Early the next morning, Kourtney snuck out of the Headquarters building to meet with Chen in the nearby forest. Lucky for her, Mark was still fast asleep and none of the Council members seemed to be awake either. As soon as she entered the forest, she caught Chen's scent and took off running in his direction. It only took a few minutes before she spotted him, casually leaning against a tree, waiting for her. He smiled as she approached and the two quickly embraced.

"Finally." Kourtney sighed.

Chen chuckled. "You say that like we haven't seen each other for days."

Kourtney shrugged. "It feels that way to me."

Chen nodded, running a hand through her hair. "Me, too."

He leaned in and softly began to kiss her, which she quickly returned. Kourtney moved so her back was against a tree. After a few minutes, they pulled away for a breath and Chen nuzzled his nose against her neck.

"Chen..." Kourtney bit her bottom lip. "There's, uh...something I need to tell you."

Chen continued to nuzzle her neck, replying with a soft "Hm?"

"The Council...they're planning to move me and Mark into the pureblood estate after the tournament."

Chen froze. 

"I wanted to tell everyone last night, but they were already so wound up by me meeting Heechul's father and what he said about Baekhyun that I...I thought it'd be better to tell everyone later."

Chen slowly shifted his gaze to her. "But you told me first. Why?"

Kourtney gave a sad smile. "I figured you should be the first to know...that our time is more limited than we thought."

It was silent for a few minutes, before Chen sighed and stepped back from Kourtney.

"The world just doesn't want to make it easy for us, does it?" Even though he was trying to hide his hurt and sadness, Kourtney could see it in his eyes. 

"Maybe I can talk to Leeteuk." Kourtney said. "Try to convince him to convince Heechul to let things be. I mean...we did have an agreement."

Chen sighed, pulling Kourtney into another embrace. "I'll try to think of something else, too. Only twelve more days with you is not enough." He then added. "I'll tell Kris about this, too. Maybe he can help."

Kourtney nodded. "Okay."

For the next hour, the two spent relaxing time together before heading off seperately, Kourtney returning to Headquarters and Chen to the hotel. At Headquarters, it was still very quiet. Saying a silent prayer of thanks for not getting caught, Kourtney quickly made her way down the hallway before returning to the guest room. Mark wasn't on the couch and Kourtney could hear water running in the bathroom.

He must of just gotten up. I'll just tell him I went to eat breakfast.

She went over to sit on the chair next to the couch, smiling as she thought of the past hour, the happiest time she had had so far for this tournament.

..........

Around the same time, at the rogues' hideout, the boy with light blonde hair made his way underground, where the cells were located. The two guards let him through, knowing he wouldn't and coudn't do anything. He carefully stepped down some spiralling stairs, finally reaching his destination. One large cell holding six boys. 

His pack.

"Jiho!" A boy with dark brown hair ran up to the cell bars. "Are we free? Are they finally letting us go?"

"Kyung, you know that's not why he came." Said a boy with black hair. "If they had let us go, the guards would have gotten us."

Kyung pouted. "I can hope, can't I? Quit being such a hope-wrecker, Minhyuk."

The blond haired boy, Jiho, reached through the bars to pat Kyung's head.

"Don't you worry Kyung. You guys'll all be free soon. I'll make sure of it."

Kyung grinned. "Really?" Jiho nodded. "Yay!"

A short boy with black hair and black rimmed glasses stepped up. "Did they give you a mission?"

Jiho nodded. "Yes, Taeil. A very big one. And if I succeed, Terrance will let us all go."

"Are you sure about that?" Asked a handsome boy with brown hair. "He could be bluffing, you know."

Jiho shook his head. "No, Jaehyo. He said he would...he swore he would."

Another boy with brown hair, also very tall, walked up by Kyung. "When is the mission?"

"Sometime during the tournament. There's not an exact time, but Terrance will give me the order when he wants it done."

The tall boy grinned, beginning to bounce up and down. "Yay! We're going to be free!"

The boy and Kyung began cheering together. Very loudly, too.

"Kyung, Jihoon, stop! You're making my ears bleed!" Taeil moaned. Though the shortest, he had the best ears among the pack.

Jiho chuckled as the two youngest members stopped, though kept grins on their face. 

"So, what's the mission?" The last member stood up from where he was sitting. He had red hair, styled up like Jiho's.

