasn’t in fear. She wanted to slap him, hug him, yell at him.

  “I just wanted to protect you.”

  Lisette froze. Wasn’t that why she’d come to Mathieu? As some form of protection? And now she was upset at how he chose to protect her.

  She pivoted and paced away from him until she could look out of the windows that faced the front of the building and the street beyond. Though the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, she didn’t feel it.

  What now?

  Did she pack up and leave?

  Where would she go?

  What would she do?

  Seth would be deployed soon. It didn’t make sense that he was in New Orleans. Shouldn’t he have to report for duty or something? Or had she miscalculated when she thought just waiting out his leave time would be enough, that he’d forget about her and everything would be okay?

  She hugged herself and watched the people going to and fro down below. Though the sun was out, many wore hoodies or jackets. Seth could blend in. He could be coming to get her even now.

  “Lissy,” Mathieu said directly behind her.

  She jumped and hated herself for the thread of fear that had her trembling.

  Mathieu wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, his cheek against her head and his body shielding hers.

  “I was called in this morning to tell my sergeant about Seth. I told him everything. All of it. He’s pissed at me. I’m off the case and taking a little leave until it’s cleared up. It was either that or be suspended, but I don’t think he wanted to deal with that. He’s got two serials at the same time. Department’s stretched thin.”

  “Wait—what? Two serials? What does that mean?” She turned in his arms and peered up at him.

  Mathieu’s lips were tightly compressed. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “Well now you have.”

  He sighed. “I labeled Seth a serial.”

  “A serial what?”

  “A serial killer. He has the same MO with each kill. He strangles young women to death, leaves them to be found posed on their back.”

  Snatches of memory, bits of Seth doing just that to her. She shook her head, banishing the dark thoughts by sheer will. That was the past. She was growing beyond that.

  “And the second?”

  “There’s someone, a man or maybe a man and woman team, snatching teenagers. We have disappearances, but no bodies. The PD has been quiet about it because we don’t want to upset people, but…”

  “Did someone else get taken?”

  “Yeah, yesterday two kids, a brother and s
ister, got taken. It’s an escalation. That’s why Rouge couldn’t call me back yesterday.”

  “Yesterday?” She felt like a broken record, but there were too many pieces at once.

  “I found something Seth left for me at the scene of another victim. It was a silver bracelet he wore—”

  Lisette gasped. “Hunt or be hunted. I made that for him. He used to say that, but it was always about, you know, hunting animals. Not people. Oh my gosh. This is all so terrible.”

  “They’re going to bring Seth in today, find him, ask him some questions.”

  She shook her head. This had happened before and it was swept under the rug, nothing said, no slap on the wrist, just gone. “I need to leave.”

  “No.” Mathieu grasped her by the shoulders and held her in place. “I’m here. Patrol will drive by regularly and check in with me. I’ll make it happen. Nothing is going to happen, do you understand me?”

  “You can’t say that for sure. What if Seth hurts you? Or Creature? Odalia? I’m not willing to risk that.”

  “But you were willing to risk it before.”

  “That was before I knew Seth was here.” Tears leaked out of her eyes, dampening her cheeks.

  Mathieu gathered her close, squeezing her. “I can’t let you leave. I can’t know you’re out there, by yourself.”

  She wasn’t distraught enough to miss the way his voice trembled and how he squeezed her tight. They were friends and lovers, nothing more. Or were they?

  chapter Nineteen

  Valentine

  Seth fidgeted with a pencil left on the desk. He could feel eyes on him, knew he was being watched by officers through the one-way glass. Were he in the field, this would be a moment when he would go still, assess, and make a counter-move. But here, on their turf, it was important to act as if he were any other person. Thus the fabricated fidgeting and relaxed posture. It was a task to remind himself to slouch, pass the time with a few bobs of his foot.

  He hadn’t seen Mouton when he was brought in under request for questioning. While he’d have liked to tell the patrol officer to go fuck himself, he couldn’t risk word of his whereabouts getting back to his CO. He was going to be in hot water over this already.

  As soon as this fruitless questioning was over, he needed to tie up his lose ends and get out of here. He was pretty certain if he could track down Mouton he could find Lisette, and that’s where the fun would start.

  He leaned back in his chair and whistled a little tune. Oh, the fun they would have.

  Mathieu studied Lisette, huddled on the couch with Gator crowding her into the corner. The dog had picked up on her nervous energy and was trying his hardest to comfort her. Mathieu could see the confusion in Gator’s gaze every time he lifted his head and glanced around for the source of her unease.

  Maybe Lisette needed her own dog. A puppy?

  He discarded the idea as soon as he had it. Where would the poor thing sleep? It wasn’t as if the apartment was very large. Except… Lisette wouldn’t live with him forever. It was difficult to remember how life had gone on without her. And she’d been in his life again for less than two weeks. Was he really already halfway in love with her?

  He was.

  He shook his head and stepped through the bathroom door. Lisette needed a distraction. TV hadn’t helped. She had no interest in cooking. He couldn’t even engage her in conversation.

  She’d begun to jump whenever his phone rang or someone passed the front door out in the hall. It was the kind of blatant display of fear he’d wanted to avoid. At this point, he couldn’t see keeping Seth’s whereabouts from her any longer, and maybe he’d been wrong doing it in the first place, but he’d done it out of care for her. She’d trusted him in the role of Dominant and he took it seriously. Maybe not in the beginning, but now she was all he cared about.

