Authors: Kim Dare
“Sir.”
Bayden cleared his throat. “Do you want me to lock up, sir?”
It was just a word. It was no big deal. He’d have called Axel sir just because he worked for him. Hell, he’d have called him that just because it was what humans called men they respected. The way his pulse sped up when he said it to Axel for the first time meant nothing.
Axel threw a set of keys to him.
Bayden retreated into the entryway for a few moments. Door locked and bolted, he returned to the main bar room. He paused just inside, waiting to find out which way this was going to go.
There weren’t many things guys hadn’t done to him at one time or another. He wasn’t going to let Axel down. Nerves were stupid. It took all of Bayden’s self-control to stop himself from fidgeting.
While Bayden had been gone, Axel had moved behind the bar. He had to have heard Bayden return, but he didn’t rush to acknowledge his presence. Bayden shifted his weight from one foot to another. If Axel had no use for him, there was work to do. Axel had praised him for working hard before. Bayden headed for the nearest table and started to collect up the empties.
“Leave them.”
Bayden glanced up. Axel wasn’t looking at him, he still had all his attention on cashing up. Bayden studied the back of Axel’s head, but there didn’t seem to be anything for him to do but obey the order. He put the glasses back on the table.
Finally, Axel came out from behind the bar.
Bayden took a deep breath, only partially to prepare himself for whatever was about to happen next. Axel’s scent called to him as strongly as ever. As he let out that breath, Bayden met Axel’s gaze.
Axel stopped with a yard of empty air between them. “Tell me what you like.”
Bayden frowned. Hadn’t they already covered that? “The idea is that we do whatever you want.” He only hesitated for a moment. “Sir.”
Axel raised an eyebrow. “Is it? I thought the idea was for you to submit to me. Is answering a question outside your limits?” He didn’t sound angry, just curious.
Bayden squared his shoulders. “No, sir.”
“Then answer the question.” Axel still didn’t make any move to close the last of the gap between them.
Bayden shook his head. That wasn’t the information Axel needed to have. “What I like doesn’t matter. I said I’ll do whatever you want. I meant it.”
“Does the fact you don’t like answering my question matter?” Axel asked. There was a touch of amusement in his eyes.
Bayden tensed. Respecting that Axel had the right to want things his way was the whole point, but…
Axel smiled and leaned against the edge of one of the pub tables. “I told you that this wouldn’t be anything like the bets you’ve done with other guys. There’ll be a lot of questions. I’ll expect honest answers to them all.”
Bayden tried to hold Axel’s gaze, but it became harder and harder as the seconds ticked past.
Honesty.
Telling Axel the truth about certain things wasn’t an option, but at the same time, he didn’t want any more lies between them than was absolutely necessary.
“Human subs do what they’re ordered to do, whether they like it or not, sir,” he pointed out, carefully.
“Just because they’re willing to obey orders they dislike, that doesn’t mean they don’t still have their own preferences. It doesn’t mean they get to hide what they really want from the man they’re submitting to.” Axel pushed himself away from the table. “It’s easy for you to push everything down and pretend that nothing gets to you. I’ve seen you do that in a dozen different bets.” He started to circle Bayden.
Bayden automatically turned to keep Axel in his line of sight.
“No, pup. I’ll tell you when I want you to move.”
Bayden stilled.
“Real submission isn’t about faking how you feel. It’s not about hiding things. It’s about offering up your every thought, your every emotion and trusting me to use them wisely. It’s one thing to pretend there’s nothing you want off me. Admitting everything you want and then accepting that I might not grant you any of it? That’s far harder.”
He stopped in front of Bayden. As Bayden stared straight ahead, he was eyelevel with Axel’s collarbone. What Axel described sounded beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. Giving a human information to use against him was stupid, wasn’t it? His heart raced. His palms turned slick with sweat.
“Look up.”
Bayden obeyed. He looked Axel straight in the eye and held his gaze as if his sanity depended on it. He was pretty sure it did.
“I kissed you a few weeks ago.” Axel said, his voice hushed and strangely intimate in the otherwise silent pub. “Do you like being kissed?”
