Author's Note: Here's another chapter for today since the last one was a little  short. :)

.............

After arriving back to the pack's home, Kris decided to let Kourtney have the bedroom that she had stayed in the previous night. At first, Kourtney refused, figuring that someone else already stayed in that room. Kris confirmed her suspicions.

"Yes, it was being used before, but that person has agreed to let you stay in it." he stated. "He's perfectly fine with sleeping downstairs."

"It feels wrong to me, though." Kourtney argued. "Knowing that someone else had been using it."

"It's fine, Kourtney." she turned around to see Lay walking over, a gentle smile on his face. "I don't mind."

"It was your room, Lay?" Kourtney asked, now even more reluctant to take the kind and gentle man's room.

Lay nodded. "Just to sleep in, though. None of my things are in there. It's all in Luhan and Suho's room that they share."

"But-"

"No buts," Lay grabbed Kourtney's suitcase and brought it inside the room. "I am perfectly fine with letting you sleep here." He patted her head. "Consider it my welcome gift."

Kourtney nodded, knowing she woudn't be able to change Lay's mind, or Kris's. She gave Lay a quick hug then went over to place her blanket and pillow on the bed. 

"After you finish unpacking, you're welcome to join us outisde." Lay said. "D.O's going to grill some deer meat for lunch."

Kourtney replied with a nodd before Lay left. Sighing, she opened her suitcase and pulled out the little knicknacks, placing them on top of an empty bookshelf in one of the corners of the room. I should probably buy some books for this shelf. She thought. Most of the books she has read were either from the library or borrowed, so she didn't actually own any herself.

Next, she pulled out her clothes, hanging her shirts in the closet and stuffing everything else in the dresser drawer. It didn't take her too long since she didn't own very many clothes. Last, she put all of her bathroom necessities in the hallway bathroom, adding them to the ones that Hana had given to her. 

Finished, she headed outside. Everyone was out in the front yard. D.O was at the grill, cooking what Kourtney guessed was deer meat. Kai, Sehun, Tao, and Chaneyol were wrestling on the lawn while the others watched. Kourtney went to stand beside Hana, who laughed as Kai was thrown to the ground by Sehun. 

"You weren't kidding," Kourtney said. "They're pretty rowdy."

Hana chuckled. "Oh, wait till you see them wrestle in their wolf forms. It gets even more crazy."

Kai managed to pull Sehun into a death grip, pinning him to the ground. Tao and Chanyeol were more evenly matched, one on top, then the other. Sehun tried to free himself but couldn't, eventually admitting defeat. Soon, Tao had Chanyeol pinned down and also won. 

Kris pointed to Tao and Kai. "Let's have you guys show Kourtney your hand-to-hand combat skills."

Tao began bouncing in excitemeent while Kai just smirked. 

"Other Betas get ready! You guys'll be next!" Kris added.

"Betas?" Kourtney asked.

"The next rank below Alpha. Once an Alpha choses his pack, the council holds a trial to decide who gets the rank of Beta." Hana explained.

Suho scoffed. "The trial's stupid, though. While most Betas have good fighting skills, sometimes there are Omegas in the pack that are better fighters."

"Omegas are the lowest rank, right?" Kourtney asked.

Baekhyun nodded. "Yup. As far as our pack goes, Kris is the Alpha, Xiumin, Luhan, Chanyeol, Kai, and Tao are Betas, and the rest of us are Omegas."

Kourtney glanced over as Kai and Tao began to fight. They were both highly skilled, from what Kourtney could see. They seemed even at first, but then Tao began to overpower Kai. In the end, Tao landed a swift kick to Kai's stomach, knocking him down, then crouching over him, arm rasied as if he was about to strike. 

"End of match!" Kris called.

Kai groaned, sitting up with a pout on his face, causing Kourtney to giggle. Hana went over to her mate as he got up, pulling him into a hug. 

"Good job, babe." She said.

Kai chuckled. "But I lost." 

"Just accept the compliment, idot." Hana said, bonking him on the head. He mocked pain before leaning in to give her a quick kiss. 

Kris looked over at Chanyeol. "Who would you like to spar with Chan?"

He looked around, deciding who to pick. "Well, I think that Xiumin and Luhan should spar together. Watching those two fight is really cool." He shrugged. "I guess I'll go with Baekhyun."

Baekhyun went to face Chanyeol, a big grin on his face. "I'll go easy on you so you don't get embarassed in front of Kourtney." he teased.

"Don't go easy, Baek." Chanyeol replied. "I want the satisfaction of beating you at full strength."

Tao laughed. "You're gonna get your kicked, Channie!"

"Shut up, Tao!"

A few minutes later, Chanyeol was sprawled out on the ground, barely able to move. Baekyun smirked triumphantly before helping him up.

"Man, I thought I could beat you this time!" Chanyeol whined.

Baekhyun gave a half shrug. "Maybe you will someday."

"Yeah, when pigs fly!" Sehun replied.

Chanyeol went over and tackled the youngest to the ground as everyone laughed.

