Chapter 86: The howl of a wolf

Nikolai's strange hobby of drawing images on their coffee started when they turned thirteen. It was a comment in passing when he first started to notice Nikita as a woman. 'These barista videos where they draw cute things are so awesome.' Her words triggered the young Nikolai to start doing them in order to impress her.At first, they looked silly, a deformed flower, a terrifying rabbit that looked like a rock.

However, Nikolai continued to use his small amount of allowance to buy the cheapest coffee with cream every day after school. He did this in secret to practice for the weekend when Nikita would drag him to MoonDucks.

After a year, he could draw rather decent works and forgot the initial reason he started doing them. This little skill is how he met Mari during high school.

One day, Nikita couldn't make the usual meeting because of her family, and thus, he ended up drawing alone, and that's how it started.

"Hey, that looks so cute! Can you draw one for me?"

***

'Why am I thinking about Mari now? She's already dead...' Nikolai thought to himself as he sighed, looking at the finished drawings. Sёarᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

On the left was a black wolf, coloured with chocolate powder and surrounded by vanilla frosting to create the image of a wolf howling at the sun while facing the other cup, which had a white world that was the opposite.

He used vanilla powder surrounded by cocoa powder to form the night sky, along with the moon. Of course, the white wolf howled towards the moon, facing the black wolf's cup.

'Well, it seems to be my masterpiece.'

"Hmm?" He felt the area around him was strange for a moment as his Obsidian Tide began to pull back and return to normal. His enhanced vision for a few minutes to create the images with minor details like fur flicks and eyes was worth it. 'But now my eyes sting a little...'

"I was sure someone spoke to me before I started focusing..."

Nikolai turned around, his nose sniffing because of the light scent of blood. Yet there wasn't anyone left in the coffee shop apart from Nikita sitting in the corner, waving at him with a smile. He felt it was strange; however, looking at how pretty Nikita looked, Nikolai didn't really care.

With a spring in his step, he carefully carried the two drinks to the table and placed them down, first to show Nikita. Second, so, he could take a picture before the art melted and they drank it.

"Oh? Do you still do these silly drawings? I remember you used to make the most horrible rabbit drawings in them that sometimes looked like rocks." Nikita leaned on her palms, watching as Nikolai took pictures. Her eyes finally looked at the images, and she gasped.

'Eh?! Is that meant to be me? Is this pretty wolf how Nikolai sees me?'

Nikita's hand quickly grabbed her phone and began to take pictures with a wide grin on her face. She became so invested in the coffee that the blood on her knuckles and the scent of the female she almost killed still lingered on her hands and body.

'The strange scent seems to be coming from Nikita's hands. There's blood on her knuckles, and the scent is similar to the one that approached me earlier.'

"Did you fight again, Nikita?"

Nikolai's eyes watched her face. "No... I didn't." She responded in a strange tone. However, he saw the slight flicker of her brows and the movement of her eyes as she did when hiding something. "Anyway, you should drink your coffee before it becomes warm."

Nikita's eyes flashed with a strange array of feelings, while Nikolai could see her aura alternating rapidly between anger, worry, guilt, happiness and a colour that felt a little dangerous.

A black shade with the pink of affection. 'Is this colour obsession?'

Soon, those conflicting emotions were hidden under her smile and soft tone as her lips wrapped around the straw of the coffee while her left hand on the table reached for his hands. Nikita seemed a little shocked when Nikolai gave them a gentle squeeze.

"It's delicious, but you should stop doing dangerous things. I worry about you, Nikita."

Her hands tightened a little in his hands, and the gaze that looked up seemed a little conflicted, although the soft expression that was watching him was so beautiful to the extent Nikolai froze for a second. A sigh escaped from her lips. Nikita closed her eyes and opened them slowly, revealing a strange glint in her pupils. "I will, as long as you keep loving me."

It was a slightly strange voice, cold, yet her aura was dark pink, showing her current emotion was affectionate. He felt since getting closer to Nikita she would pull back when he approached her too much. In the end, he responded with a nod.

