5. A Leaf

Cold seemed to rush in where Hawthorn’s heat left her, but Seff scrambled to pull her shirt and shorts on. Luckily her shirt wasn’t completely ripped up, but she had to stuff her bra and panties in her back pocket—on second thought stuffing them in Hawthorn’s. She hoped he caught her smirk. She would find him tomorrow; for the night he could keep her scent with him.
He struggled to keep focus. “What’s wrong? Why—”
“Are you clothed?”
“Yes, but—”
Gardenia dropped her hand and glared at both of them, but there was an edge of panic to her very presence. Her gaze pinned Seff, the green in her eyes sympathetic and yet seemingly imploring her to be excited. “Go look presentable. The Alphas will be here in less than an hour.”
The common yard was packed with more bodies and more sound. Seff and Hawthorn escaped to the side of the building, hidden from view.
He opened his mouth, but Seff shoved her palms into his chest. She wasn’t strong enough to actually move him, but he granted her intent by stepping back. “Are you crazy?” she snapped. “You can’t just say you—that you—”
“That I’m in love with you?”
“Yes! You can’t just do that when…”
 Seff wasn’t weepy, and she wasn’t easily irritable, but she was surprised…and scared.
Hawthorn snaked his arms around her shoulders and drew her against him tightly, resting his chin on her head. Seff focused on his heartbeat, on his breathing, to drown out the sounds of the pack panicking to prepare for the early arrivals. “When you’re afraid we’ll never see each other again?”
“Yes,” she mumbled against his warmth. Of course he knew what was bothering her—and she’d like to think it was more than the obvious, and it was the use of his rut-addled brain cells sensitive to his friend’s fears. “And now that they’re coming tonight…”
“In less than an hour,” he supplied unhelpfully.
She slammed her knee up. Hawthorn grunted and released her to double over, groaning. “Ow.”
“Don’t make fun of me, I’m—I’m terrified.” Seff was trembling, but she had a thought when she peered over the corner. A different terror flooded her veins. “Allium!”
Seff bolted into the common area, shorts riding up, her low-cut shirt doing nothing to support her breasts, through the throng of wolves to find her friend. It was a sea of white hair, every strand glowing in the light of the quarter moon. Werewolves in legends told of the uncontrollable transformation during the full moon, but that was a myth. All wolves could shift at will painlessly despite the sound of tearing flesh when they did. It also shredded their clothes, so whenever they did, they had to be comfortable with being seen by any witnesses. 
Members of her pack were in both forms, mostly thankfully in their human skins, setting up decorations and accommodations for the arriving Sun and Moon packs that went originally supposed to be up for another few days. To fully prepare took days in itself, but what could they do in just two hours at most? The packs required living quarters—two dorm buildings designated for each one, rightfully named Sun or Moon quarters. The common area was supposed to have stands offering food and clothes. But all that was still stored away, and the Magnolia was hauling ass.
The night was alive with fear.
The stage was the most important. The beautiful white wood stage was decorated with magnolia flowers and strings of lights where male and female Omegas lined up in their best outfits, flowers braided in their hair. In front of them on a small pedestal, blue and gold ribbons to be tied around their throats by the Alphas themselves if chosen. It was a pretty collar chaining them to their new master for the rest of their lives.
Alpha Hyacinth’s two wives and some of his Betas on his council were directing the Potentials to a makeshift station of stylists and racks of outfits to be dressed. Floodlights from all surrounding buildings doused the yard in yellow light, which made for bad color-casting on the stand mirrors that reflected makeups stylists hastily erasing the effects of the past few hours of drinking and fucking.
Seff spotted Allium wriggling into a white dress with a plunging neckline trimmed with lace. Her mother was simultaneously trying to pin her hair up in artful swirls intertwined with flower stems nice enough to not look like plastic. Her father was arguing with a stylist nearby to get her to do Allium’s makeup before anyone else.
Mothers and other or younger siblings were acting as those stylists, helping to make their Omega family look delicious enough to be chosen. Some appealed to either pack with accents of blue or gold. Seff only felt another flood of loneliness, of longing—she had no one to help her look beautiful or give her advice or calm her taut nerves. Her parents were dead and her two older brothers didn’t give one damn about her. Allium and Hawthorn were her only friends.
She was buffeted around like a leaf in a current. Someone’s shoulder slammed into hers and she stumbled to a stop just outside of the throng. Maybe her aloneness was a good thing. If she didn’t look beautiful and delicious, maybe she wouldn’t be chosen, and escape gilded imprisonment. And if she did, she could run away and start a new life.
Then her gaze found Allium again. Her friend was searching the crowd for Seff; Seff could hear her calling her name—with worry. If Seff wasn’t chosen, she would lose Allium forever.
The world seemed to stop for a moment, two paths splitting in front of Seff. On the left was the way out of the common area toward downtown. On the right was Allium just a hundred feet away. Leave or stay. Escape to freedom or be trapped in a harem. Life on the run or lying beneath a naked body.
Allium’s eyes met Seff’s and her face broke into a grin as radiant as the moon. “Seff!” she shouted, waving her arm. “Seff, come over here, my love!”
Someone bumped into her, and she stumbled forward. Her heart was in her throat and she wished for just that: love. Seff, I’m in love with you. If she went with Allium, she lost Hawthorn. She wanted to shift into her wolf and howl at the moon until they had no breath in her lungs left to live.
Another shove, but this one was different. Seff whirled to find Hawthorn behind her, emotion making his green eyes as vibrant as spring. “Go,” he said, jerking his chin toward Allium. “Protect her. I’ll be okay, and so will you two.” His hands cupped her face, bringing her brow to rest on his. “We’ll keep in touch, I promise.” He tilted his head, his lips pressing to hers gently in a farewell. “I’ll see you later, Seff.”
Hawthorn pulled away, giving her a brief, wistful smile, and was swallowed by the crowd.
Seff’s heart split, too.
Allium called her name again, and Seff knew she had a promise to fulfill.
She made herself fluid, becoming the leaf, directing her own course down the current, until Allium pulled her out of it and into her embrace. Seff’s arms automatically locked around her friend and buried her face in her neck, ignoring her scent gland and alcohol and sex to hone in on the perfume and green apple sweetness of her. “I’m staying with you, All, forever.”
Allium hummed a laugh and hugged her tighter. “We promise nothing less.” Then she held Seff at arm’s length, looking her up and down. “Let’s get you looking like you deserve to be—beautiful.”