Axel's Pup (69 page)

“Yes, I know.”

Bayden closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. “Brynmawr or Penllwyd.” They were mere inches away from each other, but the words were still barely on the edge of hearing.

“Pup?”

“Just because we can’t tell most humans something, doesn’t mean we forget, sir. My mother would have been born into the Brynmawr pack. My father would have been a Penllwyd, unless he started a new pack from scratch—alphas do that sometimes.” Each time he said one of the pack names, his voice dipped to a murmur.

Axel pressed a kiss against the top of his head. He could imagine the words being whispered that softly from one generation of wolves to the next all the way down through the years. Axel tugged Bayden up onto the sofa with him.

I’ll put your full name on your collar.
He bit the words back just in time. That wasn’t the kind of promise Bayden would want from him. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Bayden nodded and curled in closer to him. It was obvious how much sharing the information had cost him. Axel looked heavenward, but there was no getting away from it under the circumstances.

“Gabriel.”

Bayden tilted his head to the side.

“Gabriel Axel Carmichael. Gabriel was one of the Archangels in the Bible. When I was seventeen, me and my father had a huge row about me being out. He said he and my mother should never have called me that. I was a disgrace to the name of one of God’s chosen messengers. I told him where he could shove the damn name and…” He shrugged. “I’ve stuck to my middle name ever since, and made the change legal a few years ago. Axel sounds a damn sight more sensible for a biker anyway.”

Bayden stroked his cheek. “I like Axel, sir. It’s a good name. Strong.”

Axel pressed a kiss to Bayden’s forehead, but there was something very wrong about his sub being the one who comforted him. Axel looked down at the collar—his sub. “You know everyone’s going to notice your collar the moment they step into the pub tonight.”

Bayden met Axel’s gaze and held it. “Good.”

It was disconcerting, being in a room full of humans who were all staring at his neck. Bayden ignored them as best he could and concentrated on his job. It was one of the Saturday nights when the back rooms would open to everyone at ten o’clock. A lot of guys had got there early and were now milling about, assessing which dom might want to play with which sub later on.

Bayden pushed the sleeves on his hoodie up past his elbows and started collecting the empties from the various tables in the main bar room. He’d assumed that everyone would have lost interest in his neck after an hour or so, but no. Apparently, people were going to stare at his jugular all night. The fact that plenty of humans had turned up to play wearing collars wasn’t denting the fascination of seeing a werewolf in a collar at all.

Weaving his way between leather clad figures, Bayden soon found himself at the table where Axel and most of the Dragons had congregated to sort out who would be in charge of which bits of the pub once the games started.

Bayden already knew his job. He spotted a couple of empty bottles in front of various Dragons and picked them up.

He turned around and almost collided with Evan coming in the other way carrying a tray of full bottles.

“Congratulations on the collar.” He dipped his voice then. “Did he like what you bought him?”

Bayden nodded. Axel hadn’t said much, but he’d put the lead into his pocket before they come down to open the pub. He wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t been pleased with it.

Griz stood up. He took the tray of drinks off Evan and set them on the table before turning to Bayden. “It looks good on you.”

Bayden dipped his head once in acknowledgement of that fact.

“Can I check the tag?”

Bayden glanced across to Axel and received a nod.

Griz caught the gesture too. His fingers were thick and looked clumsy, but he took hold of the tag gently. He didn’t tug at it when he turned it over so he could read each side. He smiled and nodded his approval. “It’s looser than most collars.” There was no criticism in his tone.

“So I can shift,” Bayden explained. He stepped away from Griz, instinctively putting himself closer to Axel.

“Did Axel get you that hoodie too?” Hale asked, from his seat on the other side of the table. He was leaning back on the rear legs of his chair, his expression unreadable.

Bayden frowned. “Yes.” He’d bought the jeans Bayden was wearing that night too. Axel liked getting him things to wear—liked to see him wearing things that he’d bought him. It wasn’t about money, it was about marking his territory.

“The collar’s just right, but I think we can improve on the hoodie,” Hale said.

Bayden opened his mouth to tell Hale what he could do with his opinions, but Axel put his hand on the small of Bayden’s back and shook his head.

