Sweat rolled down Jasper's back as the motor-mouthed selkie led him and his father around the resort. All the other guests wore their brightest clothes, with nary a tie in sight. Meanwhile, his gray suit clung to his skin as the sun beat down on him with all the ferocity of a grizzly bear.

This was ridiculous. He should be in his office, or at least attending to his responsibilities at Uncommon Scents from the comfort of his air-conditioned hotel room. Instead, he was stuck thumbing responses to emails on his phone while the sun glared off the screen and the selkie rambled about the resort's amenities.

Goddess, she'd barely paused for breath since he'd met her. Something as simple as a swimming pool was enough to get her bouncing from foot to foot, her entire face lighting up as her hands fluttered like twin butterflies. Just watching her made him long to crawl into bed and sleep until he had half as much energy as she did.

Yet, despite how much she exhausted him, some small part of him wouldn't let him tune her out completely.

"We have a bunch of pools, but this one's my favorite." Brooke gasped before clapping her hands with a squeal. "Oh my gosh, look! Someone's about to go down the super slide."

Jasper glanced up from his phone and squinted at the rainbow of plastic tubes dominating half the pool. So many pups clamored around each of them their shouts flooded Jasper's ears. "Which one's the—"

A seal shot out of a bright orange corkscrew with a laughing cheer, landing with a massive splash. All the selkies in the pool clapped their fins as the pup's parents swam around her, blowing bubbles in a spiraling ring as the pup barked with delight.

Jasper's throat tightened. When he was that age, he would have shifted and rushed to join them with his tail wagging. Now all he could do was blink back the prickling sensation in his eyes. It was just some selkies messing around. Why did watching them hurt so much?

Why did everything feel so awful these days? Ever since Kudzu Pack's Alpha had offered to let Cedar Pack retain a majority stake in Uncommon Scents if Jasper either married his daughter or found his soulmate by the end of the Blue Moon Ball, happiness had fled from his life like a deer that had caught a wolf's scent on the wind.

Only when the hyperactive selkie who was leading him and his father on this never-ending tour glanced back at him with her moon-bright smile did a gentle warmth fill his chest. That feeling, that sudden, unexplainable feeling, scared him more than anything else.

"Is everything alright, Jasper?" his father asked.

He startled, his eyes darting not to his father but toward the selkie who was back to waltzing down the pathway and blabbering about Goddess-knew-what. If it weren't tied so tightly around her waist, there wasn't a doubt in his mind her sealskin would fly right off.

"I'm fine," he said, lowering his voice to make sure only his father could hear him as they worked on catching up with their hyperactive tour guide. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"That doesn't surprise me, but at least pretend like you want to be here." His father gestured for him to put his phone away, all while keeping a tight smile on his face. Jasper seldom saw him wear any other expression in public. "Besides, the Moon Goddess will make sure everything works out."

"I suppose so." Although he would have preferred if She'd done so sooner.

If the Goddess didn't bless him with a mate of Her choosing, would She doom him to a life of heartache? Or would he not realize if She had chosen someone for him? Though he'd been with his fair share of both men and women, he'd never felt physically attracted to anyone. Sure he'd dated before and even enjoyed taking things further, but he'd never felt compelled to seek what so many other wolves did.

Perhaps the fact he'd gone thirty years without finding his soulmate was yet another sign he was not destined to share his life with anyone. And that was alright. It had to be. Cedar Pack was depending on him.

"Ooh, you guys have to try this!" The two werewolves straightened as Brooke ran back to them with two massive glasses filled with a bright orange drink and ice cubes. "You haven't lived until you've tried a Sunrise Surprise."

Jasper grimaced. "It's too early for me to start drinking." He couldn't smell an ounce of alcohol in the blindingly tropical beverage, but considering catching a whiff of it made him feel like he'd get cavities, he'd need more than a few cocktails to choke down that glorified syrup.

"This is non-alcoholic, and I promise it's super delicious." Brooke nudged the tiny paper umbrella to the side and sucked on the straw so hard the ice in the glass rattled. "See?" Her cheeks flushed. "Probably shouldn't have used your straw, though. Hang on, I'll go get another one."

"Don't bother," Jasper said sharply. He winced as the selkie cringed. As much as he hated being stuck here, taking it out on her wouldn't help anyone. "I mean, Father drank far too much ginger ale on the plane, but I still have room. What's in it?"

Brooke's smile brought out her dimples. "Mostly fruits. Pineapples, oranges, and a squirt of lime."

That sounded decent, at least. The cold glass provided a welcome relief from the heat sending sweat running down his back. The sooner he finished this drink, the sooner he could finish the tour and escape to his air-conditioned suite.

Tangy sweetness flooded his mouth as he put the straw to his lips. He closed his eyes, letting out a soft hum of appreciation as he swallowed his first mouthful.

"Goddess, I haven't had one of these in way too long." Brooke took such a long sip that her straw made a horrible sucking sound as she strained for the last drops. A look of pure bliss crossed her face, only for her to cringe and bring a hand to her temple. "Dang it, brain freeze!"

"With something this good, you should savor it, not inhale it," Jasper said. He finished the rest of his glass slowly, taking time between sips.

"You liked it? Awesome!" Brooke pumped her fist in the air, her crimson curls dancing in the breeze.

"It's much better than I expected." And so was this selkie. Sure she was a chatterbox who had probably never heard of the word 'calm', but she had an infectious cheerfulness that filled Jasper's chest with warmth that not even the Sunrise Surprise could cool.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" his father said. Despite his cheerful tone, Jasper read his true meaning loud and clear. He'd better keep acting like he enjoyed the Cowrie Cabana, or else the pack's reputation would suffer.

