Authors: Kim Dare
She pressed a kiss to his check. “You’re a good wolf, Bayden.”
“You’ll let me know?” he pushed.
When she finally nodded, he turned to walk down the path.
“Keep your head down, love.”
Bayden looked over his shoulder. He nodded that he’d heard, but he didn’t go so far as to agree to follow her advice. He doubted either she or his grandfather would approve, but spoiled little rich boys didn’t need to keep their heads down. They got to ride with human bikers. They got to have Axel smile at them.
Or course, if those rich boys happened to be wolves, they also had to be practical. Bayden made a quick stop on his way back to the pub to meet the Dragons.
* * * * *
“So, is it true? Are werewolves as good a shag as everyone says they are?”
Axel raised an eyebrow. “After he drank enough to float a small navy, what kind of man would find out?”
“He looked sober enough to me,” Hale said.
“He was drunk enough to sleep for fourteen hours straight.” Axel smiled at the memory. Bayden hadn’t even blinked until lunchtime, and even then, it had taken a hell of a lot of shoulder shaking to make that happen.
“So you’re chasing, you just want to make sure you catch him when he’s sober?” Drac asked.
“Who said I’m chasing?” Only an idiot would chase a man who was even part wolf. Wolves weren’t prey. When the time was right, the boy would come to him, no chasing necessary. It was one of the very few things Axel was sure about when it came to Bayden.
“If you’re not interested…” Hale mused.
“If any of you lay a hand on him, you’re looking for a new place to drink and a new club to ride with, and, at that point, I’ll just be getting started.”
They laughed. Axel wasn’t surprised. He’d have laughed at anyone else who felt so possessive over a boy who he hadn’t even screwed, let alone collared.
“You know, I’m starting to wonder who the dom is between you two,” Griz said. “Is wolf-boy going to be your puppy, or are you going to be the rich boy’s bit of rough?”
Axel grinned. “I’m not surprised you’re confused. He hasn’t given any of you guys any reason to think he wants to sub to you, has he? What was it you had to stoop to—blackmail or bribery?”
Hale made a pissed off noise in the back of his throat. “Since when are you interested in brats, anyway?”
Axel had been keeping an eye on the door. He spotted Bayden the moment he stepped in and lost all interest in talking to Hale. Bayden was wearing those damn sun glasses again, but he took them off as he walked across the room.
Even if the pub wasn’t open, habit had put Axel behind the bar. “Grab a seat. We’re only waiting for two more before we head out.”
Bayden settled himself on the stool furthest away from the other club guys, same as he always did. He’d only been there two seconds before Axel spotted a movement out of the corner of his eye. A packet slid down the bar toward Bayden.
Bayden picked it up as Axel stepped closer to get a better view. Dog biscuits. Bayden stared at the picture of an overjoyed Labrador on the front of the packet as if deep in thought. Everyone else stared at him.
Axel checked the instinct to step in. He forced himself to wait and see if Bayden could deal with it on his own first. What would a wolf think of being treated like a dog?
Bayden opened the packet. He took out a biscuit and casually popped it in his mouth. He crunched and swallowed it as he read the information on the back of the packet. Everyone gawped as if it was the most fascinating thing they’d ever seen. Axel mentally nodded his approval.
Bayden got off his stool and approached the other guys. He offered the packet to them. “It’s rude not to share, right?”
Tolmore was closest to him. He was the newest member of the club and the one who’d slid the biscuits down the bar. He looked from the packet, to Bayden and back again.
“Or aren’t humans up to it?” Bayden asked.
“Humans aren’t dogs. We don’t eat dog treats.”
“Neither do wolves,” Bayden said, perfectly calmly. “But we don’t back down when someone challenges us, either.”
Tolmore straightened up. He’d been with them for long enough to know that, even if he was dealing with a tag along, a man had to be able to take whatever he dished out.
He took a brown bone shaped biscuit out of the packet. His disgust was obvious, but he put it to his teeth and tried to bite through it. “Damn things are made of iron.” He frowned at it and tossed it in the bin behind the bar.
Bayden threw a similar biscuit up in the air, caught it in his mouth and bit through it with ease. It wasn’t quite a threat to tear out anyone’s throat, but it was hard not to wonder how easily Bayden could snap a human bone with his teeth.