Bayden hesitated, wondering if he’d understood the rules about standing up for himself as thoroughly as he’d thought he had.

Axel looked up at him from his seat. “Not because he’s a cop, because he’s trying to be nice. It doesn’t come naturally to him, so you have to be patient.”

Bayden turned back to Hale. But Hale’s attention was all on the carrier bag Drac was handing him.

“Lose the hoodie.”

Bayden checked with Axel. Another nod. Bayden set the empties on the table and shrugged off the hoodie. Axel took it from him as Hale came around the table.

Hale reached into the bag and took out a leather jacket. It had the Black Dragon’s insignia on the back. The club’s name curved over the top of the dragon logo. Underneath were two name patches. On the left, Bayden. On the right, Axel’s Pup. Bayden’s palms turned slick with nerves.

Hale held the jacket out. Bayden just stared at him, frozen in place, not quite able to believe it was happening.

“Go on, pup.” Axel nudged him forward. Everyone was watching. Bayden’s heart raced faster than it ever had when they were watching him fight.

For the first time in his life, Bayden willingly dropped his guard and turned his back on a cop. He slipped his arms into the jacket, and Hale lifted it into place. It settled comfortably around his shoulders, fitting perfectly along every seam, as if it had been made for him.

Axel stood up. As Bayden looked up at him, Axel dipped his head and whispered in his ear. “Welcome to the pack, pup.”

Bayden closed his eyes, relishing the relief that flooded through him. When he opened his eyes, he looked down at the hoodie Axel still held. “You bought me that, sir.”

“I bought the jacket months ago. The other guys are just playing delivery boys.”

Bayden stroked his fingers over the surprisingly soft leather.

“They took a vote last night. It’s official,” Axel murmured to him. “Once a Dragon, always a Dragon, no matter what.”

Bayden nodded. His other hand went to his collar.

“That is forever too,” Axel reminded him.

“Yes, sir.”

The jacket was addictive. Even when Bayden went back to work, he found himself running his fingers over it every time he had a few seconds to spare. When his shift ended and another bartender arrived to replace him, Bayden stepped out from behind the bar, but he didn’t leave the jacket hanging on a hook back there, the way Axel usually did. He kept it on despite the heat.

Axel wasn’t immediately within sight.

“Congratulations again.”

Bayden turned to find Evan standing behind him. Not sure what to say, Bayden just nodded.

Even shuffled his feet. “Griz said I can start tagging along on your next ride. He asked Axel, and he said its fine.”

“You’ll like it,” Bayden said. “It’s—”

“You’re the wolf, aren’t you?”

A guy stepped way into Bayden’s personal space. He grabbed hold of Bayden’s wrist. He was drunk—not the happy kind of drunk a lot of the men who’d finished playing would become as the night went on—the kind of drunk that meant he no longer had any sense of self preservation.

“Back off.” Polite. Calm. Even if he was on his break, Bayden was still at work and—

The guy yelped. He dropped to his knees and snatched his hand away from Bayden’s wrist. Bayden blinked at him. Then he noticed that the guy’s other wrist was twisted painfully up behind him. He wasn’t on his knees through choice, but because that was the only way to prevent his shoulder being dislocated.

Bayden looked up at Axel, but Axel’s attention remained fixed on the guy whose wrist he held.

A ring of men formed around them as people both backed off and crowded in to get a better view.

“It takes a special kind of stupid to push your luck with a collared submissive,” Axel bit out.

The guy muttered something.

“You want to drink in a pub like this, learn the difference between a necklace and a collar—fast.”

He shoved the guy aside. The man fell, but was soon up again and scrambling into the safety of the crowd.

Axel turned and raised an eyebrow at Bayden. “What?”

“I could have dealt with him, sir—without killing him, or getting hurt.”

“I know.”

Bayden frowned, not sure what he was missing.

Axel stepped closer. “I watched the fights, pup. I watched the bets that made a complete mockery of a scene. I stood there and watched men screw you and order you around. And I didn’t do anything about it, because I didn’t have the right. You hadn’t given me the right. But this,” Axel caught hold of the lock on Bayden’s collar.  “This gives me the right. I never have to stand back and let another man lay a hand on you ever again.”

