Axel's Pup (5 page)

Bayden shook his head.

Damn it, Axel had met chattier mimes. He fell silent, but he didn’t move away from Bayden. Matt could serve anyone who wanted a drink. Customers could queue out the door for all Axel cared. He remained opposite Bayden and completely silent.

Bayden glanced up at him. It took him another two minutes of unwavering silence for Bayden to realise that, if the conversation was going to continue, he’d have to be the one to speak next.

He took a sip of his Coke. “Someone said that The Black Dragons started off as a club for men who like bondage rather than bikes?”

Axel nodded his approval. He’d have done that whatever Bayden found to say, but the boy throwing bondage into the conversation was definitely a plus.

“The original four of us met on the BDSM scene. When we realised we all rode, it made sense to ride together. The rest grew from there.”

Bayden glanced up at Axel again, before quickly dropping his gaze. It was the same look he’d given him last time the conversation had turned to kink—not exactly flirtatious, but definitely one that Axel considered interesting.

Axel pointed to the table where several of the other Dragons had set up an impromptu poker game. “The big guy with the beard, who looks like a bear—everyone calls him Griz. He owns a bike repair place, does custom work for damn near every biker in the city. He rides the Harley Fat Boy parked out front.”

Bayden glanced in Griz’s direction, before turning back to Axel.

“Next to him, pale man with a pony tail, the one who looks like a vampire on steroids, that’s Drac—he runs a tattoo place and rides a clapped out old thing that’s only good for spare parts, but the paint job is awesome. The other founding member of the club is Hale, he’s not in tonight—but he’s the sarcastic one with the shaved head. I’ll point him out to you next time he’s here.”

Bayden nodded, but it was about time for him to speak again. Axel didn’t have to wait so long for Bayden to get the idea this go around.

“Did Drac do your tattoos?” Bayden asked.

“Every one of them.” Axel smiled. “Do you have—?”

“Sorry, Axe?”

He looked down the bar toward Matt.

“The barrels need to be switched over,” Matt said, apologetically.

Perfect timing for the one job Matt always did his damnedest to avoid. Axel looked at the queue, then at the poker players, before reluctantly setting aside the idea of seeking out any ink Bayden might have hidden away. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Bayden nodded.

Axel was only down in the cellar a few moments, but the second he stepped into the bar he knew he’d been gone for too long. Someone else was talking to Bayden—fair enough, he was hot. Guys were going to hit on him. But Bayden was actually getting off his stool and it looked like he was about to leave with the guy.

Bayden stilled, as if he could sense Axel’s gaze on him. He turned around. His expression turned guarded.

“Going somewhere?” Axel asked.

“If you prefer us not to use the yard out back, we can take it somewhere else,” Bayden offered.

Axel glanced at the guy Bayden had been talking to. He was chatting to a few other guys—friends of his by the look of it—the kind of friends who would happily goad someone into betting on himself in a fight against a wolf.

“Here’s fine,” Axel said. It wasn’t quite what he’d had planned for Bayden that night, but the possibility that Bayden had intended to screw the other guy rather than hit him had put things into perspective.

Axel could force himself to wait until after a fight. He looked at Bayden’s newest opponent. He doubted it would take Bayden long to be done with him.

* * * * *

“Less than five minutes.” Axel murmured the words under his breath, as if he was talking to himself rather than Bayden.

Unsure what to say, Bayden remained silent.

Axel tucked a knuckle under Bayden’s chin and studied the results of the fight. His touch wasn’t harsh, but it wasn’t a suggestion either. It was an order—one that Bayden was rapidly getting used to obeying.

“Come on, pup.”

Bayden followed Axel into the kitchen at the back of the pub, just as he had the first time he’d visited The Dragon’s Lair. This time, he wasn’t worried that Axel might want to keep the money he won, or that he might make him get on his knees to earn it.

Axel wasn’t like that. Axel was…

Bayden took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It didn’t help him think more clearly about what Axel was, it just filled his lungs and his mind with Axel’s scent. Axel’s movements were as deft and confident as ever. In moments, he was sitting with Bayden at the table.

He wiped the blood from Bayden’s split lip. Bayden’s memory of his last visit to that kitchen had been accurate. His realisation that it was better to get a split lip than a black eye was just as true.

