Authors: Kim Dare
“His grandfather really died?”
Axel nodded. “Old age. I think it was pretty expected, but still.” He started taking the chairs down from on top of the tables.
Griz followed alongside him, automatically taking on half the job. “They were close?”
Axel nodded.
“Close enough to give him a free pass on disappearing?”
“There’s no such thing as a relationship that close. I’ll deal with it when he’s out of mourning.”
“Can we watch?”
Axel chuckled. “It won’t be that kind of punishment.” He thought back to Bayden’s list of things that he considered important privileges, the things that really mattered to him. Whatever the punishment was, it would likely take place entirely inside Bayden’s head.
Bayden looked up from his work when Axel joined him. “I should have asked if it was okay for me to…”
Of course, he’d listed working there as a privilege. Axel slid his arm around Bayden’s waist. “I told you that the time isn’t right for any kind of punishment, didn’t I?”
Bayden looked down. “I can take—”
Axel kissed him gently on the lips. It was a pleasant way to silence him.
“When the time is right, we’ll talk about it. Until then, you carry on exactly as you did before, with one exception.”
Bayden glanced up at him, obviously trying to appear prepared for anything.
“You either stay behind the bar, or within my line of sight. If you want to go anywhere else, you ask me first. I don’t care if you just want to take a leak during your break. You don’t leave my sight without permission.”
Bayden shifted his weight from one foot to another.
“It’s not a punishment, it’s a new rule.” Axel stroked his arm. “Rules aren’t bad things, are they?”
Bayden shook his head. “Rules are good.”
Axel stared down at Bayden. When he whispered the words to himself that way, it sounded like rules were the only things keeping him together.
Would more rules help? Axel pressed a kiss to Bayden’s temple. He had a strong suspicion that the only thing that would really help Bayden recover from the shock of his grandfather’s death would be time. Axel could give Bayden as much of that as he needed, but it didn’t really feel like enough.
He stroked his fingers up the side of Bayden’s neck, picturing a collar there. That would help too. Soon, he promised himself. Soon.
Bayden ran his fingers over the inscription on the polished surface of the gravestone. It was damp after the previous night’s rain and felt even colder than it should. “Do you know why we have to have gravestones like this, sir? Why the humans made it a law?”
“Yes.” Axel crouched down behind him and put his hand on Bayden’s shoulder. “I read about it in the book by Kincade.”
Bayden nodded. Axel loved those damn books. They were both starting to look dog-eared, the number of times he’d read them. He always specified which book he was quoting though—if it was the book written about wolves or the book written by a wolf.
“Humans used to think that werewolves could come back from the dead,” Axel said.
Bayden nodded.
“I wish it was true too,” Axel whispered to him.
Bayden swallowed. If humans could have been right about that one thing, it would have made all the lies they told about wolves worth it. If his grandfather could come back…
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t give up for him to come back,” Bayden whispered. It was true. The fact that he’d gained certain options when his grandfather died didn’t mean he’d wanted him to die.
“He was your dad’s father, right?”
Bayden cleared his throat. “Yes, but they weren’t very alike…”
“You said you father wasn’t someone who would ever die of old age.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How did he die?”
“He didn’t think it was fair that wolves took home half the wages humans were paid for doing the same job in the same place. He stood up to owners.” Bayden sighed. “Well, not really. He just caused trouble.” Bayden ran his fingers over the gravestone once more. His grandfather had always had more sense than to cause trouble.
“He was murdered.” Axel shock was obvious.
Bayden laughed, caught off guard by how little Axel still seemed to know about what it was like to be a wolf, no matter how often he read those damn books. “You have to be human to be murdered. Wolves are slaughtered, or put down, or maybe culled.”
“Did they find who did it?” Axel demanded.
“Granger and his friends?” Bayden tugged up a few of the blades of grass he’d been toying with. “It was right at the top of their priorities.”
That was the way things were—even Axel’s books acknowledged it. If a wolf had any sense, if he was a good wolf, he learned to accept that. He kept his head down and didn’t cause any trouble. If his father had been half as sensible as his grandfather then…
Bayden shook his head. That was no way to think about his dad. A man couldn’t be blamed for who he was. An alpha couldn’t be blamed for losing his temper with humanity.
