Toying With Him

Leon, whose shoulder had just been torn open, let out a furious snarl, his lion-like growl rumbling through the air as his golden eyes locked onto Addison. Rage surged within him; he hated this, every second of it. He wanted nothing more than to rip her apart, but he couldn’t, not when she was supposed to be his new bride. Gritting his teeth, he fought to rein in his fury, trying to reason with himself. But Addison was like a loose cannon, wild and unrelenting. Her mind held only one goal: to kill Leon.

Leon swiped his hand, aiming to strike Addison and knock her back, anything to stop her from going berserk. But Addison, swift and agile, easily evaded the blow and lunged again, sinking her fangs into his side and tearing off another piece of flesh. Leon let out a roar, this time not just of frustration, but of genuine pain.

He was no stranger to pain; he’d been through countless battles, bled in wars against other races, endured wounds most wouldn’t survive. As a shifter, he healed fast, and over time, pain had become something he barely noticed.

But this… this was different.

The pain was sharp, searing, and far too real. With every bite Addison took, the pain intensified, almost unnatural in its depth. It wasn’t just physical, there was something deeper, something that bypassed his endurance and clawed straight into his nerves. He tried to blame it on stress, on being emotionally stirred by Addison’s actions, but the truth gnawed at him like her teeth on his flesh.

For the first time in a long time, Leon felt truly vulnerable. And it enraged him.

He wanted to tell Addison to stop, but in his beast form, there was no way to communicate with her. And if he dared shift back into his human form, he had a strong feeling that she wouldn’t hesitate. She’d go straight for his throat.

For the first time, a flicker of unease settled in his chest.

Their fight had gone on for longer than he expected. Blood soaked his fur, the wounds piling up one after another. His pristine white coat was now matted and crimson, a testament to how viciously Addison was fighting.

Around him, the once-thunderous cheers of the Tigren warriors began to fade. Confusion clouded their expressions as they watched their mighty Chieftain, an undefeated warrior, struggle to land even a single blow.

Why was he losing ground?

Why couldn’t he stop her?

The questions hung heavy in the silence as their voices died in their throats.

“What’s going on? Why isn’t our Chieftain fighting back?” one of the Tigren warriors muttered in confusion.

Levi let out a cold sneer. “It’s not that he won’t fight back, it’s that he can’t fight back. There’s a difference,” he said dryly, voice laced with sarcasm. “Maybe get your eyes checked if you can’t tell the difference.”

His remark stung. The Tigren warrior’s jaw tightened, clearly offended, but he couldn’t find a good comeback, because deep down, he knew Levi had a point.

Then another Tigren piped up defensively, trying to save face. “Our Chieftain can fight back! He’s just holding back because he cherishes his new bride. He’s letting her vent. That’s how doting he is. There’s no way anyone could overpower our God of War so easily.”

He spoke with forced confidence, but even his words wavered, unsure under the weight of what they were all witnessing.

As much as Leon wanted to keep up the pretense that he was merely indulging Addison and letting her vent her anger, the truth was far less flattering. He was losing ground.

Badly.

Addison wasn’t even going for the kill, but it felt like she was toying with him. She targeted areas that weren’t fatal but would still leave him battered and bloodied. She was precise, strategically brutal.

And because she was tearing off large chunks of flesh with each attack, his healing ability, no matter how advanced, couldn’t keep up. Before one wound could close, another was already carved into him. He was being overwhelmed, and worse, he knew it.

Zion, though burdened with countless questions, chose to push them aside for now. Instead, he joined in mocking Leon. “Ha! You wanted to forcefully claim our mate? Let’s see if you can even handle her,” he said loudly, making sure Leon could hear every word.

Even Maxwell, who was usually quiet and composed, couldn’t hide the sneer tugging at his lips. He, too, had been caught off guard by Leon’s underhanded tactics, something none of them expected from a supposedly prideful warrior, the Tigren.

At first, Maxwell had been furious and deeply worried for Addison. But now, watching her methodically dismantle and humiliate Leon in front of his own warriors, he realized there was no greater punishment.

For someone like Leon, whose pride and strength were everything, his status, his honor, being defeated so publicly was worse than death. This was a direct blow to his image as the revered Chieftain and War God of his tribe.

His credibility was crumbling, and with it, the belief his warriors had in him. And slowly, Maxwell began to understand, this was exactly what Addison intended.

She wasn’t killing him, not because he didn’t deserve it, but because doing so would ignite a war between the werewolves and the Tigren. As a Princess and representative of the werewolf race, her actions carried the weight of her entire kind.

Even while drowning in rage, she still managed to think strategically. She couldn’t afford to let her fury plunge their races into conflict. The werewolves were already stretched thin, entangled in multiple crises within their kingdom.

Starting a war with the strongest shifters, the Tigren, would be their downfall. They lacked the manpower to rally enough warriors for such a fight. And if they recalled their forces from the South, West, and North to prepare for war, the unrest in those regions would spiral out of control, spreading like wildfire across the kingdom.

Either way, they would be condemning themselves, whether by a quick death in battle or a slow demise, like candles flickering out one by one due to the crisis eating away at their kingdom.

But by openly humiliating Leon in front of his own people, who valued strength and dominance above all else, Addison had struck a devastating blow. Among the Tigren, power dictated respect, and Leon losing ground to her in front of his warriors would inevitably plant seeds of doubt in their minds.

Even more telling was the underlying inequality that simmered beneath their society. The Tigren don’t see females as equals, because if they do, then why were males allowed to claim multiple women through combat, while females were bound to only one man? No one spoke of it, but Maxwell saw it.

He rarely spoke, but he noticed things: how the women deferred to the men, how their words were weighed against male approval, how they constantly sought their favor. It was subtle, yet unmistakable.

And now, watching Addison dominate the battlefield and Leon’s pride unravel, Maxwell realized something else: Addison had seen it too, and she was using it against Leon.