Chapter 466: Road To The Championship

Rays of sunlight shone through the elegant blinds at an angle. Its light warmed the fair skin of a beautiful woman. Her body curled in a ball with a pair of fluffy dark orange ears and a bushy red tail.

“Nn~”

A pleasant sound left her lips as she rolled onto the other side of the huge bed.

She tapped the bed in what appeared to be a moment of shock that nobody slept beside her, slapping the bed with her tail as she lifted her head. “Nikolai?”

There was no response.

Leona pushed herself up and examined the room with her sharp eyes, confused and curious about her missing husband.

“Where are you!?”

After a night of blissful and passionate sex, the lingering heat resembled his hands grasping her chest, hips and buttocks while calling her name in his gruff voice. The pleasant atmosphere, which offered comfort, faded with the cool morning breeze.

Click!

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened, and a muscular man wearing a towel stepped inside. Nikolai, of course. He looked at the stunned werewolf, its long, fluffy ears twitching at the sight, eyes dropping below his waist, where only a towel protected him.

“Morning Leo, you look beautiful in the sunlight.”

The way her orange hair shone like gold in the sunlight stole Nikolai’s attention.

“Honey, you showered without me!” Her voice sounded judgmental and a little bitter before Leona rolled to the edge of the bed. “Ouch… it hurts….” But then paused, her thighs trembling as she fell back onto the bed. “You were too rough!”

“Leo.”

Nikolai shook his head, using a small towel to dab his skin dry, before stepping closer to the bed with steam oozing from his body. “You were the one that asked me to ruin you, so what’s wrong with a few bruises?”

Leona looked up at him with wet eyes.

“I never expected it to be so amazing, and that we’d keep going over and over!”

“Haha.”

“Don’t laugh at me, aren’t you exhausted after shaking your hips all night!?”

“Not when I shake them for such a lovely ginger wolf.”

“Idiot… don’t make me smile, it hurts.”

“Yes, my princess.”

He leaned down to the bed, his hands scooping Leona into his embrace as he carried her like a princess. Then, in a softer voice, he looked into her gem-like eyes. “So where do you want to go?”

She looked up at him, cheeks blushing deep red while looking away from his gaze.

“T-Toilet…”

“Haha.”

Nikolai couldn’t help but chuckle, earning a solid fist from Leona who covered her face with both hands shortly after. It almost seemed as if steam would blow out of her ears, yet when he placed her down on the toilet, she didn’t complain.

Instead.

“I could get used to this kind of thing…” Leona mumbled before waving at Nikolai with her pink cheeks still flushed out of shame and a strange delight. “You may go now, honey.”

“No problem, the water is fresh and i’ve filled it with herbal salts and a potion that should help you recover and also make your skin smooth and glowing.”

Slam!

Nikolai left the bathroom after speaking, which left Leona stunned. The sweet scent of the bath and the bubbles coating the rim meant he didn’t just leave his water. Her lips curled into a deep smile as she closed her eyes. “What am I going to do when we return. You’ve got me addicted to this treatment now, dear husband.”

***

“Tonight I will be fighting another Elder? I see. Thanks for the information.”

Nikolai closed his phone while standing on the balcony, bathed in sunlight and completely nude, while leaning against the wall. They built the hotel in an isolated area, which allowed him to enjoy this feeling.

“The battles are only going to become harder from here on out. I need to focus on training and improving. This weekend might be my last few nights of comfort.”

He already planned to take Anya around Londis since she asked him to take her to a few places after learning about his date with Leona. Nikolai didn’t want to treat any of his women differently; thus, he told Anya about it before he told Leo.

“Can my body handle all this action?”

Between training, sex and the intense battles which grow closer and closer to his current limit as he attempts to defeat Black Bear for the championship. He also needed to meet and save Sulley from the Silver Clan.

So much bullshit…

Nikolai brushed his hair back and looked towards Londis.

He knew this moment of peace was already over.

