Crusader (Impossible #9)

by Julia Sykes

  “Yes,” I said, doing my best to appear apologetic. Truthfully, I was sorry I had upset him, but I wouldn’t have done any differently. Knowing about the women Dimitri held hostage had changed the situation. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been willing to come clean with Hugh tonight. I kept that bit of information to myself.

  “And what’s your involvement?” Finlay questioned Dex. “Clara’s a cop with some sort of vendetta against Dimitri-”

  “Which you’ll bloody well explain to me,” Hugh interjected.

  “But who are you?” Finlay finished.

  “FBI,” Dex answered. “I’m here as a favor to Clara’s friends. I was supposed to take her home.”

  “Supposed to?” Finlay frowned.

  “She’s very determined, if you haven’t picked up on that yet,” my partner said drily.

  Hugh’s glare remained fixed on me. “Explain. I want to know everything. Now.”

  I drew in a deep breath. “What I told you about fucking up that sting was true. I really did go after Dimitri, and I almost got Charlotte Santiago sold into the sex trade. My friends got us out, but-”

  “Your friends?” Hugh interrupted.

  “I know several of the guys in the New York unit of the FBI. They’re in the lifestyle, and we know each other from the clubs.”

  “So you’re NYPD, then,” Finlay concluded.

  “Yes. And I really am on an extended leave of absence because of what I did to Charlotte. I decided to use my time off to come here and hunt down Dimitri.”

  “Because that’s the most logical, sane thing to do,” Hugh said, his voice dripping sarcasm.

  “I had to redeem myself.” I glanced at Dex. “And yes, I wanted revenge,” I admitted.

  “What did Abramovich do to you?” Hugh demanded, not at all gently.

  I stiffened. “That’s not important.”

  “It is to me.”

  “He didn’t rape me or anything, if that’s what you’re asking,” I snapped. Dex’s hand covered mine. Hugh glowered at it.

  “He seems to have taken a particular interest in you,” he pointed out.

  “It’s like I said earlier. He’s a twisted fucker on a power trip. And a misogynist. He can’t deal with the fact that I’m a Domme. He wants to take that away from me. It’s a game to him.”

  “You appear to be losing,” he said unkindly. “What the fuck are you thinking, going after him like this? You’re one woman against the Russian Mafia.”

  Dex’s fingers tightened on mine. “She’s not alone. She has me.”

  Finlay studied him. “And what exactly is your deal? Why haven’t you hauled her arse home?”

  “That’s none of your business. I stayed, and I’m going to stick with her to the end.”

  “To your death, you mean,” Hugh sneered.

  Dex shrugged.

  Hugh threw up his hands. “You’re a couple of nutters.” He shifted his attention from me to my partner. “If you won’t send her home, I will. This ends now.”

  “No!” I shot to my feet, getting in Hugh’s face. “You can’t take this from me. I was going to come clean with you so we could work together, not so you could ship me back to the States.”

  “I’m not letting you stay anywhere near Abramovich.”

  “He’ll kill her if she tries to leave,” Dex said quietly. “He’d rather have her dead than not have her at all.”

  “I have intel to share,” I said quickly. “I can be a valuable asset.”

  “You’re a target,” Hugh corrected. “You’ll share your intel, and you’ll stay in the safe house until we take out Abramovich.”

  I lifted my chin. “I won’t give you anything if you try to cut me out of the op.”

  Hugh’s muscles flexed, and he seemed to grow larger. “You’ll do what I tell you to do.”

  “Make me,” I seethed.

  “You don’t think I will?”

  “What are you going to do? Torture me?”

  “Aye, pet. I could think up a dozen ways to make you scream. And you would enjoy every one of them.”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it.” Dex appeared at my side. My caveman really was intimidating when he got up in your space. He was so damn big.

  “I’m with the Americans on this one, mate,” Finlay said worriedly. “We don’t torture innocents.”

  “She’s not innocent,” Hugh fumed.