Bayden looked up at Axel. He smiled when he saw the fury burning as brightly in Axel’s eyes as it had ever burned in his father’s. Yes, alphas were alphas. Different rules applied.
As Axel led him back to the gates of the burial ground, Bayden wrapped his arms around himself. It felt a lot colder than mere temperature suggested it should. Even when they got back to the pub, Bayden couldn’t quite convince himself that the air around him was anything other than frigid.
With the jumper Axel had bought him on beneath his leather jacket, he should have been sweltering inside the pub. It was all he could do not to shiver.
Men came up to the bar, bought their drinks and went away. The noise gradually built up as more and more people arrived. It wasn’t the busiest night, but it felt like all of Bayden’s senses were on high alert. Every word echoed around the room.
Info and stats on different bikes bombarded him. Stories about rides and rallies collided with gossip about who wanted to whip who.
“Do you think they do puppy play?”
Bayden glanced along the bar. Two men promptly stopped staring at him. Subtlety was obviously not their strongest point.
Bayden wiped down the bar in front of him, but now that he’d noticed the men’s conversation, it was bloody difficult to turn his senses elsewhere.
“They must do. Boy’s been following him around like an honest to God puppy ever since he came back. Never more than the length of a lead away from him.”
Bayden mentally cursed. They were right. It had been over a week and a half since he got back, and he’d been staying close at heel the entire time. He peeked at Axel out of the corner of his eye.
Rules about staying within sight didn’t mean Axel wanted to be tripping over him all the time. Axel hadn’t complained, but it must have been getting on his nerves.
“He’s hot. And werewolves are bloody good lays.”
Bayden took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He’d have to do a hell of a lot more than get Axel off if he wanted Axel to keep him around.
“More trouble than he’s worth.”
Bayden wished that was wrong, but he had a horrible suspicion that the guy was right.
“Okay, pup?”
Bayden looked up. Axel was right there.
“I should take some of the empty bottles out back,” Bayden blurted out.
Axel nodded his permission.
Grabbing one of the plastic containers of empties, Bayden headed out to the big recycling bins.
Halfway across the yard, he paused, looking at the lock-up where he kept his bike.
His grandfather had been right about a lot of things. Good wolves got their priorities straight. The Triumph had always brought trouble with it. It was too flash, it drew too much attention. Riding with The Black Dragons was good, but he’d already ruined two separate club runs.
Bayden stared at the lock-up door. His father had ridden it, but maybe his father wasn’t the wolf he should be emulating. His dad hadn’t been the kind of man, or the kind of mate, Axel would be interested in. And it was what Axel wanted that was important.
Bayden swallowed. Without a wolf within reach that he could claim any kind of pack connection to, Axel wasn’t just important, he was everything, and—
Bayden spun around when a hand landed on his shoulder. “Sir!”
“I thought you’d got lost,” Axel said.
“I…” Bayden shook his head, trying to clear it. “I’m sorry, I…”
“Come on.” Axel took the container from him and carried it across to the bin.
“I can do that, sir.”
“Hush.” He held the box as Bayden pulled empty bottles out and tossed them into the bin. “What were you thinking about?”
How I can be less trouble and more worth keeping around.
“The truth doesn’t need thinking time, pup.”
Bayden frowned at the bottle in his hand. “Just some things I heard the other guys talking about in the pub, sir. It’s not important.”
“For example,” Axel ordered.
“What subs are supposed to be like and what they’re expected to do.”
“Specifically?”
“Earlier, I overheard one of them say that cooking is subs’ work, sir.” That was true enough.
Axel laughed. “Everyone’s entitled to his opinion, even if it makes him sound like a wanker. My brothers used to think that cooking made a man look gay.”
Bayden peeked up at him. Axel didn’t look even the slightest bit offended.
“Any dom who lives his life by the rules another man sets doesn’t really understand what the label is supposed to mean,” Axel said. There were only a few bottles left in the container. He picked them up and tossed them in with the others. “Dragons get a vote in club matters. Subs get to state their limits. A collared sub gets to state his preferences in a lot more things than anyone else. But, when it comes down to it, a dom does what he wants without worrying about things like what some idiot considers to be subs’ work—or what his family thinks makes him look gay.”
