Axel's Pup (6 page)

At the last moment, a burst of laughter caught his attention. He turned around. The amusement was all directed at a young blond man standing with three older men. The boy blushed, ducked his head and rushed off into the crowd, his tail tucked firmly between his legs. The older men laughed all the more.

“What about you, wolf-boy, do you think you could take twenty from a cat?” one of them called out when he spotted Bayden.

Bayden recognised him from his previous visits to the pub. Richards. He wasn’t one of the men who sat at the bar talking to Axel. He didn’t ride with Axel’s club, but he was often there in the background. He’d offered to buy Bayden a drink and he hadn’t liked it when Bayden had pointed out he already had one.

“Well?” Richards came closer so he didn’t have to yell so loudly over the music. He lifted up a cat of nine tails as exhibit A.

“I’m not interested.” Bayden turned away.

“Figures, there’s no such thing as a wolf who isn’t a coward at heart, is there?”

Bayden pushed down his anger as best he could and went back to his search for Axel.

“I think he’s scared,” one of Richards’ friends chipped in.

“Looks like it.” It was the smug satisfaction in Richards’ voice that tipped the balance.

Bayden’s hackles went up. He turned to face him. “Of you?” His tone made it clear how stupid that idea was.

Richards’ eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen you fight. You dodge well enough, but I’ve never seen you take a hit like a man. Wolves are just animals when it comes down to it. They can bite and claw, but when it comes to taking their licks, no wolf has that kind of self-control.” He smirked. “I’d put money on it.”

“How much?” Bayden demanded, before he could check the impulse.

“One hundred.”

“Not very sure of yourself, are you? That’s not even enough to make it interesting.” Bayden turned away, dismissively.

“I’ll match it if you get to thirty,” one of Richards’ friends offered.

“Get to forty, and I’ll match it, too,” another one chipped in.

“That makes three hundred,” Richards said. “
If
you can take forty—all to your back on bare skin, and win the whole bet. Bail before that, and you’d owe each of us a hundred. Is that interesting enough for you, or is the truth that a wolf just can’t hack it?”

The music wasn’t so loud they couldn’t be overheard. Bayden looked around to see who else might be listening. Everyone else’s attention seemed to be on the whipping taking place in the opposite corner of the room. But, even if those three men were the only ones who heard the challenge, even if they were the only ones who thought wolves were weak, it was still three humans too many.

Axel’s expecting you.
“I don’t have time for this bull,” Bayden bit out.

“Later tonight, then. After the pub closes, at my place,” Richards said. “Unless I was right about wolves, and you’re just making excuses for being a coward?”

Bayden met his gaze. He couldn’t afford to let humans think he was weak. If he was willing to face facts then he couldn’t afford to turn away three hundred pounds, either. Axel was waiting for him, but Axel was also bound to be finished with him way before closing time.

“Three hundred says I can take forty lashes then,” he agreed.

Richards had rattled off his address, and Bayden was finally able to go back to his search for Axel.

There! Bayden’s heart rate settled as he finally spotted Axel near the door leading into the third back room. Then it sped up again as he took in a few more details.

Axel had dispensed with his usual black jeans in favour of tight leather trousers. Without his T-shirt, the only things covering any part of Axel’s chest were his tattoos. Bayden’s fingers itched with the desire to reach out and touch. He pushed his hands into his pockets. Axel turned slightly. Light glinted off a nipple piercing. It was all Bayden could do to keep back a whimper.

As if he knew he was being watched, Axel turned toward Bayden. He smiled when he saw him and beckoned him closer. Bayden moved toward him, stopping the bare minimum of distance away required to be considered respectful.

Axel caught hold of his belt loops and tugged him nearer, just like he had once before, but this time he didn’t need to check Bayden for injuries after a fight. He slid his arm around Bayden and settled his hand on the small of his back, encouraging him to stay close—ordering him to stay close, because he knew he had the right to give that kind of command.

“Okay, pup?” He dipped his head and put his lips near Bayden’s ear, but it was different than when Griz had done it. Bayden hadn’t wanted to step forward and rub himself against Griz, or to drop to his knees and suck his cock.

