Page 21 of Why Cruise

“I really need to go,” I tried again, my voice barely loud enough to hear. My mind was blank with panic.

“One drink won’t kill you.” He yanked me to him, his other hand landing on my hip. “Unless you’re one of those stuck-up bitches who think they’re too good for…”

“There you are!” Theo’s cheerful voice cut through my rising panic. He appeared beside us, two fruity drinks in his hands and a bright smile on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sorry it took so long. The bartender was absolutely fascinated by my theory about male omegas and knot psychology.”

The alpha’s grip loosened slightly as he blinked at Theo in confusion. “What?”

“Oh, you know.” Theo’s smile went sharp. “How some alphas are so obsessed with knots because they’re compensating for other… shortcomings.” His eyes dropped pointedly to the alpha’s swim trunks. “But I’m sure that’s not your problem.”

The alpha’s face went red. “Listen here, you little…”

“Though the aggressive overcompensation is a bit concerning.” Theo handed me one of the drinks. “Have youconsidered therapy? I hear they’re doing wonderful things with alpha rage these days. Very discreet.”

The alpha released my wrist like it burned him. “Fucking omega bitch, desperate for a knot because you don’t have one,” he snarled, but he backed away, his cologne-heavy scent soured with humiliation.

“Proving the point,” Theo muttered.

The moment he was gone, my knees gave out. Theo caught me before I could collapse, guiding me to sit on the deck chair.

“Hey, breathe. You’re okay.”

“I didn’t know what to do,” I whispered. “I’ve never… Daryl always…”

“I know.” He pressed the cold drink into my hands. “But you handled it perfectly. You stayed calm, you were polite but firm. The rest just takes practice.”

“Practice being harassed by drunk alphas?”

“Practice standing up for yourself.” He bumped my shoulder gently. “Though I have to admit, that was kind of fun. Did you see his face?”

I laughed. It came out a bit shaky. I scanned the pool area. There were giggling groups of omegas, tight circles of pack mates. It was the lone alphas that stuck out. Unconsciously, I looked over my shoulder again for my alpha. I suddenly felt very exposed.

“Ice cream.” Theo said simply, like it was the answer to the universe. “There’s a 24-hour unlimited ice cream bar. Let’s go get some.” He held out a hand for me. Okay, ice cream was the answer to almost everything.

I took his hand and stood, and he snagged our bags with the other. He nodded his head in the direction we had to go. I pulled the door open for us. The air conditioning hit hard. I dropped Theo’s hand to wrap the towel around me tighter. The last thingI needed was strange alphas staring at my nipples that got hard in the cold.

Theo was juggling our bags as we walked. I jogged a few steps to catch up to him to point out our sexy thigh tattoo alpha, but slowed. He was sprawled in a chair, looking like he didn’t give a fuck about the firing squad of alphas he was facing down. He was just sitting at a table, with three other alphas on the other side, but it felt dangerous somehow. A tall female alpha played with a chain around her neck. She was trying to be sexy, but even from the other side of the room, it felt menacing. There was a young alpha at the table, too. He might have even been younger than me. He had the same look that Daryl did that one time he took me to a fight, like he was enjoying watching people get hurt.

“Chocolate or Vanilla?”

Theo had stopped and was waiting for me to catch up. I shook off the creepy feeling.

“Vanilla. I hate chocolate ice cream.”

Theo stared at me like I had just kicked a puppy. “I don’t know that we can be friends.”

“Chocolate ice cream doesn’t actually taste like chocolate.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him forward, like I knew where I was going. He tugged me to the right. “And chocolate shouldn’t be cold.”

“Okay, I’ll let you have that one.”

Mackenzie

“Stop fidgeting.” Theo caught my hand as I tugged at the neckline of my dress for the thousandth time. “You look amazing.”

The royal blue silk made my skin glow, or at least that’s what Theo had said when he helped zip me up. It was a far cry from the conservative dresses Daryl had approved of, with a neckline that plunged just low enough to make me nervous and a slit that showed more thigh than I was used to. Jillian had picked it out.

“You’re one to talk,” I bumped his shoulder. “You look like you walked off a magazine cover.”

We approached the table assignment station and found our seating card with an elegant “12” printed on it.

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