Authors: Kim Dare
Tolmore sighed and approached Bayden. He didn’t look at all enthusiastic about the fight.
“Do you have a problem with me fighting your sub?” Hale asked as Tolmore and Bayden circled each other.
“He might not be willing to fight you,” Axel said.
“Why?”
“He learnt a long time ago not to hit cops back.” Axel studied Bayden. He had the grace of a dancer as he dodged a clumsy attack from Tolmore, but it was hard not to picture how he’d have looked taking that beating off Ford or how he’d have acted when faced with Granger.
“If he’s going to ride with us, he’ll have to learn to see all of us as Dragons, first and foremost.”
Axel nodded. Hale was right. And he wasn’t the kind of man who’d hit a man who didn’t fight back. Unease still prickled up and down Axel’s spine.
Tolmore didn’t last long. He’d done his best. They all had. None of them had
let
Bayden win. They weren’t giving him the money, merely the chance to win it. Just like they wouldn’t give him a place in the club, only the chance to earn it.
“Time for a break,” Axel called out. “Everyone take five.”
Bayden retreated to his corner. He fell still as Axel joined him and checked his injuries. There was a bruise on his temple and a scuff on his jaw, but most of the blows Bayden had allowed to land were body blows and almost all of them were glancing impacts.
“Sir?”
“You’re doing well,” Axel said.
Bayden looked up at him warily, as if he couldn’t quite believe the praise was justified.
He stood very still, but the energy and adrenaline pumping through him was unmistakable. The only reason he wasn’t bouncing on the spot was his desire to show respect.
“There’s only one more guy who thinks he’s a match for you.”
Bayden nodded. His eyes sparkling with pleasure at being able to earn the whole seven hundred in one shot.
“Hale.”
Bayden flinched as if he’d been slapped. His face went expressionless.
“It’s your choice, pup.”
Bayden looked down. “I don’t want trouble.”
“There won’t be any trouble.”
Bayden nodded. He looked over to Griz and Hale. Axel traced his line of sight. Hale was handing his money to Griz. The last hundred Bayden wanted to earn.
Bayden nodded. “Okay.”
“You remember the rules, pup?” Axel checked.
He nodded again.
This time, when Bayden headed for the middle of the yard, the atmosphere was different. Everyone knew it wasn’t a friendly fight. They weren’t men who’d ever said a kind word to each other.
“What are the odds?” Griz murmured to him.
“Bayden might go easy on him. He still doesn’t want to get in trouble for beating up a cop.”
“Or?”
“Or Hale will say the wrong thing, and Bayden will wipe the floor with him. He won’t kill him, but he could easily make Hale wish he was dead.”
Hale feinted, stepped in close, then swung a left hook. It caught Bayden in solar plexus. A human would have doubled over, Bayden didn’t even flinch. The world went from slow motion to fast forward. It was hard to see individual moves. Both men knew what they were doing, and they both knew they were fighting someone else with real skills.
Bayden twisted, swiped with his legs and used Hale’s own body weight to topple him. Hale hit the ground hard, but rolled away without missing a beat.
Bayden crouched down a yard away, ready to pounce.
Hale got up onto one knee, but he didn’t launch himself immediately to his feet the way Axel expected him to. He swiped at his split lip.
“Every wolf I’ve ever met is a criminal.” The words carried clearly across the yard.
Bayden tensed. So did Axel. Hale had always been good at pissing people off. If there was anyone who could make Bayden lose his temper, it was him. Now was not the time for this kind of bullshit.
“Most of the humans I meet are criminals too,” Hale added. “Part of the job,”
Bayden was still couched down, muscles tensed, ready to pounce.
“I’ve arrested plenty of wolves, but never for anything I wouldn’t have arrested a human for.”
Bayden didn’t even seem to breathe.
“Honest cops don’t have anything to do with honest wolves. Of course, that means the only cops honest wolves meet are bent.”
Bayden still didn’t speak.
“Granger’s not going to bother you any more.”
That broke the spell. Bayden only shifted his weight an inch, but it was enough to let Axel breathe.
“We couldn’t get him for what he did to wolves, but we did get him. He’s been charged. He’s going to be convicted. He’ll do time—I’ll make sure of that.”
Bayden’s ribs shook as he took a deep breath.