Bayden swallowed.

“I know you can take care of yourself. I know you can drop any man in here, me included. But I have the right to step in now.” And it was obvious just how much he loved that right. “Any questions?”

Bayden shook his head.

Axel smiled down at him, but something over Bayden’s shoulder soon caught his attention. His smile disappeared. “Speaking of unsettled scores…”

Bayden turned around. Richards stood just inside the door. He was flanked by his friends.

Axel stepped forward, but when Bayden put his hand on Axel’s arm, Axel stopped and waited to see what he had to say.

Bayden cleared his throat. “What are you going to do, sir?”

“Don’t worry, pup. I won’t hurt him. I’m just going to get rid of him.”

Bayden looked from Axel to Richards and back again. He tightened his grip on Axel’s arm. “Let him stay, sir.”

“What?”

Bayden looked down, fighting again instincts that would always tell him to let his alpha do whatever he wanted. “You said before, that a collared submissive was allowed to ask his…his master for things. That I should always say if there was something important that I…”

Axel turned back to him as he faltered. “Richards staying is important to you?”

Bayden nodded. He let go of Axel’s arm and moved his hand to rest it against Axel’s chest as Axel encouraged him closer.

“Why?”

“Because something you said about him before was wrong, sir.”

Axel made him meet his gaze.

“You said he wouldn’t know real submission if he saw it, but I think he would. I think if he saw the real thing, he’d know that what he gets off men is nothing like that.” Bayden took a shaky breath, not quite able to believe he’d been brave enough to say all that out loud.

“You want him to see you submit to me?” Axel asked.

Bayden swallowed. “I want everyone to see.”

“You know the rules. I don’t perform for an audience, you won’t be allowed to either.”

“Five seconds or five hours,” Bayden quoted. “Whatever you want, sir. Once the scene starts, I won’t be thinking about anyone other than you—no matter how many people are watching us.”

Axel stroked his fingers through Bayden’s hair. He seemed to think about it for a long time.

“I’m not ashamed of submitting to you, sir. There’s no shame in following a more dominant wolf’s lead, or in pleasing my mate.” He was helpless to stop his hand tightening into a fist around Axel’s T-shirt. “I won’t embarrass you in front of them, sir. I swear, I’ll—”

“That’s never been an issue.”

Bayden nodded. And that was it; there was nothing left for him to say. He’d made his request. It was all up to Axel now.

* * * * *

Axel stared down at Bayden. It was what Axel had wanted from the start—for his pup to trust him enough to tell him what was important to him.

“Be sure, pup. If I feel your attention wander, I’ll bring it back to me, and I won’t care who sees me do it.”

Bayden nodded.

“You know what I expect you to do.”

Bayden’s grip on his T-shirt didn’t lessen in the slightest. “I won’t hide anything from you, sir. I won’t lie to you.” His fingers twitched. “I’ll say my safe word if I need to.”

And that was the one thing he’d never been able to bring himself to offer him before.

Success rushed through Axel, raw and primitive. He caught hold of Bayden’s wrist and dragged Bayden’s hand away from his T-shirt. He headed toward the bar, pulling Bayden through the crowd in his wake, but he bit back the instinct to lead Bayden straight to that room. He stopped at the Dragon’s table. “Change of plans. One of you needs to take my shifts keeping an eye on the back rooms. Sort it out between yourselves.”

He saw Griz and Hale look past him to Bayden and knew that they both realised he intended to be distracted for the rest of the evening while he and Bayden celebrated.

“Fair enough.”

“And I’m opening room one early,” Axel added.

“Okay.”

“And Richards is here. Don’t throw him out.”

All necessary items ticked off his list, Axel headed for back room one. Bayden had little choice but to remain less than half a step behind him—it was that or lose his wrist, but the rest of the guys who followed did so because they’d been waiting to see him do a scene with Bayden for months and had more sense than to miss this opportunity.

Axel unlocked the room and led Bayden straight to the Saint Andrew’s Cross where Bayden had done his original bet with Richards. “You know what happens next?”

“Whatever you want, sir.” There was a calm note in his voice—one that only ever existed in a scene.