High Seas Heat (Heat Cute Omegaverse #2)

Chapter 1

Claire

Aruba is the perfect romantic backdrop, yet the man I’m hopelessly in love with doesn’t seem to have a clue.

Instead of a wonderful vacation with family and friends, I’m sitting here wondering if I’ll ever find a pack who loves me in that bone deep way I’ve always pictured being loved.

Maybe it’s the margaritas making me so dramatic, or maybe it’s because it hurts to stare at the Alpha I’m devoted to and I don’t know if he would ever feel the same way about me.

Elliot laughs at something Axel says, a beer in his hand before he brings it to his mouth and takes a heavy swig.

“I’m going to head to bed. Don’t stay up too late, Claire,” he says, arching a dark brow at me.

I give him a middle finger as a response, and he just laughs, walking away, leaving Elliot and me alone on the patio. There’s a soothing breeze coming off the ocean, whipping my hair across my face.

It feels like it’s now or never. It’s rare that we’re alone like this and with my heat coming any day now, I don’t have any time to waste.

Plus, I can’t keep living like this, pining after this Alpha and closing myself off to any other relationships because I’m holding out for him. I’m just not sure what to say.

“It’s beautiful here,” I say instead, looking around the gorgeous shoreline.

When I glance at Elliot he’s staring at me. “It is.”

“Almost romantic, in a way,” I surmise, trying to nudge him gently.

Elliot sighs, getting up from his seat and coming over to me. He deftly takes the margarita out of my hand and places it on the coffee table in front of us.

“I think that’s enough. Let’s get you to bed,” he says.

I’m only interested in going to bed if he means both of us heading to his room, but I’m not bold enough to say that. I swear I can be the most confident Omega in the room, but with Elliot, I seem to close in on myself, probably because I’m overwhelmingly afraid of his rejection.

“I’m not tired,” I say, and he groans, the neck of his beer bottle between two fingers as he plops down next to me.

His whiskey and vanilla scent is like a balm to my soul. I know without a doubt if his scent was in the system at Heat Haven, I’d be able to pick him out of millions of Alphas.

Elliot rests his head against the back of the chair, looking up at the star-filled sky and I swallow thickly. I wonder what he’s thinking about. Does he ever think about me?

“I’m happy for Jonah, they all seem happy,” he says. I give him a smile back, because I’m also happy for my oldest brother and the contentment he’s found with his pack.

“They are. That’s what everyone wants, isn’t it? What they have?” I ask him.

He glances at me, his beautiful green eyes boring into my own. “No, not everyone,” he says, clearing his throat and taking a sip of his beer.

My heart immediately sinks.

“What does that mean?” I demand.

“Nothing.”

“It clearly means something,” I say. My hackles are up immediately.

Maybe if I just lean over…I’m in his space. His pupils are dilated as he looks at me and I look at his full lips, wanting to be tasted. His body is stiff next to mine as I come even closer, placing a palm on his chest.

He looks down at where my hand is and I can feel his heart racing in his chest. Maybe he isn’t so unaffected after all?

He’s got to feel this electric charge between us. There’s no way I’m alone in this.

“Elliot, I—”

“Fuck, Claire,” he says, grabbing my wrist and pulling my hand off his chest, which feels like a rejection I’ve never experienced. “I can’t do this with you tonight.”

“What, have a conversation with me?”

He rubs the bridge of his nose. I can smell the arousal in his scent. I could see how dilated his eyes were, how fast his heart raced. This can’t be one-sided.

“Claire,” he says my name in a way you would talk to someone you pity. “It’s…I—” He’s tripping over his words and I should walk away now and save my ego, but I can’t.

Tears well in my eyes as I blink at him. I know I say the words hoping I get a reaction out of him. “I’ve signed up for Heat Haven. Maybe I’ll find my pack there.”

His jaw ticks, his gaze unwavering from mine. We stare at each other, no words between us as my eyes well up with tears. I don’t want to find a pack at Heat Haven, not a pack that doesn’t include him.

Elliot’s face falls, and he plasters this sad half smile on his face.

“You deserve the best, Claire. I hope you find it,” he says before looking away from me.

He doesn’t care that I’m looking for a pack; he doesn’t care that I’m going to find a pack.

Elliot Smith doesn’t want me back and the reality of that has me nearly jumping off of the outdoor couch. He doesn’t call out my name, or chase me, he just sits there and drinks while I storm off to my room. Only when the door is shut behind my back do I let myself fall apart.

I don’t know what I thought, but I wasn’t delusional in thinking there was something between us.

He doesn’t want me, doesn’t want to be a part of my pack, and I’ve been holding out for him all this time.

“So fucking na?ve, Claire,” I growl at myself, wiping away tears from my eyes.

I want a pack so bad. I want to have that ultimate whirlwind romance that leads to everlasting love so desperately. I’d always pictured Elliot in that future and it’s all come crashing down around me.

Rejection isn’t something I’m familiar with and I’m not sure what to do with myself.

With a sniff, I pull out my phone, intending to doom scroll.

The second I open up social media, it’s all the people from the city I know.

None of them have ever caught my attention.

Most of them liked me because of my last name or my designation.

Seeing their perfectly put together faces just pisses me off more and I switch over to my email.

There’s an email from Heat Haven, but it has nothing to do with their facility in Manhattan. It’s a promotional email for a cruise, one specifically designed for Omegas to meet with packs and single Alphas and Betas.

The website is hard to read with the light pink background so it takes me a while to get through the information.

A three-month cruise where the intention is to find a pack.

A place where I wouldn’t be Claire S?renson.

I’d just be an Omega looking for a pack.

It would be a fresh start, a place far away from Elliot Smith and all the other Alphas in the city who haven’t made me feel anything but a pawn or a prize to be won.

There are only three Omega suites left, and I click on the button almost in a haze. Before I know it I’m signed up for this three-month cruise and it’s either going to be a disaster or the best decision of my life.

All I know is that staying here would break me. I have four months to change my mind, but something tells me this isn’t a tequila driven decision. No, this is me choosing myself.

I want a pack and I’m going to find them on that damn ship if it’s the last thing I do.