  “You’re not thinking straight, man. Leave off.” Finlay looked to me. “You want to cut a deal with us. What do you have in mind?”

  “MacClellan!” Hugh snapped at his partner.

  I talked over him. “I have an address where Dimitri was holding women for his human trafficking ring. It was a pickup location for Bliss, too.”

  “Was?” Finlay asked sharply.

  I cursed myself internally for my slip-up. “They weren’t there when we checked it out. The women were gone, but the location might still be in use. I’ll give you the address if you agree to keep Dex and me on the op. I want to be a part of taking Dimitri out. I deserve to be a part of it.”

  “She does,” Dex backed me up. “We want in. You get the intel, we get to join your op.”

  Finlay eyed his partner. “We can do this.”

  “God damn it, MacClellan, you don’t have the authorization to make that deal,” Hugh snarled.

  “I don’t need authorization. The boss isn’t exactly aware of our mission.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “We’ve been doing this off the books,” Finlay told me. “We noticed Bliss circulating in our clubs and started looking into it. It’s become a personal matter. When we connected it to Abramovich, we thought about going to our Director General about it, but then we would be bringing the authorities into the fetish clubs. We’ll call in the cavalry once we have the Russians cornered.”

  Hope welled in my chest. “So you’ll work with me?”

  “Yes,” Finlay said at the same time as Hugh barked, “No!”

  Hugh rounded on his partner. “She’s a liar, MacClellan. We can’t trust her.”

  “Get over your own baggage,” Finlay commanded. “We can use this lead.”

  Hugh took in several deep breaths. Then his lips hardened in a cruel smile. “I have one condition.”

  “Name it,” I said eagerly.

  “If I allow you to stay on the op, you’ll follow my orders. I want absolute, unquestioning obedience. You’ll be my sub.”

  Anger flared even as my pussy pulsed. “I’m not going to agree to be your fucktoy.”

  “I won’t fuck you, pet. No matter how much you beg me for it. I don’t sleep with liars. But you will obey me. You’ll stay by my side and do as I say.” His eyes took on a taunting gleam. “Or you could agree to stay in the safe house and let us handle this.”

  Indignation flooded me. “I don’t hear you asking Dex to be your butt boy.”

  “He’s not the one Abramovich wants,” Hugh reasoned. “You are a weak spot. He will use you to get to us. That means I can’t let you out of my sight until this is over. Having Dex as another Dom on the team will work better for intimidation.”

  “He is intimidating,” I agreed flippantly, delaying the moment I would have to agree to Hugh’s terms. Because I would agree. I could read my fate in his hard eyes.

  “When you’re mine, I won’t tolerate your cheek,” he informed me.

  I raised an eyebrow. “And how do you propose to enforce that?”

  “If you agree, punishments are on the table. I’ll be your Dom. So be prepared to accept everything that goes along with that.”

  “You don’t have to do this, Clara,” Dex said angrily. “We’ll find another way.”

  I squared my shoulders. “I can handle Hugh.”

  His expression twisted with grim triumph. “I’ll be sure to put that to the test. I plan to keep you on a short leash.”

  “You better not mean that literally,” I warned.

  He smiled.

  Chapter 11

&
nbsp; “So, you have the address. When are we going?” I tapped my foot on the carpeted floor, anxious to spring into action. I also wanted an excuse to put at least a couple of feet of distance between Hugh and me. He had been hovering right in my space as I divulged the promised information.

  “You’re not going back there.” I was shocked to realize it was Dex who was putting his foot down.

  “What? We’ve already been there once before. And the Brits just agreed to let me in on this.”

  Dex folded his arms over his chest, looking every inch the disapproving Dom. “Tell them about the envelope.”

  I pressed my lips together.

  “What envelope?” Hugh insisted.

  “You’re a goddamn traitor, Scott,” I shot at my partner.

  “Tell me, Clara. That’s an order.”

  I glared at Hugh. “It’s been ten minutes and you’re already driving me crazy with this ‘I’m your Dom’ bullshit.”

