Page 13

“It’s not that deep, Nono. I was just trying to reassure you.”

“Fine. Consider me reassured. You better call me if you need me to come rescue you, okay?”

“Don’t rescue me unless you bring an alpha with you,” I joke, but it’s not really a joke.

“El—”

“Talk to you later. Love you. Bye.” I hang up before he can reply.

Noel

Rude

I open up the Heat Seekers app without replying. Still down. Fuck. I guess I can just check the three Mexican restaurants in walking distance, but I’m going to spontaneously combust if he’s not there.

A drop of sweat lands on my screen, and despair fills me. It’s hot, it’s not fair, and yes, I know I’m being irrational. But I’m not sure what’s worse—going into heat at a house party or roaming the streets of Laguna Beach during a heat wave, utterly alphaless.

The wind shifts. A refreshing breeze, far less disgusting than the hot blow dryer that’s been blasting me, cools my face, like Mother Nature knew I was about to lose my shit. The scent of salt and vetiver on the air current arrests me.

I only know it’s vetiver because Alden said that was his scent. I had to go test some cologne samples to figure out that vetiver was basically fancy grass. It’s the best lead I have, so I follow my nose down the path.

To the top of the stairway to hell.

I contemplate turning back on each of the hundred steps, or maybe a thousand, but my mouth is salivating at the delectable scent I haven’t sighted yet. It’s not just vetiver. It’s like a meadow, and the way it combines with the salt on the breeze is impossible to resist. It has to be him, and if it isn’t, well, I’ll worry about that later.

I’m burning up like each step downward is another step descending into hell. But my biological clock keeps screaming the time is now, so I can’t help but take another step toward the scent, toward the sliver of sand at the end of the tunnel of trees.

Ugh. Sand. I blink as my eyes adjust to the sunlight glinting off the surf. The waves are rough, clawing at the sand and dragging it back. The beach is deserted, aside from a lone surfer, an unidentifiable person in a black wet suit. Fresh air douses my senses, but the alpha’s scent draws me to a pair of neatly folded board shorts on top of a towel that reeks of coconut, and not the toasted coconut like one of the alphas I fucked last heat.

“Sex Wax?” Hopefully that’s a good omen.

The surfer must be him.

“Alden!” I call to him, but he doesn’t turn his board my way.

I feel dizzy and vaguely nauseous, and start to shiver, a sure sign of an impending heat spike or heatstroke at this point. I strip my shirt and drop it onto the towel. The combination of our mingling scents—coconut excluded—spills slick into the satin panties I definitely wouldn’t have worn had I known I was going into heat.

I moan and bury my face in his board shorts, popping the button of my pants when more slick drips from my hole. There’s an added layer of salt to Alden’s vetiver, fresh and crisp, and I track it to the towel. I toss the wax aside, and ball up the towel with the board shorts, hugging it to my chest.

“Mm,” I hum, burying my nose in it and nuzzling my neck against it, scent growing even more delicious as my scent joins Alden’s.

My body flushes and a mild cramp scratches at my bliss. I whimper, cringing as the contraction in my womb spills more slick from my hole. I’m so hot and I hate sitting in my own slick. I struggle my way out of my pants and use them to wipe the slick sliding down the center of my thighs. Ugh. This is so embarrassing.

My cock strains lewdly against the satin, saturated with slick and nearly transparent, hugging the outline of my dick.

My skin burns, hopefully not from the sun. That’s okay, my alpha can massage aloe vera into my skin after fucking me, or maybe he can use his cum. I moan at the idea even though the remaining logic in my head questions whether an alpha’s cum has medicinal properties.

I’m so hot. Too hot. I’m starting to get scared. What if another alpha discovers me like this?

I call to Alden again, but he’s so far out, he must not be able to see me. I walk to the water, white and frothy as it rushes around my ankles and up the beach. The waves retreat, clawing the sand from beneath my feet.

If he won’t come to me, I’ll go to him.

4 TYLER

All the other surfers have left. Even the masochist jogging up and down the stairs for the last hour has finally finished. But I’m still here, fingers pruned and partially pickled, body pummeled by waves growing with each set.

I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t know why I can’t get out of the water. Maybe it’s because if I leave the ocean, I’ll have to confront the fact that Alden is on a date and my life is about to change. Because Alden doesn’t half-ass a relationship. He's all in from day one, loyal as a fucking penguin, which makes breakups all the more painful for him.