Authors: Kim Dare
Half an hour, four pints, and over a dozen shots later, Bayden lifted a glass of tequila to his nose and sniffed sceptically at it. He downed the drink in one, obviously wanting to get it over with. For the first time that night, he choked. A couple of the other guys chuckled. So did Axel.
“Damn, that’s disgusting,” Bayden muttered as he caught his breath. “Does anyone really drink this when they don’t have a point to prove?”
Axel took the empty glass and set it on the counter behind him.
“You proved yourself eight shots ago,” Axel said. “At this point, they’ve gone straight through impressed and it’s all about morbid curiosity to see what you’ll do when the alcohol finally hits you.”
Bayden pushed his hair back off his face. Apparently, vodka wasn’t the only drink that made him sleepy. A few moments passed. Bayden shifted his position on his stool.
Axel’s lips twitched. “You know the idea is to see how much you can drink without falling over, not how much you can handle without needing to take a leak, right?”
Bayden got off his stool, and promptly headed off in the wrong direction.
“Pup?”
Bayden turned back to him.
“Gents room is that way.”
Bayden blinked at him. He obviously wasn’t working on all cylinders, but his balance was still there. He didn’t sway as he walked past the other Dragons on the way to the toilets.
“Is this where you give us the usual lecture about not picking on the new guy?” Griz asked.
“No. If he’s going to ride with us, he’ll have to get used to you all sooner or later.”
Silence fell over them.
“Ride as in—on the back of your bike, right?” Drac asked.
“Ride as in ride—his own bike,” Axel corrected. “You’ve seen what he rides, haven’t you?”
“He’s a wolf.”
“A wolf that’s already proven that he can fight better than any man here, and take a whipping that would scare most novices away. He’s showed he’s not afraid of any of you. Hell, he can even drink you all under the table. What’s your argument against him?”
“You’re serious,” Hale said.
“You’re the ones testing him. Can’t complain if he wins, can you?”
“There are other guys who’ve been waiting in the wings for a damn sight longer than him,” Hale argued.
Axel met Hale’s gaze and held it. “If we wanted them in the club, they wouldn’t have been left kicking their heels in the wings, would they?”
“Look, you want to screw a wolf, fine,” Hale said. “He’s hot—hell if you hadn’t seen him first I might even have done him myself, but…”
“But?”
“Wolves are trouble. You can’t trust them.”
“If that’s true, it’ll show through while he’s tagging along, and he won’t be invited to join,” Axel shot back.
“What about any trouble he causes in the meantime?” Griz asked.
“My invite, my responsibility,” Axel said, without hesitation.
Just at that moment, Axel spotted Bayden making his way back to his seat. He stopped short of getting on his stool and met Axel’s gaze.
“You know that if you want to ride with the club, you’ll have to work for it,” Hale said. “You’ll have to prove to all the existing members that you’re serious about wanting to be part of the club. That means you have to do what we say—
everything
we say.”
Axel still held Bayden’s gaze. Whatever Bayden saw in his expression, it made him frown. He turned to the other Dragons. He looked them up and down, each man in turn.
“Well?” Drac asked.
Bayden shrugged. “Could be worse.”
“Oh?”
“I could be one of the guys who just admitted there was no way in hell they’re dominant enough to get me to do what they say, unless they stoop to blackmail.” He frowned. “Or is it bribery?” He blinked, as if trying to work out the correct label was his only concern in the world.
He turned back to Axel.
“Sit down, before you fall asleep on your feet.” Axel looked back down the bar to the other guys. There were a variety of reactions on display.
Griz had decided to be amused rather than offended and was grinning into his drink. Drac looked like he was on the verge of labelling him a wannabe dom rather than a bratty sub. Hale just looked pissed off.
Bayden propped his head up with one elbow on the bar. He really was sleepy.
“Okay, pup?” Axel asked an hour later, when the last few stragglers had been ushered out and he’d locked the door in their wake.
Bayden slid off his stool. “I’m fine.” It might have sounded more convincing if he hadn’t had to stop halfway through his answer and cover his mouth when he yawned.
“Come on. Upstairs.” He put his hand on Bayden’s shoulder and steered him along. He didn’t feel as steady as he looked.