Holding ice on his own eye couldn’t compare to having Axel’s hands on him. Sitting on the opposite side of the bar to Axel was pleasant, but nothing like being alone with him in the kitchen.

Axel didn’t seem to expect talking—another bonus. Bayden was free to study Axel without having to scramble for something he could say that a human wouldn’t take offense at.

Bayden traced the line of one of Axel’s tattoos with his eyes, from his wrist up to where it disappeared under the short sleeve of a tight black T-shirt. Bayden furled his hand into a fist to stop himself giving in to the temptation to try to stroke the design.

The art work obviously went up higher than Axel’s bicep, but Bayden had no way of knowing just how much of him was covered in the brightly coloured designs. Was it just his arms, or was his whole body decorated that way?

Bayden’s heartbeat sped up. He swallowed at the idea of finding more tattoos as Axel stripped down and—

Axel chuckled.

Bayden looked up. Axel’s eyes were dancing with amusement. He’d obviously finished whatever he intended to do to Bayden’s split lip. Bayden hadn’t been sitting obediently still while Axel worked. He’d been sitting there blatantly gawping at Axel for who knew how long.

He waited for Axel to say something, but Axel just raised an eyebrow.

“Drac does good work,” Bayden offered.

Axel smiled, clearly not believing Bayden’s interest in his skin stopped at admiring his art work, but he didn’t call Bayden on it. “Before we were interrupted, you were about to tell me if you had any ink.”

“Wolves can’t.”

“Really?”

“When we shift…” Bayden trailed off.

Axel didn’t pull away at the reminder of what Bayden was. He stayed in his space and ran his fingers up the unmarked skin on Bayden’s arm. It was all Bayden could do not to lean into his touch.

“Were you serious when you said you play as well as you fight, or were you just talking big in front of the other guys?”

“I play,” Bayden said, more softly than he intended. He cleared his throat. “I can play just as well as I fight.”

“You’ve never been here on one of the nights when the back rooms are open.”

Bayden dropped his gaze. Just because Axel let him drink there, that didn’t mean he’d let him do anything else there. Asking would be—

“They’ll be open next Saturday night if you want to come along and play.”

It could be a trap. Axel could be setting him up for anything. He…

“With you?” Bayden checked.

“Is that what you want?”

Bayden shrugged.

“That’s a pity. I don’t play with men who aren’t interested in me.”

Bayden jerked his head up. “I didn’t say I’m not interested.”

“You didn’t say that you are.”

It would be a stupid thing to tell a human. Giving up information that could be used against him, letting a human know what he wanted, it was asking for trouble.

Axel’s fingertips still rested on Bayden’s skin. He traced a line up the outside of his arm again before sliding his hand behind Bayden’s head and caressing the nape of his neck. His hand was warm, his touch full of dominance—as if he already knew he had the right to touch Bayden any way he pleased.

“I…” Bayden took a deep breath. The desire in Axel’s scent gave him courage. “If you did want to play with me, I’d…like that?”

Axel nodded his approval. “Next Saturday.”

Bayden nodded.

Axel brought his hand forward and ran his thumb back and forth across the skin beneath Bayden’s bottom lip. Bayden was sure that Axel wasn’t thinking about cleaning his wounds anymore. He had no doubt Axel was imagining how a werewolf’s lips would feel wrapped around his cock.

Bayden hardened at the possibility. His erection strained against his jeans. It had been so long since he’d sucked someone off because he actually wanted to. His mouth watered.

Their eyes met. For a moment, Bayden thought that Axel was going to order him to his knees, or even lean forward and kiss him.

Axel pulled back. “You might not want to smile for a few days, but you’ll survive.”

“It’s fine. Wolves—”

“Heal quickly,” Axel finished for him. “You’ve mentioned that before.”

“It’s true,” Bayden protested.

But the moment had passed. Whatever Axel had wanted from him, he didn’t want it anymore, not while his lip was still bleeding. Bayden mentally cursed, wishing he’d let the guy he’d fought give him a black eye instead.

“Werewolves can’t carry human illnesses,” Bayden blurted out, in case that might help.

“That’s good to know, but when you come to the club, you’ll follow the same rules as the humans.”