Taking a deep breath, Bayden settled for filling his lungs with Axel’s scent and nodding, although okay didn’t seem like a good enough word. The music was far quieter in this room. Axel didn’t have to shout.

“Seen anything you like?” he asked.

Bayden blinked at him. He liked every bit of Axel. He was confident he’d like all those bits he hadn’t had a chance to see yet, too.

Axel’s lips twitched. “I meant the scenes.” He nodded toward the one he’d been watching. One man was secured in a pillory. Another man was screwing him. From all the noise they were making, they were both enjoying themselves, but the body language was all wrong. They were acting parts which didn’t really fit. The guy who was bound didn’t really think the man screwing him was the more dominant man. He was just pretending.

Bayden turned his back on them. Axel standing still and doing nothing was far more fascinating than anything they could ever do. “Whatever you want.”

Axel stroked his fingers up and down Bayden’s spine, tempting him to arch his back and press against his touch. “Is that your way of saying you’re still working out what you’re into?”

Bayden frowned. “It’s my way of saying we can do whatever you want.” He thought he’d been quite clear.

Axel chuckled. “No preference at all?”

Someone nudged Bayden’s back. Axel pulled him closer to give whoever it was room to pass. Suddenly, they were pressed together. The difference in their heights meant that Bayden’s lips were within an inch of Axel’s shoulder. He’d never wanted to lick someone so badly in his life.

Axel encouraged Bayden to tilt his head back, just as he had so many times before.

“No preference,” Bayden whispered.

“I can do whatever I want with you?”

Bayden nodded. It was the way things were meant to be. There would be no play-acting with them. The more dominant wolf would take the lead and—

“Just leave his back clear. I like a fresh canvas to work on.”

Axel jerked his head up. Bayden didn’t bother to look over his shoulder. He knew Richards’ voice and had no interest in listening to him.

Apparently, Axel felt differently. “What did you say?” Axel was looking over the top of Bayden’s head, talking to Richards rather than him, but Bayden still hated hearing the anger in Axel’s voice.

“He’s already agreed to see if he can take a flogging from me.”

“Is that true?” Now, Axel was talking to Bayden, and he was just as pissed off as he’d been when he’d been talking to Richards.

Unease rolled down Bayden’s spine. “Yes.” They were so close together, Bayden felt every one of Axel’s muscles knot with tension.

“You agreed to do a scene with him?”

“I…”

“I should have known better than to trust a wolf’s word,” Richards sneered.

“I keep my word.” Bayden tried to turn to face Richards, but Axel caught hold of his shoulder and stopped him short.

“You also said you were coming here tonight to do a scene with me,” Axel said.

“I can do both.”

Axel’s grip on his shoulder tightened. “No.” Just that one word, but filled with complete confidence.

Bayden hesitated, staring up at Axel.

“No,” Axel repeated. As erotic as the dominant tone was, it did nothing to disguise Axel’s anger.

Bayden looked past Axel. They’d caught a lot of attention. As many men watched them as watched the guys at the pillory. Bayden had guessed they might have an audience, but he’d assumed it would be for the scene.

Axel wasn’t interested in that anymore. Axel wasn’t interested in him anymore. Bayden looked down. He should have known better than to come to the pub tonight. If he’d stuck to just picking up fights, he could have at least have sat in the pub and day dreamed about playing with Axel. Forgetting that it would never work out that way in reality had been stupid.

Bayden tried to step away, but Axel’s hand was still on the small of his back and it prevented Bayden retreating without his permission.

“Do you want me to leave?” Bayden asked.

“Rather than see you get whipped by him, yes.”

* * * * *

Bayden nodded. He stepped back. He was actually going to leave rather than simply tell Richards he’d changed his mind about the scene with him?

Axel shook his head, but he let the boy back away. Bayden was obviously out of his depth there—that’s why he was flailing around, making bad decisions and following the lead of anyone more experienced than him in an effort to look like he knew what he was doing. Much better that he leave now and return when he was up to speed.

Axel coaxed Bayden into looking up at him. Confusion swirled in Bayden’s gaze. Yes. Let him leave. Give him a few private scenes. Just the two of them, with no one for Bayden to try to act big in front of, that would be far better. Axel would bring him back to the club when he’d found his feet. No harm done.