“Anyone else?” Bayden offered the bag around, taking in every man except Axel, challenging every man except Axel. No one said anything. Bayden shrugged. “More for me, I guess.” He crunched another one on his way back to his seat.
Bayden had been carrying his jacket when he came in. He’d put it on the stool next to him when he sat down. Axel saw him fidget with it. A moment later, Bayden slid something along the dark, battered surface of the bar. It collided with Tolmore’s arm.
Axel realised what it was at the same time as Tolmore. A tin of cheap dog food. The way Tolmore pulled back, it might as well have contained live snakes.
“Something softer for you.” Bayden ate another dog biscuit with every sign of enjoyment. “The difference between you and me isn’t that I can shape shift,” he added, as the silence stretched out. “It’s that I’ll do anything I bet another man won’t do.”
Tolmore looked at the tin.
Bayden smiled but there was no humour in his expression. “Ante up and do half, or let the dog food bullshit drop—either is fine by me.”
Tolmore grabbed the tin and threw it in the bin behind the bar without a word.
Bayden nodded his acceptance of his decision as Axel went down the bar toward him.
“You just happened to have a tin of dog food with you?”
Bayden shrugged. “Humans get predictable after a while.”
“What would you have done if he’d anted up?” Axel asked.
“I told you I’ve done worse things than take a whipping to prove a point. I meant it.” He looked at the bag of biscuits. “At least these aren’t so bad. The chicken flavoured ones are quite nice.”
Axel reached across the bar and stroked his cheek. “Well done, pup.”
Bayden smiled that same smile that could suddenly make him look sweet as hell and not at all like the kind of sub who could stare down a dom like Tolmore.
“Do you have a mobile with you?” Axel asked.
Bayden nodded. He got it out of his pocket. Axel had expected it to be the very latest in high tech design, but it looked like a cheaper version of something Axel had owned five years ago.
“I thought you were supposed to be loaded,” Griz said, as he joined them at that end of the bar.
Bayden looked up at him.
Griz nodded to the phone. “That’s got to be ten years old.”
Bayden huffed. “My bike’s over fifty years old. That works just fine too. Throwing stuff away for no reason is a human thing.” He put Axel’s number into the phone and gave up his in return.
Axel went through the route with him, checking that he knew the area and what to do if he ran into trouble. “Tag alongs always ride at the back. Just follow the guy in front of you, and you’ll do fine.”
Bayden nodded.
“The route’s a loop, so we’ll end up back here,” Axel added, once all the boring bits of protocol were taken care of. “Stick around when the others leave.”
Bayden met his gaze for a moment. He seemed to realise that Axel wasn’t just suggesting he hang around for a first-ride debrief. He smiled.
Axel found himself smiling to himself as he went off to set everything in motion, too. The boy was sober and un-whipped. Finally, the world seemed to include possibilities that didn’t involve the God-damned guest room.
* * * * *
“Well?”
Bayden took off his helmet and turned to face Axel.
“This is the point where you either say you like the idea of riding with a club, or you say thanks but it’s not for you,” Axel said.
It’s what running with a pack must have been like, back when wolves were allowed to live in packs.
Bayden couldn’t actually say that, but it didn’t change the facts. His heart raced, his mind spun with adrenaline, and he had no doubt that riding with a club that Axel led was as close as a wolf could get to what running with a true Alpha’s pack must have felt like.
He took a deep breath and pushed his hair back from his face. Telling a human anything was dangerous, but, in that moment, it was a risk he was willing to take. “It was good. I liked it.”
Axel didn’t try to take it away the moment he found out a wolf liked it. He got off his bike and opened the lock-up next to the one where Bayden had put his bike before.
“Go on,” Axel said. “You’ve got your key with you?”
Bayden unlocked the roller door and put his bike safely inside. Axel was done before him but he waited with apparent patience for Bayden to catch up.
He settled his hand on Bayden’s shoulder as they made their way inside and up to his flat. The contact didn’t seem to serve any other purpose beyond Axel liking to touch him.
Bayden took another deep breath. Scent didn’t lie. Axel was as interested in him as he had ever been. And, if the only problem before was that Bayden had been drinking, there was no reason for them not to play now.
