Axel's Pup (38 page)

They might be pissed that Bayden lied to them, but they’d have to be bloody suicidal to act like that was important right then.

“You can all go in,” Axel said, still not turning to look at the other Dragons. He heard them file away. Left alone alongside the building, Axel looked Bayden up and down. “Are you hurt?” he asked again.

“I’m fine, sir.”

 Axel let the silence stretch out. Minutes passed. Finally, Bayden blinked. He glanced toward Axel, but look quickly down. “I should go.”

“You don’t have permission to leave.”

Bayden frowned at the ground just in front of Axel’s boots. It seemed like that was all he was either willing or able to do.

“Tell me what happened.”

“It…it was nothing, sir.”

“Try again, the truth this time.”

Bayden winced at the mention of the truth, but he didn’t launch into an apology or even try to offer an explanation. “It’s no big deal, sir. They just pulled me over.”

“For being a wolf?” Axel asked.

Bayden nodded and folded his arms across his chest.

“How did they know while you were riding? There’s no way they could have seen your eyes.”

Bayden swallowed. “Granger would have recognised the bike, sir. My father used to ride it. He’d have guessed it was me.”

“Because what he said was true—you grew up around here?”

Bayden nodded.

“He’s pulled you over before?”

Bayden nodded again, a jerky little motion.

Axel narrowed his gaze. “A lot?”

Another nod, Bayden still didn’t look up.

“What would have happened if I hadn’t come back for you?”

Bayden shuffled his boots against the rough ground. “I’d have paid the fine and caught up with you here, sir.”

“How much would…?” Axel’s question died as their eyes met. Money wasn’t part of that particular deal. Axel shook his head. “Jesus.”

“I know your rules, sir. I’d have admitted I broke them.”

Axel studied Bayden for several seconds. He didn’t see the difference. Nothing could have been more obvious. Bayden honestly couldn’t see the difference between willingly screwing around behind someone’s back and being blackmailed by a bent cop.

Axel could imagine the conversation. Bayden saying that he’d stopped off along the way to blow a few old friends. That would have been the version of the story he told Axel. It was quite possibly the version of the story that Bayden told himself.

Fury burned through Axel’s veins. He knew Bayden would be able to sense it, but he couldn’t do anything about that.

“You shouldn’t have come back, sir,” Bayden whispered.

“Best decision I ever made,” Axel snapped.

Bayden dropped his gaze, but not before Axel saw the confusion and the submission swirling in his eyes.

Bayden started fiddling with his keys. It wasn’t just nerves. He took both the key to the lock-up and the key to the pub off the ring and offered them to Axel.

Axel didn’t take them. “Are you trying to say your safe word?”

Bayden frowned.

“Is this your way of saying you don’t want to submit to me anymore?”

Bayden dropped his gaze. “I’m not an idiot, sir. I know that all ended the moment you found out the truth.”

“The jury’s still out on whether or not you’re an idiot. But nothing has ended.”

“I—”

“You promised me six weeks. They’re not up yet.”

“You want—” Bayden broke off, thought for a minute, then nodded. “You’ll tell me how the rules have changed, sir?”

“Yes, when we get home.”

Bayden nodded.

Axel looked him up and down, trying to convince himself Bayden was okay, when all his instincts screamed he wasn’t okay at all. “Anything you need to say before that?”

“You’re pissed with me.”

“Yes.” Axel made no attempt to soften the answer.

“Maybe, that means I should ride back on my own instead of with the club?”

For a second, Axel thought Bayden was trying to suggest some sort of penance. Then, it seemed more likely that he wanted some time on his own to pull himself together. When Axel worked out the truth, a bitter taste filled the back of his mouth. “You think they’ll try to pull you over again on the way back.” It was a realisation, not a question. “No. You’re not riding back on your own.”

“They don’t have a problem with you, sir,” Bayden said.

Axel pushed Bayden back against the wall. “Anyone who has a problem with you has a problem with me.”

Bayden tensed. Axel expected him to try to pull away, but he accepted Axel into his space as if nothing had changed, on his side at least.

“Anyone who’d let a sub deal with that kind of shit on his own has no right to call himself a dom, and anyone who’d let someone who rides with us face off against that bastard on his own has no right to consider himself a Dragon.”