"Come on, smile," Nikita ordered, and he did as she wanted. "Hmm, your smile is so handsome. It suits you better than a frown—however, don't you think that this place has some significance to us?"

"Maybe, you tell me." Nikolai sipped his slightly bitter coffee, the sweet aftertaste of caramel and milk making the double shot kick less powerful.

"It was where we started meeting more often, and the first time I saw you was here~ seventeen years ago, with your mother, ehehe."

Nikita smiled a little wider, causing her to almost look like a cute cat. He could sense her joy and happiness as the grey-black aura created a gentle mist of dark pink with hints of cerulean blue. 'Hmmm? I met you that long ago.' It was a little strange because he thought the first time he met her was after his mother passed away.

"Did you meet my mother?! I don't remember..." Nikolai wondered if it was because his mother experimented to awaken his bloodlines on his ninth birthday, according to his father's words.

"Eh? Did you forget? Your mother was the one who used to draw little animals in the hot chocolate you ordered. It's why I used to bring you here after aunt passed away."

This information felt strange. 'I don't remember... Come to think of it I don't clearly remember anything before I was ten... It's like a jumbled mess of jigsaw pieces. Images of Nikita, Father... and a few of my mother.'

While he couldn't help but focus on the blank information, Nikita recalled an old memory. A woman, perhaps in her early twenties visually, sitting next to a small child smiling and drinking with her. They both looked to be talking to each other and seemed a little happier.

'It's still too hazy...'

"I don't remember the things before you started coming to my house—it's really hard to put those memories together. Sorry, Nikita."

Nikita's face looked shocked—her face seemed a little pale before Nikolai noticed how strange her aura became, feelings he could barely analyse before they changed until a really lonely feeling was transmitted. "Did you forget our promise...?"

'Promise? What promise?!'

He couldn't lie, but something told him that to Nikita, that promise might have been extremely important. No. Maybe it was also important to him. Was it the reason they were together, and did his missing memories have more relation to Nikita than he thought?

Just as Nikolai's mind began to consider, he felt a familiar feeling crawling over his thoughts.

'...'

"It's okay since you don't remember, I won't get angry. I am just a little sad..."

The feeling of seeing the visible disappointment of Nikita and her discouraging look made Nikolai's chest ache. He couldn't bear to make her look this way.

With a swift pull, he dragged Nikita from her seat using his improved strength, "Kya?!" Her light body landed on his lap, their faces almost touching as Nikolai's fingers lifted her chin, looking at her soft, milky face.

"I will remember, I swear."

For a split second, Nikolai noticed the colour of her emotions flicker between delight, arousal and affection. Nikita's soft cheek brushed against his palm—her eyes looked a little coy before her eyes widened because Nikolai kissed her.

"If it's our promises, they are not something easy to break. After all, you are going to be with me forever, right?"

"Hmm... Maybe... idiot..."

For a moment, Nikita looked a little flustered before she hugged his back—although he forgot, she forgave him, at least for now. "I'll wait, but you have to remember."

Not long after their kiss, the pair left MoonDucks and climbed into a car that Nikita seemed to have prepared before they left.

"Young miss, you look so pretty today. I bet the Young master is obsessed." One of the bald members of the Fenrir gang made a joke. However, Nikita's foot began to kick his chair before swearing at him in their mother tongue.

"Fucker! I'll have my dad cut off your dick if you don't shut up!"

"Lady... your language... please... have mercy!"

'Nikita loves to swear...' Nikolai thought to himself, fluent in the language from a young age and now he began to learn the slight difference in dialect between his family and hers.

Although he sounded scared and worried, Nikolai could tell this guy was used to her acting this way.

Rather, he noticed the driver was laughing even with her responses, winking to Nikolai in the mirror as they rushed towards their second destination.

'I wonder where she wants to go next...'

"Nikolai, ignore that idiot! Okay?!"

"Of course, why wouldn't I listen to the Lovely Young Miss." Nikolai copied the man's tone and caused Nikita's face to turn red as she flicked her head away and looked out the window with a cute huff.