Axel's Pup (37 page)

Everything was going to be fine. And, if it wasn’t, well, it wouldn’t be anything new to deal with. Providing he dropped back a little and made sure he didn’t drag the Dragons into any of it, everything would be fine. It would.

An hour later, he’d almost managed to convince himself that he’d been worrying about nothing. Then he saw the police car pull out of the layby where they had always lurked, waiting to catch unsuspecting motorists for traffic stops. A second later, Bayden noticed a second police car join the party.

Bayden’s grip on his handlebars turned white knuckled beneath his gloves. He slowed down. Tolmore was riding in front of him. Bayden eased off further, enough to make sure they’d be separated at the next junction, and held his breath.

Luck was with him, Tolmore was out of sight around the next corner before the first police car gave a whirl of its sirens and signalled for Bayden to pull into the next layby. No one from the Dragons would know where he was.

* * * * *

“Where’s Bayden?”

Axel looked along the line of Dragons and back toward the turning into the pub’s car park. It wasn’t like Bayden to lag behind.

Axel pulled his mobile out of his jacket pocket and checked to see if there was a message. Even if Bayden had dropped off the pace for some reason, it shouldn’t have taken him long to catch up. It was unlikely he’d got lost, but Axel supposed it was possible. It wasn’t a part of the city that a guy like Bayden would be familiar with.

Puncture, maybe?

Anything worse than that was just an overactive imagination, combined with an inclination to feel overly protective toward the boy. Axel leaned back in his seat and checked the view down the road.

Tolmore had been riding in front of Bayden. Axel caught his eye.

“Crossed over the railway line same time as me. Dropped back through the turns. Saw him about three minutes ago, he was keeping up fine.”

If something had happened to delay him, he’d have texted Axel to let him know, wouldn’t he? Axel frowned as an uneasy shudder raced down his spine.

“There’s only so much trouble he could have got himself into in three minutes,” Griz said.

“You guys can go in. I’ll ride back and see what’s happened,” Axel decided. Seconds later, he had his helmet on and was rolling out of the car park.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who thought something serious must have delayed Bayden because a few moments later he was aware of other riders falling in behind him as he retraced their route.

A glance in his mirror hinted that there weren’t any Dragons who’d decided to relax in the pub while other men went looking for the stray lamb.

The twisting section of road they retraced might not have been perfect for a newbie, but Bayden was hardly that. It was well within his skill level and—

There! Bayden’s bike was in a layby. So were two police cars. A policeman had Bayden up against the side of one of the cars, frisking him.

Bayden looked up as Axel pulled into the layby, followed by all the other Dragons. The look on his face screamed that this wasn’t just a random stop. He tried to straighten up but one of the cops pushed him back against the car.

Bayden’s bike stood several yards away from the police cars, as if he’d tried to put it at a distance so it would be out of harm’s way. Axel rolled forward until he was close to the group and his bike was between Bayden’s bike and the cops. He pulled off his helmet.

“What’s going on?” He looked at each of the cops in turn.

It was obvious which guy was in charge. He turned and glared at Axel. “It’s nothing to do with you.”

“Yes, it is. He’s riding with us.” He nodded toward Bayden.

Bayden tried to straighten up again, but one of the other cops shoved him forward and kicked at the inside of his boots, forcing him back into position. Axel half expected Bayden to drop the guy with one punch, but he subsided meekly against the side of the car. The warning bells that had been going off in Axel’s mind went into overdrive.

The cop looked past Axel to the other Dragons. “You’re breaking half a dozen anti-pack laws just by existing. Get out of here, all of you, now. Unless you’re looking for trouble?” He twitched his wrist.

He was carrying a Taser. Would it pierce a set of leathers? Axel doubted it. Even if they would go through leather and all the cops had one to hand, they weren’t going to be any use against over a dozen guys.

Bayden straightened up again, this time he wasn’t playing at it. He shoved the cop who’d been trying to keep him against the car out of the way and deftly dodged the other three as he hurried toward the safety of the group.

He was almost there when he stopped and turned back to face the cops, putting himself directly between Axel and the guy with the Taser. “No one’s looking for trouble.” He put his hands up placating. Axel grabbed Bayden’s shoulder and tugged him backward, but Bayden planted his feet and didn’t budge an inch.