Bayden swallowed, as a sudden rush of adrenaline sped through him. He tightened his hand into a fist at his side. “I…”
When Bayden would have looked down, Axel made him keep his head tilted back, as if he was offering his lips up to be kissed.
That wasn’t what he was doing. He wouldn’t do that. Just because Axel had chosen to kiss him once before, that didn’t mean anything. He wasn’t expecting anything. He had more sense than to think that kissing was going to be a big part of the next six weeks. And—
Axel dipped his head and brushed lips against Bayden’s. It was nothing but a tease.
“The truth, pup.” His lips briefly caressed Bayden’s again, feather light and impossibly delicate. “Do you like being kissed?”
“Yes, sir.” The words came out far more softly than Bayden intended.
“That’s better,” Axel said. He didn’t offer praise in the form of a kiss. It wasn’t until he failed to, that Bayden realised he’d expected him to.
Axel smiled, and Bayden knew he must have somehow given away his hopes, but Axel still didn’t bring their lips together. Without thinking, Bayden retreated. For the first time since he’d taken a bet on something other than a fight, he stepped back from a man he’d agreed to obey.
Axel didn’t try to stop him. “It’s not easy, is it?”
Bayden stared at him.
“Leaving yourself vulnerable to something other than a beating is hard.”
Bayden took a shaky breath. It should be easy. He’d never let any man see him struggle with anything they threw at him, but in that moment, he wasn’t in control of his own responses. Axel had been right—it was different. He’d let Axel see the truth and, if it had been a bet, he’d have just lost it.
“Your safe word is red, same as the house safe word.”
Bayden shook his head. “I don’t need it.” He lifted a hand to push it through his hair. He didn’t need it and—
Axel caught hold of his wrist. Bayden tensed, but he stopped the instinct just in time, he didn’t pull away from Axel again.
Axel guided Bayden’s hand down to his side and released his wrist. “Your safe word is red. I expect you to remember it and to say it if you want out. Understand?”
Bayden glanced up, but it was harder than ever for him to hold Axel’s gaze. He turned his attention to Axel’s shoulder. If he only agreed to say it if he wanted out, then the fact he’d never want out, kind of made everything okay. “Yes, sir.”
“That’s better, pup.” Axel pushed Bayden’s hair back off his face, just the way Bayden had wanted to, but it wasn’t obvious if Axel was praising him or just making it clear that there was only one man in the room who wasn’t allowed to fidget that way.
Bayden swallowed.
“Finish locking up, then come upstairs.”
“Yes, sir.”
Axel walked away without a backward glance. As Bayden watched him go, he was desperate to rush out of the pub, jump on his bike and ride away. He had a horrible suspicion that Axel knew that and that Axel was giving him the opportunity to give in to that temptation at the last moment. He was making him choose. The only thing stronger than Bayden’s desire to leave was his need to follow wherever Axel led.
He looked around the room. He had an order. All he had to do was obey it, and obeying Axel’s orders had always come easily to him. He carefully locked the back entrance to the pub and checked that every other entry point was secure—determined not to prove himself unworthy of being trusted with such an important job.
At the top of the stairs, Bayden hesitated. Axel had said
upstairs
, not
into my flat
. It might be an important distinction. Bayden knocked on the door.
“You can come in.”
Bayden stepped into Axel’s living room and shut the door behind him. Axel sat in the armchair by the window, facing him, long legs stretched out and casually splayed.
“Leave your clothes on the chair,” Axel nodded to a wooden chair positioned next to the door.
There’d never been a chair there before. It had been placed there just for his clothes.
Naked. Okay. It was an order Bayden was familiar with. It was an easy order. Quickly pulling his vest over his head, he folded it and set it on the chair. Boots off, he nudged them under the chair. It only took him a few more seconds to have his jeans off. He folded them neatly before turning to Axel.
Axel remained in his chair for several seconds, running his eyes over Bayden’s body. There wasn’t any part of him that Axel hadn’t seen before. He’d seen Bayden do far more interesting things than stand around naked. But, his gaze felt different this time. He’d always been able to make Bayden think that he was looking over property that already belonged to him, but this time, they both knew it was true.
Axel pulled himself to his feet. He tapped the toe of one boot against the bare floorboards in the centre of the room. Bayden moved into position, and Axel began to circle him once more.