“How are you really feeling?” Axel asked, as he closed the door to the flat behind them.
“I’m fine.”
“The truth, pup.”
Bayden blinked up at him. “Fine. Just a bit sleepy.” He looked down for a moment, looking just slightly shy. “We can do whatever you want.”
Axel shook his head. “Bad idea.” He settled his hands on Bayden’s shoulders, holding him steady.
“You don’t want to?”
Axel pushed Bayden’s hair back from his face. “No, I don’t.”
Bayden frowned. “Because of the challenge?”
“Yes.”
Axel expected a sleepy nod of acceptance, or perhaps a reminder that he was fine, but Bayden tensed. He tried to pull away. Axel tightened his hold on him, still not convinced the alcohol wasn’t going to kick in at some point.
“I should go,” Bayden said.
“That’s a bad idea too.”
Bayden frowned up at him.
“The challenge,” Axel reminded him, patiently.
“You meant the drinking one?”
Axel caught up. “That’s the only one that makes anything a bad idea.”
Bayden glanced up at him, full of so much uncertainty.
“Did you think it would make a difference once I saw you shift?”
Bayden shrugged, but the alcohol had rendered his mask imperfect. He looked very young, very unsure about everything.
“Can you control the shift and make sure you stay human when we’re playing or screwing?”
Bayden nodded.
“Then it doesn’t make any difference at all.”
Axel stroked Bayden’s cheek with his knuckles. Obviously, there’d been people who’d reacted badly to seeing the other side of him. Anger spiked inside Axel. The protective feeling he’d felt toward Bayden since that first stupid fight doubled yet again.
Axel slid his knuckles under Bayden’s chin. Bayden looked up at him, wary and strangely trusting at the same time.
“You’re sloshed, and there’s no way in hell you’ll stay awake for more than five minutes of anything. I don’t want you falling asleep on me.”
“I wouldn’t do that!”
Axel slid an arm around Bayden, tugging him closer. He pressed a kiss to his hairline and encouraged Bayden to rest his head on his shoulder.
Bayden seemed confused for a moment, but, perhaps because of his sleepiness, he soon relaxed and snuggled against him, tucking his face into Axel’s neck as snuggly as a real puppy.
“Do you have anywhere you need to be tomorrow morning?” Axel asked.
Bayden shook his head.
“No, think about it properly, pup. Is there a time you need to be anywhere?”
Bayden shook his head again. “Whatever you want,” he mumbled into Axel’s shoulder.
“Right now, all I want you to do is get some sleep.” He led Bayden into the guest bedroom and nudged him into sitting on the edge of the bed. “Do you feel sick?”
Bayden shook his head.
Axel looked him over sceptically. He wasn’t sure how any species could drink as much as Bayden had and not have to throw up, but Bayden didn’t even seem to understand the question. “Get some sleep.”
He had barely turned to the door when Bayden leaned over and rested his head on the pillow, still fully clothed.
Axel rolled his eyes and retraced his steps. “Get up.”
Bayden blinked open his eyes and obeyed.
“Clothes off.”
He began to obey that order too. “You’ve changed your mind?”
Axel folded back the blankets. When he looked over his shoulder, Bayden was naked. Axel didn’t give himself time to admire the view. “Get in.”
Bayden got into bed, looking confused again. Axel quickly tossed the blanket up over him. “Sleep.”
He left then, while he could still remember why it would defeat the point of putting the boy to sleep in the bloody guest room, if he gave into the temptation to sleep in there with him.
Bayden stayed by his mother’s front door, watching her walk down the front garden path and out of sight, before making his way upstairs.
Rather than head straight for his grandfather’s bedroom at the back of the flat, he went into the kitchen. He unearthed the tin from its hiding place and checked how much it contained. Taking his money out of his back pocket, he added another fifty to the tin.
A quick check of the other cabinets in the kitchen, and he breathed a little easier. There was plenty of food there for the next few days, and he still had enough left over to pay his own rent when he got back to his place that night.
Finally, he made his way to his grandfather’s room and nudged the door open.
“I’m awake.”
Bayden opened the door wider and smiled at his grandfather. “Hi.” He sat on the chair next to the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.” The words didn’t mean much, but his voice was stronger than it had been the last time Bayden spoke to him. His skin was pale, but there was a touch of colour in his cheeks. His gaze was sharp. “I heard you in the kitchen.”