“They aren’t breaking any laws,” Bayden told the cops. “They’re all human. There’s no reason to get them involved. They’re leaving.”

The hell they were!

Axel didn’t have time to speak before the cop lifted the Taser and pointed it straight at Bayden. When he’d been frisked, his jacket had been undone. The only thing the Taser would have to pass through was a thin vest.

Axel was bigger and stronger than Bayden—that meant Axel should mind his manners with him. The fact wolves healed quickly didn’t give humans the right to be rough. Axel saw the threat, and all those nice polite little ideas went out the window.

He dragged Bayden back, not caring if he pulled him off his feet. Bayden stumbled as Axel pushed him behind him. Other Dragons had got off their bikes. Griz and Drac were at the front of the crowd and caught Bayden before he hit the ground.

“Stay back there,” Axel ordered.

Griz and Drac each kept hold of one of Bayden’s arms.

The cop with the Taser laughed. “So that’s where you disappeared to. You didn’t crawl out of the gutter, just slithered along far enough to find someone else to whore yourself out to.”

Axel stepped forward. “What did you say?”

The cop smirked. “Oh, did you think you had fresh meat? You’re hardly the first guys he’s got on his knees for.” He looked past Axel to Bayden. “A bitch to a gang of bikers. Your dad would be so proud if he could see you now, wouldn’t he?”

The cop knew what the word meant to wolves—Axel saw it in his eyes.

Bayden sprang forward. Axel reacted just in time. He caught hold of Bayden’s jacket collar as Bayden tried to pass him, and pulled him back to his side. The moment Bayden realised who had hold of him, he stopped struggling.

Axel glanced back at the other Dragons, but he knew there was no way Bayden would accept being held by any of them. He was damn near vibrating with anger as it was.

“You know him?” Axel asked Bayden.

The cop laughed. “Me and Bayden go way back. You could say I know the whole family.”

Bayden tugged at Axel’s hold on him.

Hale strode forward, past Axel and Bayden. “Is that your excuse for pulling him over—that you’re a friend of the family, Sergeant…?”

“I don’t answer to your sort.”

“Actually, you do.” He pulled out his ID and held it up. “Detective Inspector Hale. You were about to explain why you pulled Bayden over, Sergeant…”

“Granger,” the cop muttered. “He was speeding.”

“I wasn’t breaking the limit, and he didn’t pass me,” Hale said. His tone of voice was completely expressionless, all business, back on the job.

“Reckless driving. We pulled him over to breathalyse him,” Granger bit out. He looked from Bayden to Hale and back again. “You know what wolves are like. Can’t stay away from the bottle. His old man was the same, and his grandfather—pure trouble.”

Bayden tightened his hand into a fist at his side. Axel strengthened his grip on his shoulder, half sure that Bayden was going to launch himself at the guy, not too inclined to blame him if he did.

“If you really think that, you should breathalyse him. Then we’ll all know if you’re right. Or would you like to try for another excuse?” Hale asked.

“You must know what wolves are like,” Granger spat. “And his family are the worst kind there is. This isn’t your patch, you haven’t had to deal with them. If you did, you wouldn’t be riding with him. If he’s not high as a kite it’s because he hasn’t had a chance to off load the last thing he nicked. The chances are, the stuff’s strapped to his bike.”

Axel’s stomach turned over. He glanced toward Bayden’s bike, all three of them were between the cops and the bike. It was perfectly safe.

“Riding without…” Sergeant Granger trailed away as saw the look on Hale’s face.

“Without insurance? Tax? MOT?” Hale suggested, in the pleasant tone of voice that was enough to let anyone who knew him realise that the whole world was about to hit the fan. “What was he riding without?”

Granger opened and closed his mouth. “You don’t know him. I’ve been dealing with the shit from the Holborn Estate since before you even joined the force.”

Axel bit the inside of his cheek, forcing himself to stay silent and let Hale deal with it.

“Bayden’s not from Holborn,” Hale said.

“He was born there,” Granger snapped. His expression changed. He laughed. “Has he taken you in, inspector? Got you caught up in a long con?”

Hale didn’t even blink. Con or no con, Bayden was riding with them. It was one thing for Hale to give him hell, another for an outsider to take pot shots at him.