  “That’s five,” he told me calmly.

  “Five what?”

  “Five strokes. Would you prefer the cane or a crop?”

  “You’re not serious.”

  “Oh, I’m deadly serious, pet. Now tell me about this envelope, or it’s ten.”

  I ground my teeth together, feeling mutinous.

  “Or I could bend you over my knee right now and it’ll be twenty,” he threatened.

  “Fine!” I snapped. “When we went to the house before, it was empty. But there was an envelope in the basement. It had a photograph of the women who had been held there. I don’t know when Dimitri was tipped off that Dex and I had the location, but he knew to move them well before we got there.”

  “Tell him the rest of it,” Dex commanded.

  “Damn it, Dex! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

  “I’m looking out for your best interests.”

  “By getting my ass beaten?”

  “They need to know the full scenario. You decided to trust them, so we have to share our intel. All of it.”

  Hugh took a threatening step closer to me. I dodged back. “Okay! Damn, this is going to be annoying. The envelope was addressed to me. And there was a note on the photo that said Too late.”

  “So the whole place was set up for you to find,” Finlay concluded grimly. “Abramovich really is toying with you.”

  “I’ll get to him first,” I assured him.

  “You aren’t going anywhere near him,” Hugh issued a decree. “He knew you were coming to that house. And tonight, he was waiting for you in your flat. He’s obviously several steps ahead of you.”

  “That’s right,” Dex confirmed. “There’s more. Tell them about the night I found you at Lash.”

  “Dex!” I hissed in reproach.

  Hugh’s hand fisted in my hair, and he pulled me downward so I was forced to drop to my knees.

  “I’m not fucking about, Clara,” he said, his voice deep with warning. “I won’t tolerate your evasiveness any longer. Tell me the whole truth, or our deal is off.”

  “Let me up!” I insisted, struggling to break loose from his hold. He tugged my hair back further so I had no choice but to stare up into his eyes. I read the seriousness of his expression. He really would send me packing if I didn’t lay everything on the table.

  I huffed out a breath and stopped fighting him. “It was the night I first met you. I lured Roman to one of the private rooms to question him. Well, it turned out to be the other way around. Dimitri was waiting for me. He told me he was aware I’d been hunting him, and he found it amusing. He made his intentions toward me clear, and then decided to let me go. He knew I would drive myself crazy trying to find him again.”

  “By his intentions, I assume you’re referring to his plans to make you his pet?” Hugh said coldly.

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “If you think you can withstand torture, you’re wrong. He’ll break you eventually.”

  “I don’t intend to allow him to torture me. I’m going to kill him.”

  His eyes darkened. “Is that why you decided to ask for my help? You think I’ll get you close enough to him so you can kill him?”

  “No,” I answered honestly. “I came to you because I think you can help me find those women. I need to save them. And you’re going to help me.”

  “Am I, now?” Hugh asked in a soft, dangerous tone.

  “Yes,” I defied him. “And if you plan to keep me locked up in this safe house, then our deal is off. You agreed to let me in on the case. You said yourself that you won’t let me leave your side. I know you won’t let anything bad happen to me. And I’m not just bullshitting you to soothe your ego. If we work together, we can get close enough so I can take him out.”

  “If I can interject, none of us is going to that address,” Finlay cut through our battle of wills. He was staring down at his smart phone. “I just looked into it. The place is currently burning to the ground.”

  Hugh and I cursed in unison. He glared down at me.

  “Can I get up now?” It was more of a demand than a request.

  He released my hair and gave me a tight nod. I quickly rose to my feet and put space between us.

  “What now?” I asked, ready for a new plan.

  “We go back to the Bliss angle,” Finlay announced. “It’s what Hugh and I were working before. There’s a big party at Lash in a couple of days. We’ll go and scope the place out. All of us.” He shot a pointed look at Hugh.

  He grimaced. “I’ll be happy to show my new sub off.”

  “So long as you’re not trying to keep me out, I’m cool with that,” I said, mostly truthfully. I wasn’t pleased with the scenario, but I was relieved Finlay was on my side.