“There’s one thing I learned about wolves on the job that is true,” Hale said. “Wolves are good fighters. Better than any human is.”
Truce.
Hale was admitting that he couldn’t win. The wording was impersonal, an acknowledgement of species differences without any reference to the dominance of particular individuals. For a man like Hale, it was still an olive branch the size of the ark.
Bayden pulled himself to his full height so he loomed over Hale. He stepped closer and held out his hand.
The moment Hale was upright, Bayden snatched his hand away. He retreated out of Hale’s space in silence and headed straight to Axel.
Axel slid an arm around him and pulled him in close. Bayden was so tense, he couldn’t even lean into the embrace, but Axel kept him there, letting him feel their bodies pressed against each other while he pulled himself together.
The other guys headed inside. Another ten minutes passed before, Bayden finally leaned forward and rested his head on Axel’s shoulder.
“You did good,” Axel whispered to him.
“I didn’t kill him.”
Axel smiled. “Yes, that was definitely a good thing.”
“I wasn’t sure if I could. Once I hit him, I didn’t know if I’d be able to stop, sir.”
“I didn’t doubt it for a second,” Axel said.
Bayden glanced up at him. “You’d have stopped me if I couldn’t have stopped myself.”
“Yes.” One word from him would have cut through Bayden’s rage. Axel had known it. The fact that Bayden had realised it and trusted him to do it almost made it worth having to watch the fights. He pressed a kiss against Bayden’s temple. “So good.”
* * * * *
“You said you’d take the money,” Bayden reminded Axel.
Bayden had undressed the moment they stepped into the flat that night. Now he was naked, the money was itching against his palm in his need to hand it over.
Axel held out his hand.
Bayden gave him the notes. “It’s eight hundred. The money you lent me to start the bet is there too.”
Axel put the notes in his pocket without checking them. Bayden hadn’t been sure that humans were physically capable of doing that.
The notes hadn’t weighed much, but Bayden felt like seven-hundred pounds in weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He smiled with relief, but all he could do then was wait.
A collar. A collared submissive. An alpha’s mate by any other name. It was all Bayden could do not to tremble with expectation.
They’d taken one thing at a time, just like Axel wanted, and now, the time for this had come.
Axel ran his fingers over Bayden’s neck.
A shiver caressed Bayden’s spine. He smiled up at Axel.
“Not tonight, pup.”
Bayden jerked back in surprise.
Axel didn’t follow him. “When the marks from the fight have gone.”
“But you said they don’t matter!”
“They don’t mean anyone else has a claim to you, but I still want them healed before I collar you.”
Bayden looked down. Folding his arms, he tucked his bruised knuckles out of sight. There was no way to hide the rest of the scrapes and bruises. The breath caught in Bayden’s throat. He looked to his clothes. He shouldn’t have taken them off without an order. Stupid!
Axel was an alpha, and an alpha was always right, but Bayden couldn’t stand there another second. He couldn’t wait around to hear Axel dismiss him. Bayden turned his back on Axel and headed for the spare bedroom.
Axel caught up with him within a few paces. Bayden stopped as soon as Axel grabbed his arm, but he couldn’t turn to face him.
“You’re not in trouble.”
Bayden kept his back to Axel, kept his arms folded and his knuckles tucked out of sight.
“I’m not saying I don’t want you in my bed.” He slid his arms around Bayden from behind.
“You want to leave your marks too?” Bayden asked, cautiously.
“No. No more marks tonight.”
It took all of Bayden’s self-control to stay where he was.
Axel slid his hand up to Bayden’s throat and drew a line on it. He could have been thinking about a collar. He could just as easily be thinking about the bruises that guy had put around his neck when he’d choked him.
“Yes,” Bayden whispered.
“Is that what you want?” Axel asked, without needing any further explanation.
Bayden nodded rapidly.
“Go into the bedroom. I want you on the bed, slicked up and ready for me by the time I join you.”
The moment Axel released him, Bayden rushed to obey his orders. His fingers were clumsy with need, but he completed the orders as fast as he could. Then, he waited, trembling with hope.
Another minute passed before Axel strode into the room. He’d left his clothes outside. He was in one of those moods where words weren’t important to him.
Bayden swallowed rapidly. There was no need for a knife this time—he didn’t have any clothes to get in the way.
