Axel's Pup by Kim Dare Read Free Book Online

wasn’t sure what that meant either. But Axel’s hand had felt good in his hair. He understood that perfectly.

Chapter Four
    There was no way in hell anyone at The Dragon’s Lair was going to be interested in fighting tonight. Bayden hadn’t even made it into the pub, and that much was obvious. Even the air in the car park was filled with the scent of lust and leather—and it wasn’t the kind of leather a man wore on a motorcycle.
    Bayden joined the queue to get in. He’d been in clubs where men played with leather in the city. There was always money to be earned in them, and points to be proved, if a wolf wasn’t fussy about the kind of bets he took. But, tonight wasn’t about proving things like that to humans. Bayden smiled to himself. It was about proving something very different to one particular human. I can play just as well as I fight. Proving that to Axel would feel good and—
    “Bayden.”
    Stepping to the side, Bayden looked to the front of the line. Axel’s friend Drac beckoned him closer.
    Bayden glanced at the queue. Several other men had joined it after him. He didn’t want to lose his place, but everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to answer Drac’s summons. Bayden reluctantly stepped out of the line.
    “I’m allowed to be here. Axel—”
    “You can go straight in,” Drac interrupted.
    Bayden studied him warily.
    “Axel invited you. You don’t need to queue,” Drac said. “Go on.” He nodded to the door. “You don’t want to keep him waiting.”
    Bayden was about to step in, when he realised that the man in front of him had just paid an entrance fee. He reached into his jeans pocket.
    “You don’t need to—”
    “I can pay my own way,” Bayden cut in. He held out his money and kept Drac’s gaze until Drac finally gave in and took the cash.
    Inside, Bayden forced himself to leave his helmet and his jacket with the guy who was collecting them off everyone else. Some guys were leaving a lot more than coats and crash helmets. Half the men had stripped down to just a few bits of leather and chain.
    It was hot and crowded. Music pounded, filling the gaps between the people. Each inch of progress Bayden made involved squeezing past someone. Every man there seemed determined to get in his way or cop a feel as he passed by, but he finally got to the bar.
    Axel…wasn’t there. Bayden frowned as he lifted himself up on his toes, trying to see over taller men’s heads. A man Axel’s size should have been easy to spot, but Bayden couldn’t see him anywhere.
    A hand landed on Bayden’s shoulder. It was better than where other hands had tried to roam as he’d fought his way through the crowd, but Bayden had had enough of strangers in his space. He twisted around only to stop short.
    Axel’s friend, Griz, stared down at him. His nickname really was fitting. Grizzly—a big bear of a man with a full beard and a huge barrel chest.
    “Axel’s in the back room.” Griz dipped his head, putting his lips closer to Bayden’s ear in an effort to make himself heard over the pounding rhythm, but his invasion of Bayden’s space stopped at the purely practical.
    “Thanks.”
    “He’s expecting you!” Griz grinned.
    The way the other men talked, it almost sounded as if Axel had been looking forward to that night as much as Bayden was.
    As Bayden made his way deeper into the pub, he found there wasn’t one back room, there were at least four of them. Each space seemed just as crowded as the pub’s main bar room. Bayden was well into the first room before other men’s shoulders parted far enough for him to see that there were areas of clear space around various pieces of kinky furniture. One man lifted a flogger and brought it down hard on another man’s back, making it obvious why the crowd wasn’t creeping closer.
    Axel wasn’t one of the men playing. He wasn’t in any of these audiences, either. Bayden’s ability to care about anything beyond that was limited. He headed for