100. Disaster

A/N: One hundred chapters, holy spitballs!
I started writing this story in July (and here we are four months later!) as a result of a scam on Indeed (to be explained in the final author’s note lmao), and I’m so happy with how it’s turning out. Though the concept of the Omegaverse is very strange, I’d like to think I made it work. I came to love the characters very much for all their flaws and am proud of how I was able to build a web of complex relationships between all the characters. I can’t believe I made it this far, but like to believe I’ll keep expanding the universe!
I hope you enjoy this last leg of the story, dear readers!
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Hawthorn’s burned letters paid off in the end. He got his Omega—Seff Bleize, with who he wanted to spend the rest of his life.
After all the shit that went down in the courtyard that he wouldn’t admit he was jealous of, he just wanted to have tender sex with her, fall asleep with his body curved protectively over hers, and go back to Magnolia Manor before traveling wherever the fuck they felt like.
Apparently that was too much to ask the universe for.
*Fuck you too, the universe*, he thought as his love suddenly...wasn’t.
The Amaranth box crashed onto the floor, its age allowing it to splinter into a thousand wood chips, scattering paper and journals.
Seff collapsed like a discarded doll—and her head fell into Hawthorn’s lap when he dropped to his knees to catch her. “Seff?” He stroked her hair out of her eyes, thankful to hear her heart and breathing functioning normally. “Fuck, Seff, what the hell... Seff, can you hear me? Wake up, you’re scaring the fur off me—”
A gasp dragged out of her like it was pulled straight from her lungs. She jerked into sitting, head whipping as she searched the room. “Kiran?” she whimpered.
*I’m not equipped to handle this shit*, Hawthorn muttered to himself as he fought off a sinking dread he’d never experienced before.
He was an Alpha werewolf, but he felt more like a measly Beta, too meek to speak up and severely lacking in strength. “Seff?” he asked slowly, even though he somehow knew the female in front of him wasn’t his lover.
She whirled around onto her knees. “Kiran?” The green of her irises was wide and fearful, but when they met Hawthorn’s—a very far cry from the Sun Alpha’s—they went as sharp as a knife with mistrust. “You’re not Kiran.”
He raised his hands in surrender. “No, but I’m a Magnolia, like you. Who are you—”
His identifier as a packmate secured a pardon of her killing him, at least, because she went back to panicking. She was whimpering nonsensically, frantically searching her own body, hands feeling her stomach, neck, and arms. They lingered on her belly, and Hawthorn saw a tear drip off her cheek.
Hawthorn never felt threatened by an Omega. Though they were busty and trained to handle their own, they were tiny in any Alpha’s eyes. But he had a feeling that if whoever was controlling Seff’s body was scared enough to throw him across the room if she felt cornered.
”Hey...” he began carefully.
Her head jerked up, gaze sharpening again. “It’s okay. What’s your—who are you?”
Not-Seff went preternaturally still, as if sighting and assessing prey and was about to attack. Hawthorn felt the aura of the Shift emanating off her skin, the features of a wolf almost ghostly—ears and teeth elongating when she peeled her lips back, the softness of a Magnolia female transforming into the true ferocity of a werewolf.
She rose to her feet and Hawthorn was struck with how Seff looked nothing like Seff.
”My name is Zinnia Amaranth, Larkspur, you fucking bastard.”
”What? No, my name is—”
*This is going well*, he thought a second before Seff—*Zinnia*—Shifted into her wolf form and launched herself at him.
He lunged aside before the sound of his own ripping flesh echoed through the room. She caught herself from crashing into the vanity. “My name is Hawthorn Henbane!” he barked as she spun to face him.
That wasn’t the right thing to say either.
Pure wrath raised her hackles. “That is Larkspur’s last name. Who the hell are you? You look just like him.”
”Hawthorn,” he repeated, making his body language as passive as possible to show he meant no animosity. “We’re at Apollo’s Keep. Kiran is here somewhere.”
Zinnia’s ears perked. “Did he carry me here from that human village? I don’t recognize you as one of his consorts... Is he having you watch over me? Is *he* alright?”
Hawthorn had not a single fucking idea to draw from of Kiran and his mate’s lives together. Nor was he particularly smart in deducing clues to a larger picture.
Two things he was sure of: one, she had no idea it was over one hundred years later. Second: she didn’t know she had taken over her reincarnation’s—her however-many-greats granddaughter—consciousness and body.
*And I might be related to this Larkspur bastard, who she clearly hates*.
*What the fuck am I supposed to do?*
”I just...” Hawthorn could tell she was getting lord and annoyed with him, but he couldn’t think of a single thing to even try. *I just need Seff back*. “Seff?” he attempted, strengthening his voice.
Zinnia’s ear twitched. “I don’t know that name. I’m going to find my mate.”
”No!”
She read back when Hawthorn blocked the door. Her gaze seemed to narrow to slits. She growled, *“Move.”*
To prevent a wolf from reaching their soulbound mate was one of the stupidest mistakes anyone could make. It was like asking a rainstorm to stop—once they needed to find their other half, there was nothing that could stop them.