Axel watched as Granger looked from one Dragon to another and finally back to Hale. Gradually, Granger seemed to realise that a shared profession wasn’t enough to outrank a shared club.

What Axel had told Bayden earlier was right. There weren’t many people who’d go up against twenty guys wearing leather. And, when one of those guys was a higher ranking cop, well some things really were more dangerous than they were worth.

A final twitch of the hand holding the Taser, and Granger took a step back.

Hale led the cops toward their cars. Axel saw him looking at their various ID’s and jotting something down in a small notebook. Axel couldn’t catch what they were saying. He couldn’t bring himself to care either. Hale was better at dealing with people like that, especially when Axel wasn’t sure his temper could take being within range of hitting one of the bastards.

Axel tugged at Bayden’s shoulder, trying to get him to turn around but Bayden kept all his attention on the cops. Pure hatred shone in his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

Bayden nodded.

“Why did they pull you over?”

Bayden still didn’t look away from the knot of policemen. “Cops have never needed a reason to pull wolves over.” His voice shook with emotion. Axel placed one hand on Bayden’s chest. His heart was racing. For several seconds, Bayden continued to look straight past Axel at the cops.

“Hale’s dealing with them. They can’t hurt you now.”

Slowly, Bayden turned to Axel. Their eyes met. Axel held his gaze as the seconds ticked past and the anger in Bayden’s eyes gradually faded. Bayden dropped his gaze.

Axel heard a movement behind him, but he didn’t look around. Hale could deal with them, and if he couldn’t, there were plenty of other men there. Axel kept all his attention on his pup. Bayden’s heart still raced. His breathing was uneven, but he made no move to pull away from Axel.

The sound of the police cars driving away filled the air. A moment later Hale appeared alongside them.

“Is he okay?”

Bayden tensed at the question, but made no attempt to answer it himself.

“Bayden’s going to be fine,” Axel said, still not looking away from him.

He sensed Hale walk toward his bike.

“Are you hurt?” Axel asked.

Bayden shook his head.

“Can you ride?”

He nodded.

“Then let’s get out of here. It’s not far to the pub. We can talk there.”

Bayden glanced up at Axel. He looked confused, but since damn near everything that had happened in the last hour had confused the hell out of Axel, he couldn’t bring himself to be too sympathetic.

He watched Bayden get on his bike. When Axel met Hale’s gaze, Hale nodded his understanding. “When I pull out, fall in after me,” Axel told Bayden.

“I don’t—”

“It’s an order. The appropriate response is yes, sir.”

Bayden dropped his gaze. “Yes, sir.”

In the car park alongside the pub, Bayden rolled his bike to a stop next to Axel’s. It had taken barely two minutes for them to ride there, but it had been long enough for Axel to get a few priorities straight in his mind.

Fury rolled through him. He got off his bike and took off his helmet. Bayden did the same.

In one movement, Axel pushed Bayden up against the side wall of the pub and pinned him there with a forearm across his shoulders. “What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded.

Bayden made no attempt to push him away or answer.

“You don’t ever step in front of me that way again.”

Bayden looked up. “What?”

“If I tell you to get behind me, you do it.”

Bayden frowned. “You’re mad about
that
?”

Axel raised an eyebrow at him.

Bayden studied him for several seconds. “Sir” he added, very softly.

“Yes, that’s what I’m mad about. If I give you an order, you obey it.”

Bayden swallowed. “Granger didn’t have a problem with you, sir.”

“And werewolves heal quicker than humans,” Axel finished for him.

“Yes, sir.”

“I don’t give a fuck how quickly wolves heal. You’re my sub. And when I tell you to get behind me, you do it.”

“I—”

“Would a lupine dom hide behind you?”

Bayden hesitated—that was answer enough.

“Then don’t expect me to. You ever do that again, and getting Tasered will be the least of your troubles.” He stepped back. Bayden remained against the wall. He didn’t look Axel in the eye, but his attention was all on him.

The other Dragons were there, they were all watching. Bayden didn’t glance in their direction. Neither did Axel.

He didn’t ride with fools, or with doms who didn’t know the score. The important thing here was that Bayden could have been hurt.