The calm river below sparkled in the daylight, but Nikolai’s sharp eyes could already sense the storm behind the horizon.

He cracked his knuckles a few times, rolling his shoulders as if testing the aches that still lingered in his bones. His regeneration mended flesh, but the deeper fatigue remained; the drain of carrying so many lives and burdens upon him didn’t finish with a night’s rest.

The memory of Leona’s flushed face, her messy hair spread across the sheets, almost pulled him back to the peaceful state again, and his lips curled into a smile.

However, the phone call replayed in his mind.

Another tough fight.

Another trial for him to overcome..

And a clan to deal with.

He almost wanted to curse his father, for saying this would be a comforting and enjoyable trip. Yet he now realised the truth, although he got a nice rest, it was also a way to push him through a grinder and forge him once again.

All of this carried a greater meaning.

Because of Sulley.

Kumiko’s family, the woman who supported him like the trunk supports the tree.

He couldn’t afford to take it slow or hesitate. Not when those Silver Clan bastards hated both him and Ivan, they would surely arrange matches to end his life. Nikolai half-doubted they’d send Great Elders to fight him instead of Elders.

“Can I really win…”

The sound of water shifting in the bathroom made him glance back.

Leona’s humming carried faintly, a beautiful melody, although out of tune in places. He couldn’t help but smile. It was something that didn’t belong on his blood-stained path as the Patriarch.

But for a fleeting moment, he could forget.

“Damn it,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why does every step forward drag me back several steps.”

A vibration rattled the phone again with another message confirming his fight time and that he couldn’t bet on himself anymore.

“Stingy bastards.”

Nikolai’s lips curved in a wolfish grin. “Fine. Let’s see whose blood paints the river first.”

He stepped back inside, grabbing the towel from the chair and slinging it over his shoulder. Leona’s voice floated through the steam-fogged doorway.

“H-Honey!?”

He chuckled under his breath, answering with actions.

His hand pressed briefly against the wood of the bathroom frame, as though grounding himself to resist her warmth and allure. The life he wanted and the war waiting for him couldn’t be avoided, as neither would let go.

Nikolai cleaned his teeth using his tongue, watching Leona’s silhouette in the bathroom as she lifted her long legs in the air to clean them. He closed his eyes, deciding to choose this little heaven for now.

Tonight can wait…

Then he stepped inside the bathroom and approached the bath.

Steam clung to the mirrors, curling in lazy trails across the bathroom tiles. Leona startled when the door clicked shut behind her.

“N-Nikolai?”

He didn’t answer with words.

His shadow fell over the bath, towel already sliding from his shoulders as his hand brushed her ankle and traced upward, pulling a shiver from her body.

“Idiot… I just finished washing…”

“Then I’ll dirty you again,” he murmured, lips grazing the damp skin of her thigh.

Her cheeks flushed crimson, ears twitching wildly as her tail swished, scattering droplets across the water. She tried to scold him, but her voice melted into a broken moan when he lifted her by the hips, pulling her into his lap right there in the bath.

The sound of water splashing, the soft slap of skin, and Leona’s breathless cries drowned out the rumbling noise in Nikolai’s chest and let him drown in his cute wife.

***

By the time they left, the city had swallowed the storm.

The Supra GTX roared down the soaked motorway, headlights cutting a clean path through the fading drizzle. Rain still clung to the glass, streaking in silver lines as neon signs from roadside towns painted the car in shifting colour.

Nikolai’s hand rested lazily on the wheel, the other on Leona’s thigh. She sat reclined in the passenger seat, hair tied back but still damp, cheeks glowing faintly. A deep bite mark remained on her neck as she snoozed on the seat with a gentle snore.

The skyline of Londis grew sharper ahead, and with it, the sense of weight returned to Nikolai’s shoulders.

Nikolai smirked to himself, black eyes glinting with a dark aura.

“Back to the den…

and I must join the hunt.”