“There’s plenty in the tin. And plenty that can go in to top it up,” Bayden promised. “You don’t need to worry.”
“Be careful. Earn too much too quickly, and you’ll draw attention, set the humans’ backs up.”
“It’s fine.” Bayden looked down at his hands. “I found a new place to pick up fights. No one knows me there. It’s easy money.”
His grandfather tried to sit up straighter. Bayden sprang forward and altered his grandfather’s pillows to give him more support. His grandfather slumped back as Bayden straightened his blankets.
“What kind of place is it?”
“A pub,” Bayden said. “The Dragon’s Lair, it’s on the road out of the city.”
His grandfather took a shaky breath. Bayden could hear his lungs fighting for each molecule of oxygen. “Just be careful.”
“It’s fine,” Bayden promised. “The guy who owns the pub—Axel. He’d never let anything get out of hand and—”
“Not his job.”
Bayden glanced up. “Axel’s…”
His grandfather met his eyes. “It’s not his job to look out for you, Bayden. You look out for yourself. You know that. Humans are…humans. It’s one thing to fight one, another to trust him.”
He’s invited me to ride with his club later today.
Bayden looked down. “I know.”
“You have to keep your wits about you. You know what humans are like. You can’t let them start making decisions for you. You know where that leads.”
Bayden was about to say that Axel had no interest in making his decisions for him, but the lie stuck in his throat. The fact that Axel wanted to boss him about because he was kinky rather than because he was a bully didn’t seem to be that helpful.
He could feel his grandfather’s pale blue gaze moving over him, studying him, assessing him. “Your mother worries about you. She’s concerned you’ll get into the same trouble she did when she was younger.”
Bayden kept his eyes lowered, knowing it wasn’t just his mother who was worried. In that particular moment, the fact he was the most dominant wolf in the room counted for nothing. He was back to being a kid who knew that neither his mother nor his grandfather needed anything extra to deal with. “I’m fine,” he promised. He wasn’t a little kid who couldn’t do anything to help anymore. “I’ve got everything under control.”
“Have you eaten, today?”
Axel made sure I ate before I left his place.
Bayden nodded. He shuffled forward in his seat. “Everything’s fine. You don’t need to stress yourself out. I know better than to trust any human. Just rest, please?”
His grandfather nodded. He closed his eyes for a moment, but quickly opened them. “It won’t be for long. Another week or two, and I’ll be up and about. Once I’m back in work, it’ll be easier all around.”
Bayden forced a smile and nodded. It wouldn’t be long. As much as he tried to avoid thinking about it, every time he saw his grandfather, it was increasingly obvious that it wouldn’t be long. The conversation had already been too much for him. His eyelids started to drop. Bayden remained still and silent. As he heard his grandfather’s struggling breaths settle into a sleeping rhythm, Bayden closed his own eyes.
As if searching for something, anything, else to focus on, his mind rushed back to Axel. There was no way he could tell his grandfather he was going to ride with them, no way he could try to explain what Axel was, how he was different than other humans. It would only worry his grandfather.
But Axel was different. He knew Bayden was a wolf, he’d seen him as a wolf, and he was still different.
And, if the other Dragons weren’t so different from all the other humans Bayden had met, that wasn’t a bad thing. It made them predictable in a way Axel wasn’t, and predictable was a good quality in men who were inclined to challenge him.
When Bayden heard the gentle tap on the front door, he slipped silently out of the room, leaving his grandfather to sleep.
Stepping outside, he held the front door for his mother.
“He’s fine. He’s been sleeping for about half an hour,” he said as they swapped places, so she stood just inside the flat and he was on the step outside. “How did your meeting with the people at Danville go?”
“They’ve agreed that I can move in there after…”
Bayden ground his teeth together.
“It will be for the best, sweetheart. There are people there who need my help. I can be useful there, and you can be free to get on with your own things.”
Bayden bit back everything he wanted to say. She didn’t need anyone arguing with her. He didn’t even have the right to try to change her mind yet. When the time came, it would be different. He forced a smile. “You’ll let me know if there’s anything you need?”