Axel's Pup

When does a 600+pages/20+hours audiobook leave you wanting more? When is a shifter/motorcycle club/BDSM novel really about society, otherness, cultural oppression and so much more? The answer to both is [a:Kim Dare 2839336 Kim Dare https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1471641740p2/2839336.jpg]'s brilliant [b:Axel's Pup 21522467 Axel's Pup (Werewolves & Dragons, #1) Kim Dare https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1396446653s/21522467.jpg 40847015] paired with [a:Chris Clog 16489075 Chris Clog https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s Master Class in narration. I'll start with the AB while I try to summon up coherent words about the book. There are about 5 to 7 main speaking characters, two of them women, plus a number of extras, and you are never in any doubt as to who is speaking, to say nothing of the wealth of emotion & nuance he brings to Axel and Bayden. In a word: PERFECT.The Story: Bayden is a young werewolf shifter trying to survive in an inhospitable world. To make money he takes bets on fights and other things, in pubs, or wherever he can find willing participants. On a late summer day he walks into The Dragon's Lair Pub, the de facto clubhouse for The Black Dragons Motorcycle Club, whose members are gay and more than dabble in the BDSM scene. Axel Carmichael is both a publican and a true no nonsense Dom. The moment the two meet their lives change forever.To my brain this story read as so much more than a shifter story. I think writers, good ones, can use genres & tropes to speak or comment on difficult subjects without coming off as strident or didactic. For instance vampyrism has always been an oblique way to talk about sexual desires and sex itself. In Axel's Pup, KD has created a world where werewolf shifters have been hunted, put in camps, stripped of familial surnames, are paid less than half as humans for equal work, are charged Wolf Rates, meaning double, for housing or other services, and are relegated to living in the worst areas. Crime against a wolf isn't a crime because hey, they're wolves. Animals. Not human. OTHER. Less. That this lack of opportunity leads many wolves to unsavory “careers”, i.e. prostitution, is proof of their bad character. Their uncleanliness. Their untrustworthiness. Maybe I was being extra sensitive, but I think you'd have to be living under a rock to not hear the echoes of our not-so-distant past. The decimation & forced relocation of American Indians, the Pogroms perpetrated throughout history against Jewish communities, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, the systematic destruction of African American families by means large and small: slavery, ghettos, drugs, and disproportionate incarceration of black males. And last but not least the marginalization, censure, and criminalization of the LGBTQ community. This book talks about all of that and more while sweeping you in a LOVE story. A real one.The relationship between Axel and Bayden is a D/s one, verging on a TPE, and I can honestly say that Axel is the first Dom I don't want to punch in the throat at some point in the story. I won't rehash my love/hate relationship with doms, I've over explained it in previous reviews. But this is the first time where the D/s dynamics made sense to my dense brain. Bayden is a WOLF!!! Having an Alpha is natural and instinctual. That this Alpha happens to be human? C'est la vie. Plus Axel is just about perfect while being utterly believable, and not even remotely hearts & roses cloying. He holds no prejudice against wolves, and being a gay man, who has faced rejection and more, solely based on his sexual preferences, is more receptive than most to the plight of an oppressed class. However that does not make him a wolf expert. He ha lots to learn and he doesn't stint on trying to learn or correct his mistakes. I loved how Axel translated the qualities of being a good Dom into literally interpreting what Bayden needed but couldn't say with human words, because, again, Bayden is a WOLF. Kim D never loses sight of that. Bayden has to work at “being human”, he communicates by instinct & body language, scent is a main source of information, and speech or rather human concepts are things he's constantly working at understanding, deciphering, and expressing. I liked how Axel works at forging what he calls a “common dictionary” of terms that facilitate communication between him and Bayden. Like most people Axel only has a passing acquaintance with matters outside his personal realm of experience. In this case wolves & their life are something Axel only knows very little about, but he works very hard at bridging his knowledge gap. He's horrified when confronted with the truth of their existence, from the small everyday indignities to the larger, sometimes life threatening, realities of being a wolf. To say that Bayden is cautious in his interactions with humans, hesitant to trust, is understatement. And rightfully so. But at the same time Bayden is so brave and so irrevocably drawn to Axel, his Alpha & mate. He needs him. A wolf without a pack is a sad thing. Luckily Axel, and eventually, the other Dragons work at earning his trust, while they themselves learn to overcome unfounded biases & prejudices. All of this may sound like I'm promoting some dry and dusty textbook on social anthropology and nothing could be further from the truth. [b:Axel's Pup 21522467 Axel's Pup (Werewolves & Dragons, #1) Kim Dare https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1396446653s/21522467.jpg 40847015] is the slow burn & emotional journey of a relationship, from first meeting to a perfect HEA. Rest assured that smex times are scorching and yet incredibly tender. The progression of Axel & Bayden's relationship builds on months, and later weeks, of trust & trying. There are stumbles for both partners along the way. Poor Bayden sometimes has to learn the hard way. He has to learn that Axel as his Alpha always has his best interests at heart and will do anything to protect him without ever diminishing him. At times the learning comes in the form of punishments, which due to Bayden's wolf nature, present a challenge for Axel, but one he happily meets. Punishments which are very different from “play time”. Both of these activities are crucial to Bayden. They let him know he belongs. He's cherished. Owned. What else can a good wolf want? If it wasn't clear, I LOVED this book. Loved it so much I ordered the paperback. Yep. That kind of love.