  As quietly as possible, he lifted his play bag onto the bed. The partially closed bedroom door hid his intentions as he felt around for the implements he wanted. It was time to push Lisette. To show her how far she’d come. And distract her in the only way he knew she’d be able to really let go.

  He’d never seen someone who threw themselves into the moment like she did. Especially in play. Lisette held nothing back, and so it stood to reason he could break through her circle of worry.

  Mathieu finished preparing the bedroom and himself.

  “Lissy?” He leaned through the bedroom door.

  Her glassy gaze continued to stare at the coffee table, her lower lip pinched between her teeth.

  “Lisette?” he said louder.

  She jumped and shook her head. Gator was quick to reassure her with a lick to her hand.

  “Sorry, what?” She patted the dog on the head and pressed her other hand to her forehead.

  “Why don’t you put Gator in his crate and come in here?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t feel like taking a nap.”

  “That wasn’t really a request.” He put just enough force into his voice. The change was immediate. Lisette sat up a little straighter and blinked a few times, life returning to her gaze. “Put Gator in his crate and come in here.”

  He hated the stupid crate. Dogs were supposed to be able to run around, be free. But the rules of the building were crate or be kicked out. As soon as this stuff with Seth blew over, he was looking for a bigger place. Something with a yard, where he could see a future. With or without Lisette. He wanted her, but he wouldn’t hold her back.

  Lisette coaxed Gator off the couch and into his crate, where he flopped with a heavy sigh. Gator hadn’t liked the crate too much when Mathieu had been forced to introduce it, but he’d accepted it the same way he did everything else in their jumbled life.

  She turned and walked toward him, her gaze downcast and her spine straight. He grasped her chin and forced her to look at him.

  “Do you want to tell me to stop?” he asked. He’d play if she’d let him, but he wouldn’t force it.

  “Yes.”

  His heart fell a little. “Are you going to tell me to stop?”

  “No.”

  Women were confusing creatures. He shook his head and stepped back so she could enter the bedroom.

  “Strip,” he ordered.

  She wordlessly obeyed, removing pants, hoodie, shirt and bra in quick, economical moves. It didn’t detract from the beauty of her. Lisette turned toward him, wearing nothing but panties and a frown. He bumped her chin again, not much of a fan of this somber, downtrodden version of Lisette.

  “Hey.”

  Her gaze slowly rose to his face. He got it. Everything was plain as day on her face—her fears, her worries, the memories were all in her eyes.

  “Come here.” He gathered her into his harms, hugging her close, running his hands over her back, down her arms and sides.

  Her arms looped around his waist, but she wasn’t into the moment. He might as well have asked her to clean the toilet for all that she was reacting. Maybe this wasn’t the best course of action, but he wanted to show her how strong she really was.

  “I want you to turn around and put your hands on the bedpost,” he said into her ear.

  This close, he felt the tremor snake through her. Was that him? Or the chill?

  She turned away from him and set her hands against the bedpost. He blew out a breath and took the first toy from where he’d hung it on the doorknob.

  Lisette glanced over her shoulder, brows furrowed. “Aren’t you going to tie me up?”

  “No.” Mathieu pressed his front to her back. The curve of her ass fit against his groin oh-so-well, and he looped his left arm around her waist. He brought the crop around and drew the heart-shaped business end of it across her collarbone. “I want you to stand here of your own free will and do this. We haven’t done much impact play yet, besides a little heavy flogging and some spanking. I want to see what you do with real impact.”

  She shook herself a bit and her breathing hitched.
“I’m not a pain puppy, remember?”

  “I know.” He continued to trace the line of her shoulder with the crop, enjoying how her focus had narrowed to the toy. “And I will respect that. This isn’t about pain, Lisette. This is about you.”

  “W-what about me?”

  It was marvelous, the way she gave herself over as she did. He continued to caress her chest, around her breasts and stomach with the crop.

  “Your strength.” He lightly tapped her nipple with the crop.

  She hissed and arched her back, laying her head on his shoulder. He popped her other breast with a little more force, not hard enough to hurt, just sting a bit. She hissed and wiggled in place.

  “I’m going to show you just how strong you really are.” He pulled her head back, exposing her throat and kissed down to her collarbone.

  While she was distracted, he brought the crop lower and peppered one thigh then the other with sharp, short smacks. She yelped in surprise, but was unable to escape the superficial blows. The little helpless mewls escaping her lips were not those of pain or fear.

  He stepped back and brought the crop to bear on her the backs of her thighs and bottom until they turned a lovely, bright pink color. She groaned and rolled her hips. Tempting, but there was more yet to do. Farther to push.

  The black crop was a sharp contrast to her pale skin as he drew a line down her spine, all the way to the edge of her panties. He wouldn’t target the softer portions of the body, but he wouldn’t tell her that. Flicking it across the ticklish portion of her side elicited a squeak and wiggle from her. He tapped her shoulders, hard enough to make an ominous sound but not hard enough to hurt.

  Time to push her.

  He brought his arm back and put some strength into the blow, landing it across her ass. Lisette yelped and groaned, muttering something that sounded like a curse under her breath.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  “Oh, fuck you, that stung,” she said.

  He grinned and slipped the wrist strap off, hanging it up and freeing his hands. Before he selected his next implement, he covered her bottom with his palms. The heat soaked into his flesh now. He ran his hands over her body and the brightest of marks, gauging her reaction to their play.