Authors: Kim Dare
Bayden nodded.
Axel ran his thumb very gently over the vivid purple marks. To get bruises that bad, either the bondage was set up to hurt in itself, or Bayden fought like hell against it. Neither option appealed, but the bruises weren’t Axel’s biggest concern.
He nudged the sleeve back further, exposing the cuts. Some were very light, barely worse than a paper cut. Others were deeper and had been put in place with clear intent.
None of the wounds remained open, but they must have bled like hell when they were first done. Bayden’s lupine healing made it impossible to work out if they were inflicted at the same time as the bruises. The cuts could have been done before, during, or even hours after the bet.
The only time Axel had seen marks quite like them had been on TV, and they hadn’t been put there by a third party. It was only too easy to imagine Bayden hurting himself when he got home and the fallout from some warped bet hit him too hard for him to know how to deal with it.
“Was this part of the bet?” Axel asked.
Bayden peered at the cuts.
“Pup, look at me.”
Axel waited until Bayden did as he was told. “Did someone else do this, or did you?” He pitched his voice very carefully, no judgement at all. He pushed accepting thoughts to the forefront of his mind too, just in case that might somehow come through in his scent.
Bayden look confused. “The bet.”
“The guy you did a bet with had a knife?”
“One of them did. That was his thing, his kink.”
Who was he? Do you know his name? Where can I find him?
Axel swallowed. All that could wait. “Are there any other cuts?” he asked, doing his damnedest to keep his voice level.
Bayden nodded.
“Show me.”
Bayden hesitated. It was wrong to think of a shifter as an animal, but Bayden reminded Axel of nothing so much as a wounded animal that might bolt at any sudden noise or sharp movement.
“I’ve looked after you when you’ve been hurt before, haven’t I?” Axel reminded him. Adopting roughly the same tone of voice his mother had used with him a lifetime ago, when he woke up from a bad dream but couldn’t accept that there weren’t really monsters hiding under his bed.
“I’m fine,” Bayden murmured. “I can look after myself.” It had never been more obvious that he was repeating words that had become rote for him.
“Show me where you’re hurt.”
“I don’t like it when you’re angry with me,” Bayden mumbled.
He sounded half-drunk, but the situation couldn’t have been more different to the previous week. It wasn’t a bit of harmless hazing that had put him in this state. He hadn’t been surrounded by men who’d have looked after him if something had gone wrong tonight, and it showed. Bayden’s current vulnerability went deeper than mere disorientation, and it sickened Axel in a way the tipsy version of Bayden never could have.
The drunk version of Bayden had been so trusting. This version was so scared—and he was afraid of Axel as well as the men who’d hurt him. Scared because there was no way Axel could disguise his fury with the men who’d done that to him.
“What do you think will happen if I get angry with you?” Axel asked.
Bayden remained silent.
“I’m not going to hurt you, pup. That doesn’t change no matter how angry I get.”
Bayden blinked at him. He obviously wasn’t worried that Axel would lash out. That wasn’t why he didn’t want Axel to be angry with him. Even tonight, Bayden had the look of a man who could take a beating, if that’s what life needed him to do.
It’s more important that the more dominant wolf is pleased.
It was a possibility.
Axel gently pushed his fingers through Bayden’s hair. “Do you want to know what to do to make me pleased with you?”
The nod was quick and determined. “Yes.”
“Okay. I want you to show me where you’re hurt. If you do that, I’ll be very pleased with you.”
Bayden closed his eyes. Eventually, he nodded.
He fumbled with the catch at the top of his jacket until Axel carefully moved his hands out of the way and undid it himself. Bayden’s collar fell back.
Fresh fury flooded Axel veins, but he forced himself to keep moving, slow and steady, until the zip was completely undone.
He pushed the leather aside.
There were bruises around Bayden’s neck. Unlike the ones at his wrists, these had been left by a man’s hand rather than bondage. The pattern showed each fingertip very clearly. There were cuts too. One had started to bleed at some point after Bayden had cleaned himself up. It had stopped again, but the air still smelt metallic with it. Axel could only imagine how strong a wolf would find the scent, but Bayden seemed oblivious to it.
Axel stood up. Guiding Bayden onto his feet, he helped him out of his jacket.