Bayden wasn’t sure where he’d expected Axel to go when they got upstairs, but it hadn’t been the kitchen.
“What do you usually do on Sundays?” Axel asked. ”Or any day of the week, come to that. You’ve never said what you do when you’re not here.”
Bayden shrugged, trying to work out where the conversation was going, and why the hell there even needed to be conversation.
“That’s informative.” Axel smiled when he said it, but he raised an eyebrow too, not entirely impressed.
Bayden half-shrugged again. What would the rich idiot that Axel wanted to screw do with his time?
“The truth doesn’t need this much thinking about.” Axel opened the fridge and started to get out several meals worth of food.
“Nothing much,” Bayden offered.
“Maybe you meet up with other wolves?” Axel suggested.
There was no hint of condemnation in Axel’s tone, but instinct took over. Bayden quickly shook his head.
“Never?” Axel asked, temporarily forgetting about his food.
Bayden shook his head again. ”We don’t do that.” He was still standing by the kitchen door. It took all he had not to step back and retreat from both the room and a conversation that seemed destined to cover dangerous ground.
Axel frowned. “I’m not accusing you of anything, pup.”
Bayden met his gaze. “You’re talking about sex,” he realised. He relaxed. “You’re just asking me if I have sex with other wolves.”
“Yes. What did you think I was asking you about?”
Bayden hesitated. “I thought you meant meet up like a…like a pack. Wolves don’t do that.”
“Because of the wolf-laws,” Axel said.
“There’s no wolf in those laws!” Bayden bit out before he could stop himself.
Axel met his gaze.
Bayden pushed his hand through his hair as he did his best to push down the wave of anger that always came with any mention of those laws. It was stupid to let a human see when something got to him, but for the first time in his life, he didn’t want to hide it—he wanted Axel to understand.
“I studied them in school too. I know what the human text books say.” Even as Bayden spoke, he was back in his old school—the only wolf in a class full of human children. The teacher was standing at the front of the class, reading from one of those books. The things those books said. His hand curled into a fist. “Those laws are made by humans, they’re enforced by humans. They’re human-laws. There’s no wolf in them.”
“You called them the anti-pack laws,” Axel recalled.
Bayden nodded, watching Axel warily for any sign that he’d been a fool to trust him.
“Because they were designed to make sure packs never reformed after the…” Axel trailed off, as if not sure of the right word.
“The Captivities,” Bayden filled in for him. His voice was entirely calm but his fingers were starting to cramp. His heart raced. As short as his nails were, they risked drawing blood as they bit into his palm.
“That’s what wolves call what happened too?” Axel checked.
Bayden nodded.
Axel looked down at Bayden’s clenched fist.
Somehow, Bayden managed to unfurl his fingers. “We don’t talk about it.” Their eyes met as they both looked away from Bayden’s hand.
“We don’t need to talk about that right now,” Axel allowed.
Bayden breathed a little easier.
Axel worked in silence for a few moments. By the time he decided he wanted to talk again, Bayden had himself back under control, even if he still had no idea how to get Axel to forget about food in favour of sex.
“I have a theory,” Axel announced.
Bayden waited, warily, to hear it.
“I don’t think you’ve ever hooked up with a human when it wasn’t for a bet. I think the only guys you’ve played with because you actually wanted to, have been other shifters. Am I right?”
“I know what I’m doing with a human.”
Axel began cutting up some of the vegetables he’d taken out of the fridge. “Doesn’t answer the question.”
“Yes,” Bayden said, making a real effort to keep his tone respectful. “It’s always been another wolf. But, I do know—”
“Any wolf in particular?” Axel cut in.
Bayden shook his head.
“You know, I’m less likely to cut one of my fingers off if you answer out loud,” Axel said.
“No one in particular,” Bayden enunciated carefully.
“Good boy.” Axel was working as he spoke, the words sounded casual, almost distracted, but they still went straight to Bayden’s core.
He bit back a sigh. “Look, if you’ve changed your mind about wanting to…”
Axel turned to face him. He didn’t look like a man who’d changed his mind.
Bayden looked down. “Nothing’s different just because I can shift. You can treat me exactly the same way you would a human.”