“Come on.” He turned Bayden toward the door.

“Running away like a scared little mongrel?” Richards goaded.

Bayden spun back to face him. “The bet’s still on.”

“Bet?” Axel asked.

“He bet that a wolf couldn’t take forty lashes,” Bayden said.

“That’s why you agreed to let him flog you—to win a bet?”

Bayden nodded. He looked confused. He obviously couldn’t see any other reason why anyone would get within twenty yards of Richards.

A few things clicked into place inside Axel’s head. Any jealousy he’d felt evaporated. Bayden was even less experienced than he’d thought. “It’s not like betting on yourself in a fight, pup.”

Bayden shrugged.

“You’re not getting flogged in the middle of this club to win some stupid bet.” Axel allowed no room for argument in his tone.

“The bet’s not being done here,” Bayden said.

“What?”

“I’m taking him back to my place,” Richards said.

“That’s not happening.” Axel didn’t even glance at Richards. His words were all for Bayden.

“I already took the bet,” Bayden pointed out.

“Then you can un-take it.” Forget jealousy. The idea of Bayden on his own with Richards turned Axel’s blood to ice.

“Do you need his permission to play with other guys?” Richards laughed. “What are you, a wolf or his bitch?”

Bayden jerked around to face Richards so suddenly, Axel’s grip on him failed.

“I decide who I do anything with, no one else,” Bayden bit out, anger turning each word into something like a growl.

“Doesn’t sound like it.”

Bayden glanced up at Axel. “I said I wanted to play with you. I didn’t say I wouldn’t play with anyone else. It’s my choice.” His tone was different when he spoke to Axel, as if he was trying to be polite but he couldn’t quite control his anger.

Axel stared down at him. “Do you trust me?”

Bayden didn’t move for a full minute. When he finally nodded, he seemed to do so against his best instinct.

“I’m telling you that it’s not safe for you to leave with him. If you go back to his place, I can’t look after you.”

“I can look after myself.” He stepped away.

Axel grabbed his wrist before he could take a second step. “You’re not leaving with him, pup.”

If he let Bayden walk out of there, he would go back to Richards’ place, Axel had no doubt about that. Bayden would go there and he’d get flogged and God only knew what else. Axel’s ability to control what happened ended the minute Bayden stepped out of the club.

“You can’t stop me from leaving.”

He could. Axel was quite willing to handcuff Bayden to the nearest bit of bondage equipment and keep him there until he saw sense. He stared down at Bayden. As loudly as his instincts screamed at him, his higher-brain argued that he couldn’t actually kidnap the boy. Even if he did give into the instinct, he’d have to let him go eventually. The look in Bayden’s eyes made it clear that the moment he was freed he’d head straight to Richards and that God-awful bet.

“You’ll do it here,” Axel announced.

Bayden blinked at him, but Axel ignored him in favour of meeting Richards’ gaze over the top of Bayden’s head. “You made the bet here, you’ll see it through here.”

“That wasn’t what we agreed.”

“If you just want to do your bet, what’s stopping you doing it here, where everyone can see?”
Where someone’s around to step in the moment Bayden says his safe word.

“Fine. If you don’t trust your pet mutt to take it like a man when he’s out of your sight, fine.” Richards shrugged, but his petulant expression made it clear that whatever plans he’d had for Bayden had been ruined. “Let everyone see if he has the balls to back up all his big talk, right here, right now.”

“We can go back to his place,” Bayden said, trying to step away again. “It’s not a problem. I can handle him.”

No, he couldn’t. Axel kept Bayden where he was. Richards might never have broken the rules in the pub, but that had nothing to do with him being a good dom and everything to do with him knowing he’d be chucked out. In his own place, without anyone to check him, Axel didn’t want to know what he was capable of, but Bayden wasn’t going to find out.

“If you’re determined to do it, you’ll do it here,” Axel corrected.

He half expected Bayden to point out that he’d never actually agreed to submit to him outside a scene, but Bayden just stood there, perfectly still.

“No one here will think any less of you for telling him where he can shove his bet,” Axel pointed out just in case it might make any kind of a difference.

“I would.” Bayden looked up at him. “I’d think less of me.”