"Meat's ready!" D.O called. "Let's go in and eat!"

At the mention of food, the boys scurried inside, minus Kris and Xiumin. D.O placed two plates full of deer meat on the dining table, as well as some rolls, an assortment of chips, and salad. Kris, Sara, Xiumin, Luli, Kai, Hana, Baekhyun, and Kourtney sat at the table and Sehun, Tao, and Chanyeol sat at the counter while the others sat in the living room, with D.O and Lay on one couch, Suho and Luhan on the other, and Chen in the recliner. 

Kourtney took a small bite of the deer meat, curious as to how it would taste. To her delight, it was very good. She glanced over at D.O, who had been watching her to see her reaction. "This is really good, D.O! I love it!"

He smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

"D.O's the best at cooking deer meat," Sara stated. "Any others I try just aren't as good."

"I can see why," Kourtney said, taking another bite before reaching over to grab a roll. 

They ate in silence for a bit until Kris cleared his throat. "So, Kourtney, anything else you want to know? Any questions you have, we'll answer."

Kourtney nodded." Actually, I was wondering why Baekhyun's not a Beta. He seems strong enough to be one."

Kris hesitated. "It's...complicated."

"Hana told you that the council holds a tiral to decide, right?" Sara questioned. "The trail, to put it simply, isn't just about physical strength."

"Basically, they choose who's Beta based on who they like the most," Kris continued. "Not just on how strong they are."

"So, how did they choose for you guys?" Kourtney asked. 

"Well, as far as with me," Kris said,"I automatically became the Alpha because I'm the strongest. It's a law that the strongest must take position as the Alpha." He sighed. "For the Betas...among them, Tao and Luhan are the strongest. They got the rank because of their strength. For Kai, Chanyeol, and Xiumin, however, they picked them becuase..."he sighed."Because of their family blood."

"Family blood?"

Hana nodded scowling. "Basically, the less human blood you have in your family, the more the council will like you."

Kourtney blinked. "Okay, now you've lost me."

Kris glanced over at Baekhyun. "Baekhyun, you wanna explain?"

"Sure, I guess." He replied before taking a deep breath. "About a hundred years ago, a law was made to stop werewolves and vampires from mating with humans. This was done becuase the council feared that mating with humans would later, way into the future, cause our kind to be near extinction. Like, if a vampire mated with a human and they had a child, then that child would be considered a half blood. If their child later mated with a human, the new child would only have about a third of vampire blood. If their child mated with a human, there would be barely be any vampire blood in their child. If that cycle kept going, eventually, the child would be born human with no vampire blood at all. You add in the threat of the hunters and it made the council decided to make this law. Very few have actally broken the law and mated with a human, but it doesn't happen that often now." He looked over at Kris, who nodded for him to continue. "Kai, Chanyeol, and Xiumin have very little human blood in their ancestory, so the council took a liking to them and after seeing that they also had good strength as well, decided that they'd be the other Betas. Not that they aren't strong. I mean, you saw Kai kick Sehun's ."

"Hey!" Sehun snapped.

"Anyways,"Baekhyun continued."During the trial, the council deducted that the five strongest members in the pack, aside from Kris, were Tao, Luhan, Kai, Chen, and myself, with Xiumin, Chanyeol, and Sehun just below us. After analyzing each member's family blood...and other things...they decided that Tao, Luhan, Kai, Xiumin, and Chanyeol would be the Betas."

"What other things?" Kourtney asked.

Baekhyun looked down, obviously uncomfortable with the question.

"That's enough for that question," Kris interceded. "Anything else?"

Kourtney hesitated, curious to what Baekhyun was hiding. She looked over at Hana. "So, there was a time that vampires and werewolves mated with humans? How exactly does that work?"

Hana pursed her lips. "Mating's pretty much the same with both kinds, no matter who they do it with."

"So, a werewolf can mate with a vampire?"

"Yes and no." Hana replied.

"Huh?"

Hana smiled. "Yes, it is possible for a werewolf and vampire to mate and make the bond and everything else that comes with it. No, they can't mate because it's forbidden."

"Let me guess, the council decided that," Kourtney scoffed. "Why is it forbidden?" 

Hana shrugged. "Something about dirtying purebloods and how it doesn't seem right, yada-yada-yada." she sighed. "That law's been around longer than the human one."

Kourtney nodded. "I see." she looked over at Kris. "So a pureblood's what exactly?"

"Anyone with no other kinds of blood in thier family. Only their kind. So a pureblood werewolf would only have werewolf blood in their entire ancestory." Kris replied.

"Nowadays, they're rare." Sara continued. "So rare, that the council pretty much runs their lives, as well as making sure they mate with another pureblood to continue the blood line. They're deeply loved by the council and highly pampered."

"Spoiled rich brats." Chen muttered.

"Not all of them," Hana defended. "But most, yes, are brats."

Kourtney took a bite of her roll, deciding she was done with questions for the night. After a few more minutes of silence, Kris cleared his throat again. 

"I think it's about time we go on a trip to the Clearing." He said.