He kept hold of Bayden’s arm as he led him into the pub. The other Dragons’ curiosity was obvious, but so was their wariness. Bayden might have a better read on body language than any human, but Axel was under no illusions. Any species would easily see how livid he was. Even Hale had the sense to keep any inclination to say “I told you so” to himself.

It wasn’t easy for men to tread on egg shells while wearing motorcycle boots, but Axel was sure the Dragons were all doing their best.

Bayden remained silent. Axel kept a careful eye on him. He didn’t meet anyone’s gaze, but he didn’t bow his head with embarrassment either. It seemed that the only person he was ashamed about catching him out on months’ worth of lies was Axel himself. The club guys weren’t even a blip on his radar.

“Don’t get off your bike.”

Bayden had already taken off his helmet. He balanced it on his knee and glanced across at Axel. The other Dragons had all peeled away and headed back to their own homes during the return ride. It was just the two of them now in the yard behind The Dragon’s Lair.

So, this was it. Axel had had time to think on the ride back and—

“Does he know where you live?”

Bayden frowned. “Sir?”

“The cop—Granger—does he know where you and your family live? Would he go there?”

Bayden shook his head.

“The truth, Bayden. This isn’t something it’s safe to lie to me about. If he’d go there, I need to know, now.”

“He doesn’t know where they live, sir.”

Axel studied him for several seconds, but eventually, he seemed to be willing to believe him. He got off his bike. Bayden remained where he was, watching him from the corner of his eye so his staring wasn’t too obvious.

Axel opened the lock-up where he kept his own bike. He looked over his shoulder and frowned. “What are you waiting for?”

“You said not to…”

“When I thought we’d need to head straight to your mother’s place.”

Bayden cautiously got off his bike. When Axel put his away, Bayden hesitated to do the same. A raised eyebrow told him that Axel wasn’t the least bit impressed.

Bayden put his bike in the lock-up. There were a few other things stored in there. None of them looked expensive, but that wasn’t the point, not anymore.

Axel led the way into the pub and straight up to the flat.

Bayden paused by the chair where Axel sometimes liked him to leave his clothes.

“You can leave your jacket there.” Axel took his off and dropped it over the back of a chair.

Bayden did as he was told then pushed his hands into his pockets. Axel stood two yards away from him. Bayden didn’t have the courage to try to bridge the gap between them, but he couldn’t stand the silence. “You’re angry, sir.”

“Yes. I don’t like being lied to—not by someone who works for me, or someone who rides with me. And definitely not by someone who’s supposed to be submitting to me.”

Bayden swallowed. “A punishment, sir?”

“Not yet. First, you’re going to tell me the truth—about everything.”

Their eyes met. “Sir?”

“You’re going to tell me the truth. Every lie you’ve ever told me, you’re going to fix it. When I know the complete truth, I’ll decide what your punishment will be. But I’m warning you, whatever that punishment is, it’ll pale in comparison to the one you’ll get if you tell me
any
lie from this point on.” He stepped forward. “You’re being offered a clean slate. It’s not something I make a habit of. Don’t screw it up.”

Bayden swallowed.

“First—what you said about Granger and the other cops not knowing where your family lives, was that the truth?”

Bayden nodded. “I made sure of that, sir. And…”

“And?” Axel demanded.

The truth. “He knows I’ll kill him if he goes near them, sir.”

“How does he know that?”

“I told him,” Bayden said. “He believed me. It was the truth.”

“Good.” Axel didn’t specify if it was good that Bayden had told him the truth, told Granger the truth, or that he’d kill anyone who hurt his family. But the fact that he thought Bayden had done something good was both wonderful and terrifying. Any relief was mixed with a reminder of just how much he needed Axel to be pleased with him.

Axel turned his back on him and went into the kitchen. He put the kettle on, not the least worried that a self-confessed potential murderer stood behind him. Bayden lurked in the doorway, not sure what else to do.

“Is it a human thing, thinking that any conversation is bound to be less stressful if it takes place over tea?” Axel asked.

Bayden blinked at him.

Axel raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, it’s a human thing, sir.”

