Heat Haven (Heat Haven Omegaverse, #1)(3)

The moderator clears his throat. “We are grateful to have you as a member, but there are some rules that you need to know that would immediately terminate your membership or put your membership on hold. First and foremost is completely disobeying hard limits set by the Omega you are matched with. We take pride in making Omegas feel safe here at Heat Haven, and ignoring their preferences could lead to your membership being revoked. Bonding is not permitted within this facility. Failing an STD panel will make you ineligible for participating in a heat. Lastly, violence is not tolerated and any acts of violence against members or faculty will lead to automatic dismissal. Now that we have all the basics covered, let's take a tour!” he claps his hands and gestures for us to leave the room and head out to the hallway. I think this guy is on uppers, cause no one is this happy at six P.M. on a Tuesday.

The big Alpha next to me bumps my shoulder. “That’s a lot of rules for fuckin’, don’t ya think?” looking over at him, he sounds and looks like a WAL-MART brand Mark Wahlberg. Dark hair and dark eyes. I’m sure most women would find him attractive, but he radiates skeevy energy.

Shrugging my shoulders. “Yeah, I guess.”

We all start getting out of our seats and heading towards the hallway. The moderator quickly draws our attention by clearing his throat.

“This floor is for pairing meetings and orientations only. The first floor and second floors are used by faculty members. The fourth floor has lounges and bedrooms used for overnight stays during heats, and all nests are on the fifth and sixth floors.”

I stand behind everyone in the hallway, waiting for the elevator. Mark Wahlberg over here takes a sip of his Dunkies and does me a once over. Fucking typical. “So what membership did ya sign up fah?”

I wish I could rewind time and get out of this situation. What if I get stuck in a heat session with someone like him? Sounds miserable. In an attempt not to be a total judgemental dick, I answer. “Silver, you?”

“Hmm, you look like you could have been a platinum man. That’s what I signed up for. I don’t want to have to limit myself, ya know?”

I try wicked fucking hard to not roll my eyes into the back of my head. Instead, I decide to pretend to be completely immersed in the hideous painting hanging on the wall by the elevator. It looks like they gave a toddler a paintbrush with three different colors and are now trying to peddle it as abstract art. Where the fuck is the elevator?

Finally, the upwards arrow illuminates and the elevator dings. We all go to shove ourselves in this small capsule of doom, but there isn’t enough room. Too many Alphas in one small box. No pun intended. I take a step back. “I’ll catch the next one,” I announce to the group.

The Beta moderator, whose name I can’t recall, gives me a head nod and smile. “Sure thing, Mr. Miller. We’ll meet you on level five.”

I wait for the door to close and in a moment of reflection, I almost consider hitting the down button and going home. At the same time, going home and sitting with my cat Binx sounds a little depressing. Not that I don’t love that little prick, it’s just that he’s the only thing I have waiting for me at home. Sighing, I begrudgingly hit the up button.

The building is very nice, but incompetent minions must run the elevators in the basement or something. What seems like five minutes passes and the elevator finally dings. I enter and I’m instantly overwhelmed by the scent of cherries and vanilla.

Looking over, there’s a small woman near the operating panel. She’s fucking gorgeous, with wavy dirty blonde hair that reaches her shoulders, and light brown eyes that look like pools of honey. She’s wearing a simple black dress that’s cinched at the waist, expertly showing off the curves she has. The door takes longer than it should to close.

She clears her throat and asks, “Which floor?”

Her voice is fucking cute, like the voice of an elementary school teacher or something.

I smile at her. Hopefully, it doesn’t look demented. “Five, please.”

Her lithe fingers push the button. Her fingernails are short and painted light pink. Remember when I said I thought about leaving? Thank god I didn’t. I forgot how delicious an Omega can smell. I’m going to need to readjust my dick once we get out of here.

She seems nervous. Hopefully, I’m not making her uncomfortable. I should probably stop staring at her, but she’s so fucking beautiful.

Suddenly, the elevator jerks and there’s a nasty, grinding, metal-on-metal noise. The floor bounces up and down slightly. She gasps and a small hand grabs my bicep tightly.

“I knew I should have taken the flipping stairs,” she says in a whisper. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of this shaky floor thing the elevator is doing either, but no way am I going to look like a huge wuss in front of her. There’s a very loud groan and the floor stops shaking, but the elevator stops moving completely.

She doesn’t let go of my bicep, but I move over and push the open door button, which doesn’t work. Neither does pushing a different floor. I hit the call button instead.

A feminine voice answers, “Everything alright?”

I push the button and respond, “No, it looks like the elevator is stuck.”

“Oh dear, I’m calling maintenance right away. We’ll get you out of there as soon as possible.”

I look over to my Omega companion and she appears to be on the verge of tears. I grab her hand and stare into her eyes. They aren’t just light brown as I thought, now up close I see some speckles of green. “Hey, hey, it’s gonna be okay. They’re going to get us out of here soon.”