“I…”
“You’re right to tell me if you hear something that worries you; that’s good.” He put his arm around Bayden as he led him back into the pub.
Bayden leaned into Axel’s side. Yes, it was definitely Axel’s opinion that was the important thing. He’d just listen to Axel, and everything would be fine.
* * * * *
Axel watched Bayden carefully as he took off his clothes and placed them neatly on the chair just inside the door.
Bayden didn’t look in his direction, but he didn’t look lost in his thoughts the way he so often seemed to be since his grandfather’s death, either.
For a long time, Bayden stood naked and motionless, just staring down at his clothes. A tiny movement and Axel realised that Bayden’s attention had moved to his wrist.
The bruises Axel had left there were long gone.
“Pup?”
Bayden looked up, his expression full of longing. What he needed was obvious.
“Go into the bedroom,” Axel ordered. “You can take your clothes with you and put them away. Look in the toy cupboard. There’s a pair of black leather gloves on the second shelf, bring them back here.”
Axel made himself comfortable in the arm chair. Bayden quickly returned to his side and lowered himself to his knees as he offered Axel the gloves.
Axel put them on. They were nothing like his motorcycle gloves. The thin leather moulded itself to his hands, quickly warming up to body temperature. He checked each fingertip before calling Bayden up to sit on his lap. A few nudges had him sitting astride Axel’s legs, facing him.
Axel put his hands on Bayden’s shoulders to steady him. Bayden frowned as Axel ran his palms down, then up, Bayden’s arms. Whether he liked leather or not, he didn’t seem impressed with anything getting between him and his dom’s touch.
Axel altered the angle and stroked his fingertips down Bayden’s arms. Bayden gasped and peered at the skin Axel had just caressed. Thin scratches decorated his arms.
Axel held up his gloved hands so Bayden could inspect the fingertips. He turned his hand and let the tiny mental points catch the light. Bayden looked from them, to the light pink scratches on his arms. Suddenly, Bayden seemed far more willing to tolerate the gloves.
Placing a fingertip on the centre of Bayden’s chest, Axel drew a line along his skin, pressing harder than he had before. The scratch was deeper. The colour it left in its wake was a few shades darker.
“Does it hurt?” Axel asked.
Bayden shook his head.
“Good. Marks don’t have to mean pain.”
Bayden looked up and met his gaze. He nodded slowly as he realised what Axel was offering him and why.
Bayden looked down at his own body as if he’d never seen it before, or perhaps as if he was re-imagining it as a canvass that Axel could create some glorious work of art upon.
Turning his palms up, Bayden held his arms away from torso, making every inch of skin as accessible as possible.
Axel ran his gloved hands up Bayden’s thighs. He didn’t let the tips touch his skin just yet. He made his pup wait, aware that he was holding his breath in expectation, but not about to rush.
As Axel worked his way over Bayden’s body, Bayden’s cock hardened. Axel felt Bayden’s muscles knot with tension, too, but he was sure that it had nothing to do with Bayden wanting to come. No, what Bayden really wanted was the marks. He wanted to belong to someone more desperately than anyone Axel had ever met.
Axel smiled as Bayden squirmed. Bayden could do without an orgasm, but to be held on the edge of being possessed was far harder. Bayden swallowed rapidly but didn’t ask.
A bead of pre-cum formed on the tip of Bayden’s cock. Axel swiped it up with a leather covered knuckle and offered it to Bayden’s lips. He lapped up the taste. A slight hesitation and he pressed a kiss against the glove, thanking Axel even when he hadn’t been given anything he really craved.
Moving his knuckle to Bayden’s chin, Axel coaxed him to look him in the eye.
Need. So much need, but complete acceptance of Axel’s right to deny him what he needed too.
“I don’t like being ignored.”
Bayden frowned.
“Don’t look down. Keep your eyes on me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Axel slid his hands down Bayden’s back, dragging the metal tips along his skin, all the way down to his buttocks.