Axel stepped behind Bayden to put his jacket on the bar. There wasn’t a mark on his back. He’d probably been bound with his back to something. Face up on a bed mostly likely. Axel pushed the image away—he didn’t have time to worry about how he felt.
Axel moved back to face Bayden. There were already dozens of cuts visible, and Axel had no doubt there were more hidden beneath Bayden’s clothes. He looked back up to Bayden’s throat just in time to see him swallow rapidly.
Axel stepped closer and settled his hand on Bayden’s cheek to reassure him. It wasn’t until the toe of his boot nudged against Bayden’s that he realised just how much he was crowding him. He was twice the size of the boy, older than him, more dominant than him. And Bayden had been given plenty of evidence of how untrustworthy humans who called themselves doms could be.
“Bayden, look at me. Listen. This is important.”
It took a long time, but eventually, Bayden managed to meet Axel’s gaze.
“I’m in your space. I can’t look after you properly unless I am. But I’m not starting something, or challenging you. This isn’t about me trying to make you feel submissive. Do you understand that?”
Bayden nodded.
“You’re sure?”
“You’re not interested. I get it.”
Axel tucked a knuckle under his chin. “I’m interested. But, right now, I’m interested in looking after you rather than screwing you.”
Bayden tried to look away.
“That’s not the same as me saying I don’t want to screw you. It’s not either or, but there are times and places. Right now neither of us should be thinking about getting laid.”
Bayden nodded.
Axel held back a sigh, not sure how much Bayden really understood, how much he was in a position to understand right then.
Axel tugged Bayden’s vest up and took it off over his head, revealing a whole array of new cuts. He nudged Bayden to rest against the edge of the stool and knelt on one knee to undo Bayden’s boots.
“No.” Bayden put his hand over Axel’s.
Axel took his hand away, but before he could say anything, Bayden clumsily began to undo his laces himself. It wasn’t clothing being removed that was the problem, it was…what? Being waited on? Axel looked at the way he was crouched down in front of Bayden, almost kneeling in front of him.
Body language. Axel sat on the stool next to Bayden’s—back straight, head up. It worked. Bayden relaxed somewhat. Boots off, he set them to one side.
“Jeans too, pup.”
Bayden pushed his jeans down. Stepping out of them, he folded them neatly and set them with his boots. A glance at where Axel had put his vest and jacket, and Bayden folded each before setting them with the rest of his clothes.
It was difficult to tell if Bayden was working on autopilot or if he was trying to put off facing Axel, but the result was the same. Axel had plenty of time to assess the damage.
More bruises. More cuts. No individual injury looked physically serious, but the psychological toll they could have taken was obvious. Going to the edge with a dom that a sub trusted was one thing. Without that trust…
Axel took a deep breath and pushed his temper down as best he could.
The bruises on Bayden’s neck overlapped. The guy who’d had Bayden by the throat hadn’t grabbed him once. He’d done the same thing over and over.
This time I might not stop, I might not let you breathe.
The placements of the cuts were just as telling. His neck, his wrists.
Look how easy it would be for me to cut a little bit deeper and find a vein.
There were cuts elsewhere on his body, but the only other place where they were heavily concentrated was around Bayden’s crotch. There was a particularly deep cut right at the top of Bayden’s ball sac. Yes, the cuts represented very obvious threats.
A tiny movement caught Axel’s attention. Bayden’s fingers furled into a tight fist. Axel looked up. Bayden’s eyes were closed.
Axel touched the back of Bayden’s hand to get his attention. “This is what’s going to happen.” Complete confidence, nothing for Bayden to have to worry about because all the decisions were already made. “You’re going to stay here tonight. I’m going to put your bike in the lock-up. You’re going to go upstairs, sit on the sofa and wait for me to join you. Understand?”
Bayden stared at some point around Axel’s right collar bone for a long time. “You don’t mind?” he whispered.
“I’m not asking you to make a decision on this, pup. I’m telling you what’s going to happen.”
Bayden took a deep breath. He seemed to relax slightly. “Okay.”
“Good boy.” Axel helped him off his stool. “I’ll need your keys to move your bike.”
Bayden handed them over without a word of protest. Axel would have loved to have believed that was because he trusted him. It seemed more like another sign that his mind had completely shut down.