Axel caught hold of Bayden’s shoulders and spun him around before pulling him back tight against his body. Balanced on the edge of the bed, Bayden had no choice but to rely on Axel to support him.
Axel put his right hand over Bayden’s mouth, forcing his head roughly back and pinning it against Axel’s shoulder.
Reaching down between them, Axel guided his cock to Bayden’s hole and pushed into him, hard and rough. Bayden whimpered his pleasure against Axel’s palm.
“Grab my right wrist.”
Bayden obeyed, wrapping his fingers around the skin just below where Axel’s tattoos started.
“That’s your safe word. Let go of my wrist and I’ll stop.”
Bayden tried to nod, but Axel’s hand against his mouth was unyielding.
“There won’t be any marks tonight,” Axel whispered in his ear. “But I don’t have to get rough like that to show you how every breath you take will belong to me once you’re wearing my collar.”
Bayden murmured his approval, but little sound made it past Axel’s hand. Axel wrapped his other arm around Bayden’s torso, holding him in place as he altered his grip over his mouth so he pinched Bayden’s nose.
“Every breath.” Axel’s words were more a growl than a whisper. He rocked his hips, pushing deeper into Bayden’s arse.
Pleasure rolled through Bayden, but as the seconds passed and Axel’s hand remained over his face, sealing his mouth and nose, Bayden’s lungs began to burn.
Another thrust, more pleasure, but no air.
He’d felt that way before. But that had been different, hadn’t it?
Axel lifted his hand, letting Bayden gasp.
“Good boy. I’ve got you.” Axel put his hand back in place.
It hadn’t been long enough for Bayden to properly catch his breath.
Axel pushed into him again. Each thrust hit his prostate and made Bayden want to whimper with bliss, but there was no sound and no oxygen.
“You’re mine, pup.”
Axel found a rhythm he liked and rode Bayden hard. Even if he’d been able to breathe normally, Bayden knew he’d have been out of breath within minutes. The occasional permission to force fresh air into his lungs wasn’t enough. He tightened his grip on Axel’s wrist, anchoring himself to his alpha as his mind spun and his body writhed.
Pleasure. Possession. Axel’s control over him wasn’t just about the way he had his cock buried in his arse. Axel had wormed his way into Bayden’s brain months ago. He’d been lodged in his heart for what felt like a lifetime. Now his lungs belonged to his alpha, belonged to his master.
Bayden twisted against Axel and tugged at Axel’s grip on him as his orgasm tore through him. Bayden’s cum spilled across the bed sheet. The world turned grey and flickered into and out of existence. Bayden’s only solid point of reference was Axel’s wrist. He held onto it as if his life depended on it. In that moment, he had no doubt that his life really would end if his grip failed him.
Blackness closed in, but it wasn’t frightening. He still had hold of Axel’s wrist.
Bayden jerked as bright light suddenly exploded back into his world. Everything had moved around him. He tried to flail around in an effort to get his bearings, but someone was holding him tightly, refusing him any space or freedom.
“It’s alright, pup. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
As soon as he heard Axel’s voice, Bayden’s panic evaporated. He stopped trying to get free. His nose and mouth were uncovered now. He panted for breath, desperately forcing more and more air into his lungs.
Bayden blinked at his surroundings. They were both lying on the bed. The mattress was soft beneath him. Axel’s body was hard against his back.
Their bodies weren’t joined together any more, but there wasn’t an inch between them. Any desire for space or freedom gone, Bayden pressed back against Axel, trying to get even closer to him.
Axel held him a little tighter in return. “That’s right. Good boy.”
Bayden remembered coming, but that was all he remembered. “I…”
“You passed out for a few seconds when you came, that’s all.”
“Did you come?”
Axel chuckled. “Yes, pup. You don’t need to worry about that.”
Bayden nodded. All was well. He looked down and realised that he still held Axel’s wrist. His knuckles were white, so was the skin beneath his fingers. He snatched his hand away. “I—”
“You did exactly as you were told,” Axel finished for him.
Bayden ran his fingers over Axel’s wrist. He’d left a red mark there. It would be a bruise by the morning. He tugged Axel’s hand up to his mouth and kissed the skin, as if that could help.
Axel pressed a kiss to the back of his head. “It’s fine, pup. And if it leaves a mark, that’s fine too.”