Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Axel’s Pup 
SERIES: Werewolves & Dragons #1
AUTHOR: Kim Dare
PUBLISHER: Self published
LENGTH: 560 pages
BLURB:
As the landlord of The Dragon’s Lair and leader of The Black Dragons Motorcycle Club, Axel Carmichael has seen it all and done it all. He’s a respected and experienced dom. Nothing shocks him any more, and nobody catches him off guard.
When Bayden rides up to The Dragon’s Lair on a bike worth more than most men earn in a year, and immediately demonstrates that he has far more attitude than sense, it’s easy for Axel to write him off as a silly little rich boy who’s about to get himself killed.
But, there’s more to Bayden than meets the eye. He’s no silly little boy, rich or otherwise, and werewolves aren’t easy to kill.
REVIEW:
YES YES YES!! A looooong Kim Dare book… just what I have been wanting for years! I love her books, but most are way too short. She’s written a few around 200 pages or so, which I have loved, and I was expecting the same with this one. Until I checked it at Goodreads and saw it was 560 pages. Perfect!
Let’s talk about the world building she’s done with Axel’s Pup. It’s our world, but not. Werewolves exist and are a known thing, but they are very much second class citizens. There is one set of laws for humans, and another for werewolves. Basically humans can do anything to werewolves that they want, with no penalties. It is not murder to kill a werewolf. It is not rape if you have non-consensual sex with a werewolf. You can charge higher rent if you rent to a werewolf. Werewolves are not allowed to congregate, no more than two wolves can be in a room together, so when you children turn 18 they have to leave the home. werewolves pack names have been disallowed. They all have the same last name now, Wolf. You can kick them out of your business, and refuse to serve them. They all must be registered and it says on the identification that they are wolves. On and on it goes. That is the setting for this book, it is dark and violent.
Bayden Wolf is born in to this world. His mother was a werewolf prostitute, his father an alpha wolf with no pack. His father is killed when he is 13, and his grandfather moves in to help raise Bayden, and care for his mother. Bayden leaves at 18 and lives on his own, but his grandfather gets sick and his mother can’t support both of them. Bayden helps, but he doesn’t have any skills to earn a living. He uses his body to earn money, not only prostituting himself, but also fighting and betting. He goes from bar to bar, letting humans challenge him to fights, betting money on the outcome. He’s submissive and has one hell of a high pain tolerance, so he also bets on how many strikes he can take from a whip, how many cuts from a knife, how hard you can fuck him, etc. All for money to care for his mother and grandfather.
Axel Carmichael is the founder of a motorcycle club for gay men into not only motorcycle leather, but BDSM as well. He’s also the owner of The Dragon’s Lair, a pub/BDSM club all of the club owners hang out at to drink, socialize, and practice their BDSM. One day a beautiful man walks in to the pub, orders a Coke, and captures Axel’s attention. Axel sees he’s a wolf shifter, but thinks he’s a spoiled rich kid, going by the type of bike he rides. Bayden begins to visit the pub, betting on his fighting skills and earning a bit of money. Axel has no idea what he’s really doing, supporting his family, he just sees him fighting and fucking for money. This goes on for some time, Axel wanting to get Bayden for himself, Bayden not wanting to commit to him, because he needs to be able to fight and fuck. They almost get their shit together, but then Bayden goes off the rails and they are thrown apart, over and over.
The big issue between Bayden and Axel is that they are not the same species. Wolves and humans aren’t treated the same in this world, and they don’t think or behave the same way. Axel is a dominant human, Bayden a submissive wolf. Axel has his version of how things will go between them, Bayden another. Bayden is just clueless most of the time, and so untrusting of Axel. Rightly so, he doesn’t know Axel, and hasn’t had a good history with humans, but damn, he is a hot mess. They talk over and over about the human version of submission, what Axel wants from Bayden, and what he’s willing to give in return. Around and around they go. Axel finally gets Bayden to commit to being his sub for six weeks, but even that doesn’t go right. Drama and angst just continue. Another Dragon, a cop, eventually gives Axel a couple of books about wolf rules, one written by a human, one by a wolf, and Axel is able to understand a bit more where Bayden is coming from.
So yes, it is a romance, eventually they do work it all out. But I loved following their drama. Both are so stubborn, but want to be together. Bayden is such a sweetie, but is so clueless! God, he drove me crazy. In such a good way. I loved the length of this book, Kim really has time to develop her characters and world, she writes so much slower in this one. It’s not a busy, hurried plot, it’s not insta-love or insta-sex. It takes time for Bayden and Axel to get there, but they eventually do. I loved the extra characters, both the good ones and the bad. Damn, it was just a fantastic book.
Read this book!
RATING: 
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