Read Axel's Pup for Free Online Page A

seeking out any ink Bayden might have hidden away. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
    Bayden nodded.
    Axel was only down in the cellar a few moments, but the second he stepped into the bar he knew he’d been gone for too long. Someone else was talking to Bayden—fair enough, he was hot. Guys were going to hit on him. But Bayden was actually getting off his stool and it looked like he was about to leave with the guy.
    Bayden stilled, as if he could sense Axel’s gaze on him. He turned around. His expression turned guarded.
    “Going somewhere?” Axel asked.
    “If you prefer us not to use the yard out back, we can take it somewhere else,” Bayden offered.
    Axel glanced at the guy Bayden had been talking to. He was chatting to a few other guys—friends of his by the look of it—the kind of friends who would happily goad someone into betting on himself in a fight against a wolf.
    “Here’s fine,” Axel said. It wasn’t quite what he’d had planned for Bayden that night, but the possibility that Bayden had intended to screw the other guy rather than hit him had put things into perspective.
    Axel could force himself to wait until after a fight. He looked at Bayden’s newest opponent. He doubted it would take Bayden long to be done with him.
    * * * * *
    “Less than five minutes.” Axel murmured the words under his breath, as if he was talking to himself rather than Bayden.
    Unsure what to say, Bayden remained silent.
    Axel tucked a knuckle under Bayden’s chin and studied the results of the fight. His touch wasn’t harsh, but it wasn’t a suggestion either. It was an order—one that Bayden was rapidly getting used to obeying.
    “Come on, pup.”
    Bayden followed Axel into the kitchen at the back of the pub, just as he had the first time he’d visited The Dragon’s Lair. This time, he wasn’t worried that Axel might want to keep the money he won, or that he might make him get on his knees to earn it.
    Axel wasn’t like that. Axel was…
    Bayden took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It didn’t help him think more clearly about what Axel was, it just filled his lungs and his mind with Axel’s scent. Axel’s movements were as deft and confident as ever. In moments, he was sitting with Bayden at the table.
    He wiped the blood from Bayden’s split lip. Bayden’s memory of his last visit to that kitchen had been accurate. His realisation that it was better to get a split lip than a black eye was just as true.
    Holding ice on his own eye couldn’t compare to having Axel’s hands on him. Sitting on the opposite side of the bar to Axel was pleasant, but nothing like being alone with him in the kitchen.
    Axel didn’t seem to expect talking—another bonus. Bayden was free to study Axel without having to scramble for something he could say that a human wouldn’t take offense at.
    Bayden traced the line of one of Axel’s tattoos with his eyes, from his wrist up to where it disappeared under the short sleeve of a tight black T-shirt. Bayden furled his hand into a fist to stop himself giving in to the temptation to try to stroke the design.
    The art work obviously went up higher than Axel’s bicep, but Bayden had no way of knowing just how much of him was covered in the brightly coloured designs. Was it just his arms, or was his whole body decorated that way?
    Bayden’s heartbeat sped up. He swallowed at the idea of finding more tattoos as Axel stripped down and—
    Axel chuckled.
    Bayden looked up. Axel’s eyes were dancing with amusement. He’d obviously finished whatever he intended to do to Bayden’s split lip. Bayden hadn’t been sitting obediently still while Axel worked. He’d been sitting there blatantly gawping at Axel for who knew how long.
    He waited for Axel to say something, but Axel just raised an eyebrow.
    “Drac does good work,” Bayden offered.
    Axel smiled, clearly not believing Bayden’s interest in his skin stopped at admiring his art work, but he didn’t call Bayden on it.