Natasha's Fiancé
In front of the High Priestess' Temple, a heated argument was taking place between a Lycan and an armored human. Ivan, who had foreseen that Natasha would cause some trouble, followed the High Priestess back into the temple and was now trying to force his way in as a "fist-talk" was about to begin. But at that moment, out of the corner of his eye, Ivan saw Natasha coming out of the temple, he quickly made the guard change his angle as he forced his way in again, giving Natasha the opening she needed to leave without being seen.
Only then did he calm down and try to apologize to the guard, but the man was too nervous and didn't want to talk to him anymore. Ivan, using his newfound strength after becoming a Lycan, broke free with a push and punched him hard in the nose, causing blood to gush out and knocking the guard down on his butt. He then turned and started running back to the dark caves that were dimly lit by phosphorescent moss and trying to follow Natasha to try to find out what she was doing inside the temple.
But the girl was out of patience today, there were no signs of her around. Trying to better understand his new abilities as a Lycan, he went sniffing around trying to find his friend's scent while trying to do a partial transformation, but without much success. Before the first night of the full moon, it was difficult to do partial transformations on your own. Except for the first full moon, Lycans would not lose control during their full transformations. They could use them at any time without needing the moon when they mastered their powers.
After much trial and error, Ivan gave up on the partial transformation and focused his sense of smell on Natasha's trail. It didn't take long for him to find her and follow her direction, only to find Natasha very close to one of the younger lycans 10 minutes later. There weren't many male lycans close in age to them and he recognized the man as Derek, a beta who was 20 years old and one of the 3 most talented Lycans in the Tribe. But something caught Ivan's attention. Derek was very close to Natasha, almost as if he was whispering something in her ear.
As if the proximity wasn't enough, the young Lycan's hands went towards her head, touching her long, now black hair, and then moving down to her face. Seeing the scene, and also the fact that Natasha was still standing still without moving, letting Derek touch her, made Ivan's face contort with anger and jealousy, but at that moment when he was about to do something irrational, driven by his new strong feelings due to being a lycan, he saw Natasha come out of the trance, and move away from Derek. The man then smiled at her one last time and walked away calmly. Only then did Ivan approach her and ask:
"What happened? Why Derek was touching you?"
Natasha didn't notice the jealous tone of Ivan's question, and then said, still a little shaken:
"He said he is my fiance, he wanted to tell me the news in person…"
"FIANCE!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN AN HOUR SINCE WE TRANSFORMED…"
"Keep your voice down, you're drawing attention…" Natasha said, a little embarrassed, finally realizing that her childhood friend was a little too nervous about what had just happened, even more so than she was after receiving such shocking news.
"He said that among the younger lycans hunters, he's the one with the most hunting merits and the first to choose who will be his wife among the females in this last ceremony, and he's already chosen me…"
Ivan then clenched both fists in anger, it was only after walking a little longer beside her that he finally calmed down, he then continued following Natasha on her way home. They lived next to each other and always walked together. He took the opportunity to ask Natasha what she had done at the temple, but she changed the subject. At that moment, all that was on Ivan's mind was how he could become stronger and how to earn more merits among the hunters to the point of surpassing Derek in just 1 year, but he still didn't know how these "merits" worked. As for what was going on in Natasha's mind, it was undetectable.
***
While the two new Lycans returned to their homes thinking that the day was over and everything was fine for now...
Back at the temple, the High Priestess received the news that the corpse of a sick old woman who died yesterday had been completely devoured. She knew that such a thing could only have been done by a lycan, and that showed how serious the contamination situation was, no matter the reason why the person did it, when a lycan started devouring humans it wouldn't take long for him to see humans only as prey... She immediately began writing some messages to the builders and guards that she trusted, and also on how to use this serious crime to her advantage to force Alpha Borys into a weaker position within the Tribe.
Outside the temple, two guards and a hunter were trying to follow the trail of a lycan... The lycan hunter turned to the man in armor and asked:
"Are you sure he went in that direction?"
"Yes, the bastard tried to meet with the High Priestess during her meeting with the Great Elder. When I refused him entry, he became extremely violent and even attacked me several times..."