Authors: Kim Dare
“Any other reason?” Axel checked.
Bayden shook his head. “It’s not a limit anymore, sir.”
“We’re going to drop by your place today. You can pick up anything else you want while we’re there.”
“Yes, sir.”
When Axel excused him from the table, Bayden got dressed. A few minutes later, he followed Axel outside without a word. He headed to the lock-up, but Axel called him back.
“We’re taking my car.” Axel nodded to the front passenger side seat as he slid behind the wheel. “You’ll either need to give me directions or an address.”
Bayden rattled off an address. It wasn’t a part of the city that Axel was familiar with. He put the details in the sat-nav and, throughout the journey, the only voice came from the machine.
Twenty minutes after leaving the pub, they pulled up outside a run-down, old building in the worst part of town. By the look of it, the landlord had converted it into bedsits as cheaply as possible a couple of decades ago, and hadn’t spent a penny on it since.
Neither of them spoke as Bayden led the way inside.
Axel only managed to get a fleeting impression of the hall as Bayden hurried forward, but it was enough. The wall paper was peeling. Those lights that worked were bare bulbs. Dampness hung in the air.
Bayden led the way up one uncarpeted staircase, then another. Axel automatically reached out to run his hand along the rail, saw the stains on the paintwork and thought better of it.
Bayden unlocked a battered door at the rear of the building and stepped back to let Axel go in first.
There was an obvious division between the public area and the space that was Bayden’s responsibility. On one side of it, things were cheap, grubby and obviously uncared for. On the other side, everything was just as cheap, but it had all been scrubbed and fixed up as much as was humanly, or werewolf-ly possible.
A door to Axel’s left led to a tiny, but spotlessly clean, bathroom. The rest was just one room. A bed in one corner, a few kitchen cabinets in another. A table and chair, a rickety wardrobe. That was it.
Axel turned around. Bayden’s expression was unreadable—just like in a bet. Axel was about to take refuge behind his earlier suggestion that Bayden pick up some things while he was there, when he realised how stupid the suggestion was.
Half the wardrobe’s door was missing. There were no clothes left to retrieve, but Axel could easily picture the clothes Bayden had brought to the pub neatly arranged there. Four white vests. A spare pair of black jeans. His leathers. Each item folded with military precision.
Bayden hadn’t chosen to travel light when he came to stay at the pub. He hadn’t had any option.
Still on a shelf in the wardrobe was what looked like a spare set of bedding. The bed was made perfectly enough to make a drill sergeant weep.
Axel glanced at the kitchen cabinets. He doubted there was more than a meal’s worth of food in the place, and it wasn’t because Bayden had known he would be spending a few weeks away from home. The cupboard under the sink had probably always contained more cleaning supplies than all the others had food.
A shiver ran down Axel’s spine, but it wasn’t just because there was an eerie quality to the place. It was freezing in there.
He automatically put his hand against the heater running along one wall. There was a thermostat on the adjacent wall. Bayden hadn’t switched it off because he’d be away from home. According to the settings, it should have been pleasantly warm.
“It comes and goes, sir,” Bayden said, quietly.
“Does your landlord know about it?”
Bayden nodded.
There didn’t seem to be anything else to say. Everything Axel could think of was bound to sound appallingly patronising.
When Axel had believed that Bayden was a spoiled rich kid, he’d imagined that he lived in a posh loft space in the new dockland flats, all clean lines and fancy minimalist decoration. Even since he’d realised that was a lie, Axel had let himself picture Bayden living, if not in luxury, then at least in relative comfort.
They left as wordlessly as they arrived. Bayden paused to lock the door in their wake, but Axel didn’t wait. A few moments alone to get his thoughts in order would be a Godsend.
He was halfway down the second set of stairs when he realised he was being watched. A man stood in the hallway. He was in his mid-forties, wearing a stained tracksuit, and had the look of someone who was used to thinking of himself as in charge.
“You’re the landlord?” Axel guessed.
“There’s one room empty. Same size as that one.”
He’d seen who Axel arrived with then. Curiosity got the better of Axel. “How much?”
The man looked him up and down. “Human or wolf?”
“You charge wolves more?”