Bayden looked at his clothes.
“Take them with you. You’ll need them in the morning. I’ll put your helmet with your bike.”
Bayden did as he was told. Axel unlocked the door at the bottom of the stairs and sent Bayden up before heading outside to secure Bayden’s bike. It was a damn sight easier to keep the bike safe than it was to keep Bayden safe.
* * * * *
There was blood on Bayden’s vest. It stood out stark and red against the white material. The scent of it hadn’t been a memory. One of the cuts must have opened.
Bayden sat on the sofa, just as Axel had ordered. He lifted a hand to his neck and ran his fingers over his skin until he found the patch that was sticky with drying blood.
He licked his fingers and swiped at his neck, but his eyes never left the stain on his vest. He’d been so sure he’d stopped bleeding before he left the hotel room.
He licked his fingers clean. The taste of blood was strong, but unavoidable. His vest needed to be washed too. He’d have to ask if there was somewhere he could do that. Bayden blinked. The stain was getting blurry.
Axel came back, but Bayden didn’t look up. The scent of Axel’s anger was worse than the stench of blood. Whatever Axel had said earlier, he wasn’t pleased with Bayden at all. Axel was more furious with him than ever.
Every instinct Bayden had screamed at him to fix that. He had to convince Axel to be pleased with him, but he had no idea how. The shiver that rushed thought him had nothing to do with temperature or nudity.
Axel sat on the sofa next to him.
Bayden didn’t realise he was still trying to clean the blood off his neck until Axel caught hold of his fingers and stopped him.
“You washed the cuts before you came here,” Axel observed.
“The bet. We went to a hotel. There was a shower.” There’d been hot water and everything. He’d felt so clean. Bayden glanced at the stained vest. The clean feeling had lasted less time than ever.
“It’s not bleeding anymore,” Axel murmured.
Bayden’s head was in such a mess, he didn’t even know if that was a good thing or not. Would apologising help?
Axel set a first aid kit on the coffee table. He smiled at Bayden, but the expression wasn’t as clear as it usually was, there was a hell of a lot going on behind that smile.
He gently dabbed a bit of the gel on the cut alongside Bayden’s eye. He paused then, as if waiting for some sort of reaction.
“It’s fine,” Bayden offered. The sting was barely a note in a cacophony of sensations.
“How much was the bet for?”
“One thousand,” Bayden whispered.
“And you needed the money because…”
Bayden looked down. “They set the numbers, not me. The money wasn’t the point. I’d have done it whatever the stakes.”
That last bit was true. After striking out at all the places he usually managed to pick up fights, any bet had seemed like a blessing. Bayden stared down at his hand unable to stop it forming into a fist. It had been a blessing. He’d made the right choice when he took it. Everything was fine. And, if at some points during the bet, it had seemed like it wouldn’t be, that wasn’t important.
Axel worked his way across the cuts on Bayden’s neck. The cream stung. Having Axel patching him up again stung too. If Axel was going to see him like that, Bayden might as well have taken the damn bet right there in The Dragon’s Lair.
“I’m not going to think any less of you if you’re doing this for the money,” Axel said.
“Doesn’t mean much. You said you wouldn’t be angry with me and that was bollocks.” It wasn’t the right way to talk to a more dominant wolf, but Bayden couldn’t keep the words back. He couldn’t stop another shiver running through him, either.
“I’m not angry with you.” Axel thought for a moment. “Maybe scent doesn’t lie, but it can’t give you the full story.”
He moved onto a long cut across Bayden’s torso. Bayden watched him work, trying to keep what he could see at that moment right at the front of his mind so that he didn’t have to remember what he’d seen the last time he looked down his body.
“There are things I’m pleased about,” Axel said. “Things I’m not pleased about, and there are things I’m really furious about. Scent can’t tell you which is which, can it?”
Bayden shook his head, but he didn’t have it in him to ask.
“I’m not pleased with you for taking that kind of bet, especially not with men who I think you knew at the time you couldn’t trust,” Axel said. “Nothing is going to change that.”
Bayden took a deep breath.
“But, I meant it when I said I’d be pleased with you for letting me look after you, and I am. And I’m pleased that you came here tonight. It was exactly the right thing to do.”