“I never said I wouldn’t.”

“That means, unless you’re wearing a guy’s collar, he’s wearing a condom,” Axel went on, without missing a beat.

Bayden pulled back.

Axel raised an eyebrow at him.

“Wolves aren’t dogs.”

Axel frowned, but the expression soon passed. “A lot of subs wear collars—it shows they belong to their dom. It’s nothing to do with being a dog.”

“I never said I’m a sub.”

Axel smiled. He looked amused again, which was better than the frown, but Bayden didn’t get the joke. And humans who made jokes he couldn’t understand were dangerous.

“Which of us do you think will be calling the shots on Saturday?” Axel asked.

“You.” That was obvious.

Axel ruffled Bayden’s hair as he stood up. “That’s close enough for now.”

Bayden wasn’t sure what that meant either. But Axel’s hand had felt good in his hair. He understood that perfectly.

There was no way in hell anyone at The Dragon’s Lair was going to be interested in fighting tonight. Bayden hadn’t even made it into the pub, and that much was obvious. Even the air in the car park was filled with the scent of lust and leather—and it wasn’t the kind of leather a man wore on a motorcycle.

Bayden joined the queue to get in. He’d been in clubs where men played with leather in the city. There was always money to be earned in them, and points to be proved, if a wolf wasn’t fussy about the kind of bets he took. But, tonight wasn’t about proving things like that to humans. Bayden smiled to himself. It was about proving something very different to one particular human.
I can play just as well as I fight.
Proving that to Axel would feel good and—

“Bayden.”

Stepping to the side, Bayden looked to the front of the line. Axel’s friend Drac beckoned him closer.

Bayden glanced at the queue. Several other men had joined it after him. He didn’t want to lose his place, but everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to answer Drac’s summons. Bayden reluctantly stepped out of the line.

“I’m allowed to be here. Axel—”

“You can go straight in,” Drac interrupted.

Bayden studied him warily.

“Axel invited you. You don’t need to queue,” Drac said. “Go on.” He nodded to the door. “You don’t want to keep him waiting.”

Bayden was about to step in, when he realised that the man in front of him had just paid an entrance fee. He reached into his jeans pocket.

“You don’t need to—”

“I can pay my own way,” Bayden cut in. He held out his money and kept Drac’s gaze until Drac finally gave in and took the cash.

Inside, Bayden forced himself to leave his helmet and his jacket with the guy who was collecting them off everyone else. Some guys were leaving a lot more than coats and crash helmets. Half the men had stripped down to just a few bits of leather and chain.

It was hot and crowded. Music pounded, filling the gaps between the people. Each inch of progress Bayden made involved squeezing past someone. Every man there seemed determined to get in his way or cop a feel as he passed by, but he finally got to the bar.

Axel…wasn’t there. Bayden frowned as he lifted himself up on his toes, trying to see over taller men’s heads. A man Axel’s size should have been easy to spot, but Bayden couldn’t see him anywhere.

A hand landed on Bayden’s shoulder. It was better than where other hands had tried to roam as he’d fought his way through the crowd, but Bayden had had enough of strangers in his space. He twisted around only to stop short.

Axel’s friend, Griz, stared down at him. His nickname really was fitting. Grizzly—a big bear of a man with a full beard and a huge barrel chest.

“Axel’s in the back room.” Griz dipped his head, putting his lips closer to Bayden’s ear in an effort to make himself heard over the pounding rhythm, but his invasion of Bayden’s space stopped at the purely practical.

“Thanks.”

“He’s expecting you!” Griz grinned.

The way the other men talked, it almost sounded as if Axel had been looking forward to that night as much as Bayden was.

As Bayden made his way deeper into the pub, he found there wasn’t one back room, there were at least four of them. Each space seemed just as crowded as the pub’s main bar room. Bayden was well into the first room before other men’s shoulders parted far enough for him to see that there were areas of clear space around various pieces of kinky furniture. One man lifted a flogger and brought it down hard on another man’s back, making it obvious why the crowd wasn’t creeping closer.

Axel wasn’t one of the men playing. He wasn’t in any of these audiences, either. Bayden’s ability to care about anything beyond that was limited. He headed for another room.