Something about his surprise filed him as human in the landlord’s mind. “No choice,” he said. “Got to pay to replace what they wreck. Filthy creatures. Can’t trust them to keep up with the rent, either.”
A bitter taste filled the back of Axel’s mouth. “What are the two rates?”
The man quoted two prices, one roughly double the other.
“Does the higher price always come with faulty heating?”
A creaky stair heralded Bayden’s arrival. The landlord turned to him. “If you have a problem with the room—”
“No,” Bayden rushed out. “The room’s fine. There’s no problem.”
The landlord’s eyes narrowed. “If you’re going to be trouble…”
“I’m not.” He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out several notes. “Next week’s rent.”
Axel opened his mouth to point out that Bayden damn near freezing to death in a room he was paying through the nose for was a problem, but Bayden turned to him before he had a chance to utter a word. “It’s fine, sir.” His tone of voice was as close to a plea as Axel had ever heard it.
There was no reason for Bayden to stay there. It would only take him a minute to pack what was left of his belongings.
“Please,” Bayden whispered.
It had taken a lot of trust for Bayden to remove the limit on Axel even visiting the place. As the landlord made a point of double-checking that Bayden had given him enough money, Axel turned on his heel and strode out of the building. It was that or tell the landlord where to shove his room, and to hell with any other consideration.
In the car, Axel stared straight through the windscreen and did his best to calm his temper. Bayden followed him out, but stopped short of approaching the passenger door.
Reaching across the car, Axel opened it for him.
Bayden got in.
Axel sat very still for several seconds. “He has no intention of fixing your heating.”
“I know, sir.”
“He charges you higher rent than he charges humans.”
“I know that too, sir.” He said it so bloody calmly.
Axel’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “Why do you stay there?”
Bayden studied the dashboard like there was about to be a test on it. “Most places won’t rent to wolves at all. I can’t afford wolf-rates in any of the other places that do.”
“Wolf-rates?”
“Rents get doubled. Wages get halved.” Bayden shrugged.
“I pay you exactly the same as I paid Matt when he worked for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Axel’s mind raced with so many questions he couldn’t decide which to ask first.
“I used to have more,” Bayden blurted out.
Axel turned to face Bayden, but Bayden’s attention never wavered from the dashboard.
“When I got kicked out of my last place, I wasn’t allowed back in to get my stuff. I haven’t got around to replacing most of it yet.”
He didn’t have the money to replace a damn thing. Axel glanced at the keys Bayden held. “You said you garage your bike?”
“About a mile from here, and yes, they charge a wolf more too. So does my mother’s landlord.”
“Altogether?” Axel asked.
Bayden swallowed. “Between my wages and what I saved up I’ve got enough to see me through to the end of the six weeks.”
After that, it’s none of your damn business.
Even if Bayden was too polite to say it out loud, it was what he obviously thought.
“I was lucky to find a room anywhere after I had to leave my last place,” Bayden said. “If I give it up, I might not find anywhere else willing to rent to me.”
And Bayden wasn’t ready to trust that their trial period would end with him moving into the pub fulltime. Axel started the car. If he couldn’t convince Bayden to trust him by the time those six weeks were up, he didn’t bloody well deserve to collar him.
* * * * *
“Spit it out, pup.”
Bayden looked over his shoulder. Axel was right behind him. “Sir?”
Axel stepped closer. “Whatever it is you’re working your way up to saying, spit it out.” Axel chuckled. “Yes, it is that obvious.”
Bayden took a deep breath. Axel’s scent was strong—it had been ever since he’d took his turn watching over the back room that had been opened to the public that night.
If Bayden leaned back just a few inches, he had no doubt that he’d feel Axel’s erection straining against his jeans.
Bayden swallowed. “Do you want…? I know I’m being punished, but I could still…”
Axel slid his arm around Bayden’s waist and tugged him back. He was just as hard as Bayden had imagined.
“You could still get me off?” Axel whispered in his ear.
Bayden nodded.
“Are you asking me for something, pup?”
Bayden shook his head. “I wouldn’t enjoy it.” The moment he realised how that sounded, he shook his head even more vehemently. “I mean, you could do something I wouldn’t enjoy, sir.” No. That sounded wrong too. “I mean…”
Axel rocked his hips and stroked Bayden’s abs. “You mean you’re asking for permission to get me off, not to come yourself.”