  “Is this a good idea?” Dex sounded doubtful. “Dimitri will expect us to be there.”

  “Apparently he’s known about us for some time now, so I don’t see how much has changed,” Finlay reasoned. “He won’t act against us in the open, and we need to isolate some of his people and make them talk. Tracking the dealers is our first move.”

  “Agreed,” I asserted myself. “What do we do to prepare? We need to come up with a strategy.”

  “You and I are going to a private dungeon tomorrow to prepare,” Hugh announced.

  My jaw dropped. “I don’t think whipping me will help us with the op.”

  “It’ll make me feel much better. I find a good caning always relieves stress.”

  “Yeah. If I’m the one wielding the cane,” I retorted.

  “Oh, I think you like to bottom. In fact, I know you do. Stop lying, love.”

  “I am two seconds away from slapping you,” I warned him. “You are on my last nerve with this whole lying thing.”

  “I wouldn’t advise it. And this attitude is the exact reason we’re going to the dungeon. If you’re going to be my sub, I need you to play the part convincingly. We are going to take some time to establish a proper dynamic.”

  “I’m good at pretending,” I protested.

  “I know, pet. You deceived me for a long time. But I can’t have you mouthing off to me in public. We’re going. It’s not up for debate.”

  Do not slap him. Do not slap him. I would have to exercise my considerable willpower to prevent myself from pummeling his handsome face. I had made a deal with the goddamn devil.

  “You still have your safe words,” Hugh reminded me.

  “I know,” I said tightly. My entire body was tense. Anger, frustration, and arousal churned in my gut. I resented him for his arrogance. He seemed so certain that he could tame me. Just like Dimitri had said.

  That thought made me feel sick, so I quickly turned my mind in a different direction. Unfortunately, the first path that came to me was lust. No matter how angry I was at Hugh for making me agree to this ridiculous D/s arrangement, my body still burned for him. It remembered the ecstasy I found under his harsh hands, and it responded pleasurably every time he turned that dark, dangerous stare on me.

  I never should have s
lept with him, I lamented internally. He had far too much power over me now.

  I certainly felt overpowered, and he wasn’t even touching me. He circled me like a predator where I stood in the center of the dungeon space. Various implements intended for my torment filled the stone-walled room. The effect was undeniably unnerving, even though I was doing my best to appear unfazed.

  “I’d like you naked for this,” Hugh remarked.

  My eyes snapped to his. “I’m not following you around the club naked.”

  “I don’t want that, either. But I do want access to your body while we’re in here. We have the whole place to ourselves. No one will see you but me.”

  I’d been more comfortable completely bared in a club full of strangers than I would be around Hugh. Reflexively, I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “We’ve been together,” he pointed out. “I know circumstances are different now, but it’s nothing I haven’t seen or touched before.”

  “You haven’t seen all of me yet,” I countered.

  “I’ve put the various parts together in my mind.” He smirked, his eyes raking over me as though I was already unclothed.

  I couldn’t melt in the wake of that smug smile. That was simply unacceptable. I lifted my chin and grasped the hem of my sweater, pulling it up over my head before I could change my mind.

  “My bra and panties stay on,” I said as I shucked off my jeans, taking my flats along with them.

  “I don’t mind that one bit,” he said with heat. “I like them.”

  I gaped at him. I was wearing white cotton briefs and a boring pale blue bra. These were my practical underwear.

  “They’re very… sweet,” he rumbled. “I’m used to seeing you dressed up like a sex kitten at the club. And while that certainly holds its own appeal, this is even more charming.”

  I blushed. “That wasn’t my intention.” My flippancy was ruined by the softness of my voice.

  He grinned. “I’m charmed nonetheless.”

  He moved in closer, until his body was barely an inch from mine. This close, I could feel his heat rippling across my bare skin. I shivered. He chuckled.

  “You see? You do like me. This doesn’t have to be unpleasant. You don’t have to try to hate me, love.”