Bayden’s breaths sped up as he waited for everything to click together. His cock stiffened. If Axel noticed, he didn’t seem to be either pleased or annoyed by the reaction, probably because it wasn’t Bayden’s cock that Axel was interested in.
Any moment, Axel was going to get started. Then the nerves would go away. Everything would be very simple. Instinct would take over. Axel would have whatever he wanted, and Bayden would know he’d pleased him. It would be just like he’d imagined every time he jacked off, only better.
Axel stopped circling him. “Tell me what else you like.”
That wasn’t what was supposed to happen now. “Sir?”
“You’ve already told me you like to be kissed, what else do you like?” Axel ran his knuckles casually up and down the centre of Bayden’s chest.
“I don’t know what you want me to say.” What were the magic words that would make Axel abandon conversation altogether?
“The truth. Trust your instincts.” Axel traced a random pattern across Bayden’s chest with one knuckle.
“A wolf’s instincts are different than a human’s, sir.”
“I’ll take my chances.” Axel brushed the back of his fingers across one of Bayden’s nipples, making it tighten and peak. Axel circled that nipple with the pad of his thumb. “What’s your instinctive answer, pup? What else do you like? Forget about the bets, think about the times you’ve been with other wolves.”
“I like being screwed,” Bayden offered, not able to keep his voice entirely steady when Axel toyed with him so gently.
As if in reward, Axel scraped his thumb nail across Bayden’s nipple and pinched it, briefly but firmly enough to send a shot of adrenaline shooting through him. It was harder to ignore that than a whipping from another man.
“Only bottoming, or do you like topping, too?” Axel moved his attention to Bayden’s other nipple.
Bayden swallowed and tried not to lean into the teasing touch. “Depends on the man, sir.”
“You can assume any question I ask is about you and me.”
Bayden shook his head.
“Problem?”
Bayden cleared his throat. “I was answering the question, sir. If it’s about you and me—no, I don’t want to top.”
“Because?” Axel prompted.
Wasn’t it obvious? “It wouldn’t be right, sir.”
“Because?” Axel asked again. As he continued to toy with Bayden’s nipple, he reached down with his other hand and palmed Bayden’s balls.
“You’re…you, sir,” Bayden whispered, concentrating on not rocking his hips and rubbing himself against Axel’s hands. He had wonderful hands, large and strong, and Bayden had wanted to feel them on his body for so long. He tried to find a mental space similar to the one he used in bets, but it wasn’t coming easily that night. Completely blocking out what he’d yearned for so badly and for so long would have been sacrilege.
“You need to get a bit more specific than that,” Axel corrected.
Bayden frowned.
“It’s okay. There’s no rush. I’m not going to get bored waiting for an answer.” He rolled Bayden’s balls against his palm, pulling them away from his body as he examined them. His touch was gentle. It made it so damn hard to think, to remember human words for things.
“More dominant,” Bayden said. He shook his head. That was wrong. “A dominant, sir. Humans say a dominant.”
“What do wolves say?” Axel asked. Keeping a hand on Bayden’s balls, he stroked the other over Bayden’s chest, exploring every inch of skin, massaging the muscles beneath it.
“Wolves don’t talk so much, sir.”
Axel chuckled. “I’ve noticed.”
Bayden glanced up at him. He only intended to get a better read on him, but as close as they stood, he had to tilt his head back to look him in the eye. Axel brushed their lips together, as if he’d thought Bayden was asking for a kiss. Bayden hesitated.
“I’m not laughing at you,” Axel said.
Bayden shrugged. He could if he wanted to. He had that right along with everything else.
“I’m looking forward to being able to get you to talk a bit more over the next few weeks,” Axel went on. “Do wolves have a different term for a dom?”
“We just say one wolf is more dominant or less dominant than another, sir.”
“What about the most dominant wolf in the pack? Tell me what that wolf is called.” It was halfway between an invitation and an order.
“Just being the most dominant wolf in the pack isn’t enough to make someone an alpha. That’s… It’s different…” Bayden trailed off. “Sir.” He knew he had to add that, but he couldn’t make any other words pass his lips. It was bad enough to think of a human as an alpha inside his head, to admit it out loud would be so much worse.