Bayden nodded. It was so much easier when Axel filled in his side of the conversation for him.
Axel turned Bayden around and backed him up against the side of the bar. “Because, it wouldn’t be fair for me to be frustrated just because you’re under penance?”
Bayden nodded again.
Axel stroked Bayden’s hair back from his face and pressed their bodies together—sliding one leg between Bayden’s thighs to take away the last vestiges of his personal space. “You’re forgetting something, pup.”
“Sir?”
“Setting a rule for you doesn’t mean I have to follow it too.”
Bayden frowned. “I didn’t say you did, sir.”
“I have options you don’t have since you started submitting to me.”
Bayden squirmed against the edge of the bar, sure he should be following, but not quite able to.
“I don’t need your help to come, pup. I’m not dependant on you for my orgasms. I never will be.”
Bayden had been punched in the stomach hundreds of time. Not one blow had knocked the air out of him the way those words did.
He jerked and lifted his head. Their eyes met.
Axel blinked, as if surprised by his response.
Bayden looked down. A human sub wouldn’t mind. Or maybe he would, but a human dom wouldn’t care if his sub minded. Or…
Axel made Bayden look up. His gaze narrowed as he studied Bayden.
“Yes, sir.” That was always a safe thing to say.
If Axel wanted to screw someone else then, yes, sir. What else could Bayden say?
“I told you at the start, if we hit a limit, you’re supposed to tell me.”
Bayden shook his head. If Axel wanted someone else, he should have them. Whatever Axel wanted, he should have it. “It’s not a limit, sir.”
“Are you sure, pup?” Axel stroked his cheek. “You can tell me. I won’t be angry.”
Bayden swallowed past the sudden tightness in his throat. “It’s not a limit, sir,” he repeated.
“Fair enough.” Axel stepped back. He walked away without another word. Bayden caught hold of the edge of the bar to stop himself from rushing after him.
Axel stopped to talk to Griz and Evan.
Bayden tried to turn away, to go back to serving the drinks as if he didn’t care what Axel might do, but it was impossible.
Axel wanted him to work there and serve the drinks. No—even reminding himself of that didn’t help.
Axel moved on to talk to someone else. Bayden tracked him from one conversation to another. There were lots of men in tonight. Damn near every one of them who called himself a sub would sell his soul to play with Axel.
Bayden’s heart raced faster and faster as he wondered which one it would be, which man Axel would take to the back room.
A tiny blond guy with huge brown eyes stepped into Axel’s space. No respect, nothing Bayden was willing to call appropriate submission. He demanded Axel’s attention as if Axel should be impressed with him, and Axel let him do it. He let the supposed sub damn near hump him in the middle of the room.
He…
Bayden hesitated. Axel let him. He let the would-be sub flirt with him, but he didn’t flirt back. He didn’t reach out to the sub or pull him closer the way he did with Bayden.
Whoever Axel picked, it wouldn’t be that guy.
Eventually, that would-be sub gave up and went away. Barely a second passed before another sub hit on Axel.
Taller, shorter, older, younger. Axel had his pick, and there was nothing Bayden could do but watch while Axel made his selection.
An hour crawled by, then another. Guys started to leave. Axel still hadn’t taken one of the subs to the back room. Bayden watched intently as Axel ushered the last few subs out. For the first time since they’d spoken, Axel left Bayden’s line of sight.
No one was going to the back room with Axel. Everything was fine. Soon, they’d be alone and—
Bayden stared at the door leading to the pub’s entrance as he realised that wasn’t guaranteed. Maybe Axel wouldn’t walk back in alone. Maybe he’d bring one of the subs back with him. Maybe he hadn’t ever intended to take a man to the back room, but he’d always intended to take someone to his bed after closing.
Axel stepped back into the room. Bayden held his breath until Axel closed the door behind him. They were alone—for tonight.
“Leave everything where it is,” Axel ordered. “Upstairs, now.”
Bayden hurried to obey.
Within minutes, Bayden was naked in Axel’s bedroom. Axel looked him up and down, but he didn’t reach out to him the way Bayden had hoped he might. He dismissed Bayden to the bathroom.