Standing in the way of a reincarnation lover—possibly greatly spited—was something they didn’t teach about in school.
*Think fast, knothead*. “Uh, you should wait here, Zinnia. I’ll—I’ll go get him for you.”
She quirked her head. Though her eyes were identical—though they *were* Seff’s—there was no evidence of Seff in her own body. “You know your way around the Keep? You *are* one of his consorts. Why would he have *you*—”
*Not even close*. ”Yes! Wait here, enjoy the comforts of the couch pit, and...I’ll be right back with him. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see that you’re okay—”
Zinnia sat on her rump hard enough to shake the ground. “You are lying,” she said simply. “Why are you lying to my face? What are you hiding, Larkspur’s kin?”
Hawthorn swallowed hard. *I’m six feet under. Am I supposed to tell her the truth, or would that make her kill me? If I let her find Kiran, it’ll be exactly what Seff was afraid of, and the opposite of what Linden wanted. They would fall back in love and Seff would become Zinnia, and*...
And he couldn’t let that happen. He had to bring back Seff’s consciousness.
“Your time is up.” Zinnia rose and took on a defensive stance. “I’m not afraid to fight an Alpha. Get out of my way.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t let you do that.”
Her chops wrinkled back from her teeth. *“Move.”*
“No.”
She surged forward. Hawthorn tensed to shoulder her back like a shield, but she charged straight at him as if a battering ram. He didn’t want to hurt her—and she used that as an advantage. At the last second, she Shifted into her human form and slid straight through his legs. Halfway under, she Shifted again, uprooting his whole body and sending him rolling. She made it through the door and was then loose into the Keep.
Hawthorn thrashed to his paws and bolted after her as she ran through the courtyard. It was still night and all the lamps were low. But he didn’t need sight to hear the door of the room next to Seff’s explode open. He skittered to a halt as Hyacinth burst out in his wolf form, his white pelt bloody.
His head turned and saw him, baring his teeth, and started to stalk toward Hawthorn. “I heard you say *Zinnia*. Can I hazard the guess that touching those records brought her memories back to Seff?”
Hawthorn had no qualms about being a dick right back to the murderer of his lover’s parents. He snarled, tongue flicking between his fangs. “It didn’t just bring her memories back. Seff became Zinnia. Somehow she took over her whole mind and body!”
Hyacinth’s eyes widened, momentarily shocked, but then his look became even darker. “Then she’s even more of a threat.”
Rage seized him. “Seff was never a threat! You’re delusional.”
”I do what I need to protect my pack. She’s a threat, and you’re an obstacle.” The Magnolia Alpha leader prowled closer.
He was fat and weak and Hawthorn could easily win with his younger age alone. But fighting would just give Zinnia more time.
And Hyacinth knew a fight would delay his own goal.
Wordlessly, jerked into action, they ran shoulder-to-shoulder in Zinnia’s direction. They skidded around corner after corner blindly. Knowing Seff’s scent, they tracked its weak trail out into a grassy common area centered by several buildings. Zinnia was staggering in her wolf form as if confused out of her senses, unable to decide which building to search first. They were all nondescript and unmarked. Clearly it had changed since she remembered it.
“Seff!” Hawthorn called desperately. She didn’t respond in any way, so he barked, “Zinnia!”
She whirled, just in time for him to yell, “Look out!” before Hyacinth ram Hawthorn aside so hard he stumbled, giving him the chance to slam his paws into Seff’s shoulder. She yelped and they tumbled over each other until she was pinned underneath him. Wriggling and whimpering, helpless as if she hadn’t just warned she wasn’t afraid to fight a wolf twice her size, she could only bare her throat—
That Hyacinth’s jaws closed around.
*“No!”*
Hawthorn threw himself with every ounce of strength at Hyacinth. His grip released and they both crashed into the stone steps to one of the buildings. Pain exploded through his skull, but Hyacinth was already standing and shaking off the daze.
Zinnia was already up and limping back toward the courtyard, blood trailing behind her. “Kiran,” she whimpered in a bubbling rasp. “My love, my mate, my sun...”
Hyacinth snarled and broke into a run. Though he was reeling with pain, Hawthorn lurched after him, mustering enough strength to leap onto the Alpha’s back and clamp his teeth over Hyacinth’s muzzle.
They slammed to the ground with distorted snarls. Hyacinth thrashed like a fish, but Hawthorn’s grip was iron-tight—and crushing. He bit down harder, trying to close his jaws completely. He heard Hyacinth’s teeth grinding...and then his bones creaking...starting to splinter and *crack*.
The older Alpha scrabbled and twisted and tried to throw his body weight—but to no avail. Hawthorn just kept holding.
*You killed Seff’s parents. You tried to kill Seff—my best friend, Allium’s best friend, and my one true love. I won’t let you hurt her again*.
*You deserve to die, Hyacinth*.
With one last surge of strength, Hawthorn crushed Hyacinth Furze’s skull.