“Good boy.”

Because he’d told the truth. Bayden swallowed. Axel would consider him to be good if he told the truth. It didn’t matter if it was a big truth or a small one, in a way, it didn’t even matter what the truth was, Axel just wanted him to tell it.

Axel carried his tea into the living room and motioned for Bayden to bring the other cup along with him. Axel sat on the sofa and indicated the seat next to him. Bayden perched on the edge of the cushion and stared at Axel’s boots. It was easier than looking him in the eye. Bayden’s heart raced so fast, it hurt the inside of his ribs.

“Start by telling me about Granger.”

“He’s just a cop, sir.” Bayden stared at his tea for a while. “When we lived on Holborn, we were on his…his patch or whatever.”

“For how long?”

The truth. Sweat broke out across Bayden’s skin. “My father was born there, so was my grandfather. We moved away when I was nineteen.”

“Because of him?”

“It got out of hand.” Bayden closed his eyes. He was pretty sure he already knew the answer, but he still had to ask. If there was any chance he didn’t have to say it all out loud, he had to ask. “How much do you want to know, sir?”

“Everything.”

Bayden took a deep breath. There were so many memories, but somehow his mind went all the way back to that first time, back when he hadn’t really known the score—back before he’d learned not to care. Bayden cleared his throat. “It was no big deal. After I got my first bike, he’d pull me over every now and again, if he spotted me during a quiet bit of his shift or whatever. I’d…pay the fine.” He shrugged.

Axel’s grip on his mug of tea was white knuckled. “Did you tell anyone what was happening?”

“They had enough to worry about without me making a fuss. I could handle it. But…”

Axel’s right arm lay along the back of the sofa. He moved and rested his fingertips against Bayden’s shoulder. Bayden glanced up at him, but Axel didn’t seem to want his attention. He’d just done it because he’d wanted to, and maybe because he knew Bayden would think it felt nice.

“Keep going,” Axel ordered.

“It started to happen more often. Then, one night he and some of the other cops turned up at our house. They were off duty. They’d been drinking. I convinced them to leave but…” He swallowed. “My mother was there. So was my grandfather.” Bayden shook his head, trying to clear their expressions from his memory. “We moved the next day.”

“When you say you convinced them to leave,” Axel said. “You mean you left with them?”

Bayden nodded. “I didn’t care about that. But, if they’d come back when I wasn’t there…” He shook his head as other pictures tried to fill his mind. “We moved the following day, and the next time I saw Granger I explained that he needed to stay away from them.” Bayden rubbed the back of his neck. The whole truth. “I told him that the only reason I hadn’t killed him was because my pack didn’t approve of wolves making trouble with humans. If anything happened to them, I’d have no reason not to kill him. What he did to me was one thing—but not them.”

“What did your family say when they found out what was happening?” Axel asked.

“What could they say?” Bayden whispered into his tea. “It wasn’t anything that hadn’t happened to them at one time or another.”

Silence descended. It filled the room, taking up all the oxygen, until Bayden could barely breathe. He glanced up at Axel. Perhaps it was just Bayden’s imagination, but Axel didn’t look comfortable with the lack of oxygen either.

“It’s not a rare thing, sir. Humans… Wolves…” Bayden sighed. Axel didn’t get it. There was no way he could. “My grandfather says that sooner or later a wolf always has to either fuck or fight to survive. It’s just the way things are. All you can do is try to make sure you’re the one who chooses who you have to do those things with.”

Silence returned. Neither of them moved. The only sense Bayden had to work with was scent. That was very clear. Axel was furious; he had the right to be.

“I would have told you, sir.” It probably didn’t mean much, but maybe it would count for something.

Axel tucked a knuckle under Bayden’s chin and made him look up.

“I’d have told you I broke both rules. I’d have taken the punishment. I lied about other things, but never about obeying your rules.”

Axel frowned. “Both rules?”

Shit. The complete truth. “The one about other people, and the one about jacking off without your permission.”

Axel’s frown remained.

“Granger thought making that part of the fine proved I liked what he…”

“Would you have told me that you didn’t have a choice?” Axel said. “That’s part of the truth too, isn’t it?”