"I can't tell you, Yukwon." Jiho sighed. "All you need to know is that after the tournament, we'll all finally be free."

Yukwon gave his pack leader a suspecting look, which he ignored. 

"Just hang on a little longer, guys." Jiho said. "I'm gonna get us out of here."

..........

Later, Kourtney and Mark met with their packs outside the tournament stadium to watch the first day battles. The stadium was allready almost full, but the Council had saved front seats for the purebloods and their packs. To Kourtney's delight, she found that N's clan and Yongguk's pack were also seated by them. April greeted Kourtney in, of course, a hug.

"It's so good to see you!" April squealed.

Kourtney laughed. "Good to see you, too, April."Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mark give Ella a quick hug.

"I hope they're treating you well at Headquarters." Kala said.

"Personally, I'd rather sleep outside than in there." Himchan huffed.

"Funny, that's what I thought." Kourtney grinned, quickly high-fiving him. 

"Well, of course!" Himchan said. "Great minds do think alike!"

"Himchan, you don't have a mind." Jongup said, smirking.

"And if you did, you wouldn't use it." Added Zelo. 

Fuming, Himchan moved to attack the two "pups" of the pack, quickly being stopped by Yongguk's mate, Yazmin.

"Settle down, Channie. You know they're only teasing you."

"No, we're not." The two said in unison. "We mean it."

Now Yongguk had to help his mate hold the hot-headed werewolf back. The others just watched in amusement. 

"This picture looks kinda familiar." Ken said.

Hyuk laughed. "Of course it does. Just replace Jongup and Zelo with you, me or April, Yongguk and Yazmin with Leo and Kala, and Himchan with N. It's exactly the same!"

Ken laughed along with him. "You're right. It is the same!"

N threw the two boys a glare. "And what exactly are you implying? You think I'm hot-headed, mindless, and violent?"

Hyuk and Ken shook their heads.

"No." Hyuk said.

Ken smirked, slinging an arm around Hyuk's shoulder. "We know it."

In a flash, Leo was suddenly holding a raging N back as Hyuk and Ken began howling with laughter. To the side, Himchan was still being held back and Kourtney couldn't help but giggle at the similarities. Kala, who couldn't help hold back her mate due to being pregnant, just sighed. 

Kourtney caught Jackson giving JB a knowing look, grinning. The pureblood leader glared at him, mouthing, 'Don't say anything.'

After ten minutes, Himchan and N finally calmed down and the battles began. Ryeowook had the most challengers of all the Council members, ten. Kourtney assumed it was because they thought he was weak and would be easy to take down. 

Turns out, Ryeowook had nothing to worry about. 

He took out each of his first nine opponents in less than ten minutes, though some were a bit tougher. In the end, Ryeowook outsmarted them. He had looked nervous at first, but as the battles went on, he relaxed and looked much more comfortable and confident.

"He's doing good." Kourtney smiled. "Just one more to go."

"Then we get the rest of the day to ourselves!" Kai cheered. "Yeah!"

The announcer, a boy with brown hair and glasses named Eric, settled down the chattering crowd.

"All right, now it's time for the final battle of Day 1! You all ready?" The crowd answered by cheering. "Please welcome Ryeowook's last challenger...Rocco!"

A very tall and very muscular vampire with a buzzed head stepped into the arena. Out of all the opponents today, he looked the strongest. Kourtney glanced at Ryeowook, who's face looked paler than usual. He gulped as Rocco took a stance, staring down at him with a very intimidiating look.

"Think he'll get beat?" Kourtney heard Jackson ask Mark.

"Honestly..."Mark looked worried. "I don't know."

Kourtney could see Ryeowook's hand trembling. Without hesitating, she stood up and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"You can do it, Wookie!"

Ryeowook glanced over at Kourtney in surprise. She gave him a reassuring nodd and he quickly threw her a grateful smile before taking his own stance.

Eric waited a few momets before starting the match.

"Let the final battle of Day 1 begin!"

A/N: So, to clarify, the announcer Eric is Eric Nam. I've always pictured him as an announcer. I think it fits him well! :)

Also, tomorrow is my day off from work so I plan to update another chapter for this story, as well as one for my other story, Mythnal Academy. Link here: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1045839