Reward and Departure

 The lycan Harald, who was now 35 years old, was at the height of his power. He had always been a brilliant and talented lycan. Despite not being a pure-blood lycan, his talents were never inferior to one of them. Within the Lunaria Hunters pack, he was the one who challenged Alpha Borys for his position every year. This brought him honor among the betas for his courage, but it also made him a target to be weakened by the current Alpha. Borys kept all the betas under his strict command, and did not like problematic betas like Harald who sought his place. Because of this, the beta began to participate less and less in the hunts, being placed in smaller and unimportant tasks in the pack.

Borys was already an insurmountable target, but now the distance between them was only getting bigger, so Harald put a certain plan in motion, which aimed to find a place where only he could hunt and become stronger, this place was of course the areas abandoned since the earthquake 100 years ago, there were many wild animals and monsters that now made these caves their new natural habitat. It was a simple plan, but it would work in the long run, since the stronger he got the sooner he could go looking for more powerful prey outside by himself.

But this whole plan went down the drain, when the contamination appeared and plans for a new migration were spread among the people, Harald felt pressured and with little time, he then devoured a lady who had recently died. He knew that eating repeated animals and monsters did not give as much power as eating a new species, and this was the only way for him to gain more power in his already saturated body. And the result was great, he actually became stronger than he already was, the woman had been a priestess in her youth, maybe that was it? Or were humans really such good prey for lycans?

Of course in the end everything went wrong, Borys reacted too quickly and he didn't have time to return to the collapsed tunnels. This all culminated in him going to prison and then meeting another beta there. It was then that he put his second plan to become an Alpha into action, convincing the young man who was imprisoned to follow him as his new Alpha. This was a secret that only Alphas had access to, his grandfather was an Alpha before Borys' father took over, and this secret was passed down through his family...

For an Omega to become an Alpha he needed to convince two other lycans to join him as his pack, only then would a new Alpha be born. Knowing the problems Ivan faced, Harald convinced him that he would give him many powerful prey and make him second in command within the new pack, he even made promises involving Natasha or about turning her into his second follower by making a special exception and allowing a woman to become a hunter too, just like in ancient times, of course that last part was a lie... And his plan seemed to have finally worked, since in front of him now was an Ivan with a huge leather bag on his back that smelled of some familiar prey, if the young man had come here alone that meant he had agreed to the plan to have a new Alpha...

Two days before Ivan was released, Natasha found out what his punishment would be and became very worried. Not knowing what to do to help Ivan, she decided to ask the only person she could think of at the moment for help. After all, she didn't expect him to refuse her request since they now had that kind of relationship... That was also the reason why Derek ran in the same direction as Ivan, it was precisely to keep him safe due to his promise to his future wife. Natasha not only asked him to do this, but she even made him swear an oath to the moon. This oath was something that lycans made to validate their words. He not only swore to protect Ivan during the hunt, but he also swore not to tell him that he was doing this because she asked him to.

That was why when they were arguing in the cave, Derek felt strong pains when he almost broke one of his oaths due to his mistake when talking to Ivan. That was why Derek was now going to see Natasha, he was going to let her know that Ivan was safe, and also take advantage of the situation to gain some advantage with his fiancée.

When he arrived at Natasha's door, she opened it before he could even knock, but her excited face changed when she saw it was Derek.

"You? Where's Ivan?"

"Good morning to you too, thank you for asking if I'm okay, my dear fiancée."

Natasha bit her lower lip when she noticed Derek's playful tone, and already knew that Ivan must be fine. Placing one hand over her heart and taking a deep breath to calm herself, she bowed and made a gesture of thanks to Derek.

"If you have time to joke, it means Ivan is okay, right? Thank you for protecting him. And... I'm glad you're okay too. Where is he?"

"I don't know, he went in a different direction from here when he arrived. Now... What's this strange way to thank your fiancé?"

Before Natasha could understand, one of Derek's hands grabbed the back of her neck, and the other hand went to her waist, pulling her into a kiss and leaving her speechless. The kiss lasted several seconds and Natasha tried to push Derek away several times in vain, but the longer the kiss lasted, the more her mind became confused until she lost her strength and decided to stop pushing him away.

When he finally ended the kiss and let her go, he smiled at the girl who was still and with a red face and said goodbye to her. Natasha, who was still not moving, felt her mind in confusion due to all the strange feelings she felt along with her heart that was beating very fast, it was the first time she felt these feelings and it stayed like that for a long time...

***

Back in the cave in the restricted areas, Ivan looked at Harald. Who had made many promises of power to him.

"You came, and you came alone… Very good, does that mean you agreed to my plan?"

"More or less, I still need some guarantees, do you promise that you will prioritize our safety? And what about your plans for the migration?"

Harald smiled, and said comfortingly to the young lycan in front of him:

"Of course I will do everything for the good of the pack, I know of a place where a small group can stay until we are strong enough to hunt on our own…"

"Speaking of hunting, I brought the remains of a bat, you can have it."

Ivan threw the package of meat he had prepared for Natasha in Harald's direction, and he caught it in the air with his quick reflexes. Only to feel a pain in one of his hands when he touched the meat that was wrapped in a cloth. When he looked to see what had cut his hands, his eyes widened and he dropped the package on the ground, advancing at his fastest speed towards Ivan with murderous eyes. But he barely made it halfway before falling paralyzed to the ground.

Ivan approached him and turned his body, which had fallen face down, back up.

"Why?" Harold said, motionless on the ground, looking fearfully at Ivan.

Ivan ignored him, going to where the meat was and then removing the cloth that had several poisonous spines from the Corpse Eater, he put the meat away again to take to his childhood friend. Only then did he walk back to the man who was lying motionless on the ground and began to talk:

"You know, I'm not the smartest guy, but I still paid attention in the classes the priestesses gave when I was younger… Especially the part about our history, the Contamination of the Abyss and the earthquake that happened 100 years ago…"

"What?" Harald didn't understand what Ivan was talking about, he was trying his best to try to regain control of his body that was now paralyzed...

"It was you... You caused the contamination of the Abyss in our remaining lakes by opening those tunnels again..."

"No... I, I swear it wasn't me..."

"It's normal, we don't know how the contamination happens, but the time you told me you discovered this place and opened it, matches the signs of the first contamination after the earthquake 100 years ago."

"That... Even if it was true I didn't do it on purpose, I didn't know it could happen... Listen Ivan, if you don't hand me over to the Alpha and let me go, I promise I'll follow you as my new Alpha, with me and that girl you can become an Alpha too..."

"You're a very good liar, I almost believed you when you said you'd accept a Lycan female as a hunter... But when you said your grandfather was a pureblood Alpha I knew that was a lie, you take traditions too seriously to accept something so outrageous. When promises are too big, even a simple person will be suspicious... But don't worry, I won't hand you over to Alpha Borys..."

Finally, Harald felt relief appear on his face, only to be replaced by pure terror when he saw a Lycan-transformed foot descend on his neck.

"SMASH"

Harald, who was in his human form, almost had his head separated from his body by the blow and died instantly... No less than 1 hour later, Ivan left the forbidden area. He had used a natural spring to clean himself and wash his clothes. He had a serious face and almost looked like another person. Only when he touched the remains of the bat on his back did his face return to normal and he went to see Natasha and deliver his gift...