"Ooh, if you guys think that's great, wait until you eat at the Silver Scallop! My sister, Marina, adds cool stuff to the menu all the time." Brooke giggled as her stomach growled. "Just thinking about the eel I had last time makes me so hungry."

"Can't say I've had much seafood before, but it couldn't hurt to try," Jasper said. "Do you have any less adventurous recommendations? Eel would be a bit much for me."

Brooke's smile lit up her whole face as she talked. Much like the ocean itself, she was constantly in motion, her hands punctuating her words with all sorts of energetic gestures as she gushed about her favorite dishes at the Silver Scallop.

Mere hours ago, her enthusiasm would have had Jasper craving some aspirin and a long nap, but something about this selkie lifted his spirits. With each word she spoke, tension evaporated from his muscles as he basked in her presence. As she rambled about her favorite kinds of seafood from abalone to mahi mahi, he found himself wishing he could listen to her until the moon fell out of the sky.

What in the Goddess's name had gotten into him? He'd known this selkie for only a few hours, yet he already found himself craving her presence. Perhaps the flight had left him more exhausted than he thought, to the point he wasn't thinking straight.

That was all he was feeling. Exhaustion and desperation for more energy. That warmth in his chest that hadn't gone away since he'd first set eyes on Brooke? Nothing but the tropical heat going straight to his head. Something that would fade once he'd had time to cool off.

Nothing more than that.

"That does sound delicious, doesn't it?" Jasper's father narrowed his eyes as the young Alpha jumped. "Looks like your stomach's so excited the rest of you got lost at sea."

"Not really. I mean yes! To the food sounding delicious, I mean." Jasper rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry. It's been quite a day."

"But at least you've got a while before the Blue Moon Ball." Brooke cocked her head to the side. "What's with all the fuss, anyway? I've never heard of so many packs coming together for one guy before. Not that you aren't great," she added hastily before sighing. "I am really putting my flippers in my mouth today."

"It's fine. Goddess knows I was acting like a boar's rear end earlier." Jasper offered her a smile, only for it to slip off his face as quickly as it came. "My pack's perfume company is being bought out, and for us to keep enough control over our operations, I need to either find my soulmate or marry the daughter of Kudzu Pack's Alpha."

"So no matter what happens, you're going to have a mate by the end of this." Brooke clapped her hands. "Congratulations! I'm sure whoever you end up with will be lucky to have such a hardworking mate."

"Maybe. I just..." Jasper sighed. "I wish I didn't have to marry someone I've never met. Gwendolyn seems nice from the letters she's sent me, but we really don't know each other well. What if we can't stand each other and end up wishing we could take silver to sever the mate bond?"

His father cringed. "That doesn't happen often. Even if the Goddess doesn't choose a soulmate for someone, chosen mates can still have equally strong relationships."

"You and Mom didn't."

"That was different."

"How? Because the Goddess decided years after you had a pup together that some vampire was more important to her than—"

"Enough." Though his father's voice scarcely rose, the force behind his Alpha command instantly made Jasper stop talking. His father's brown eyes brightened to a wolf's amber, and his canine teeth lengthened as a low growl rumbled in his throat.

For a long moment, none of them spoke. Even Brooke was silent, her eyes darting between the two Alphas as if she expected them to shift and lunge at each other.

Only when Jasper bowed his head in a submissive display did his father stop growling. He reversed his partial shift with a long sigh, his eyes and teeth returning to their human form.

"I know you're stressed, but that does not give you the right to talk about your mother and her mate that way," his father said.

"Sorry, Father."

"Come here."

Jasper obeyed, knowing full well that if he were in his wolf form, he would have his tail tucked between his legs. His behavior disgraced his pack. His family.

His father gave his shoulder a tight squeeze. "We'll get through this. Gwendolyn seems like a respectable young woman from what I've been told." He shrugged. "If nothing else, she should be a competent business partner."

"It will be nice to meet her in person," Jasper admitted with a shaky smile. "The sooner we get used to each other, the easier it will be for us to work together. With any luck, she'll help us keep operating Uncommon Scents independently from Roses Galore."

Talking about his upcoming marriage as if it was nothing more than a business transaction made his stomach churn, but there was no use denying the reality of the packs' arrangement. They weren't bound together by something as fleeting as love but by sheer pragmatism. Any happiness he and Gwen found together would be a pleasant coincidence, not their fathers' main goal.

"Maybe there's something else you could do to help your company," Brooke said. She'd been so quiet Jasper had almost forgotten she was there, but from the way she looked at him, it was clear she'd listened to every word of his argument with his father. "You guys make perfume, right? Couldn't you just make some awesome new kinds that get you so many new customers you won't need this other pack's help?"

"It's not that simple," Jasper said. "We've tried everything. Redesigning our packaging, developing new fragrances aimed at developing markets, hiring influencers to promote our products on social media. This isn't the first time Uncommon Scents has gone through a rough patch, but..."

"If the deal with Kudzu Pack doesn't go through, we'll be lucky if we make it to the end of the year," his father finished for him.

In that moment, his father was almost unrecognizable. Gone was the powerful Alpha who'd managed a renowned perfume company for decades. In his place was a tired old man whose dark brown hair had been invaded by silver streaks, each one a solemn reminder that he wouldn't lead Cedar Pack forever.

Jasper wouldn't have to take his position for another decade or two, Goddess willing, but he wasn't a pup anymore. He had to put the pack above all else, however unpleasant that may be.

"Well, maybe you could..." Brooke trailed off, biting her lip. "I don't know, but you have to try something! If all this is making you so unhappy, then—"

"Then I'll just have to deal with it. It would be a disservice to the pack for me to spend too much time worrying about things I can't change." Jasper forced his lips into a smile. "Thanks for the tour, but I should start unpacking. If I'm going to have any chance of finding my soulmate, I need to make sure I'm ready for tonight's banquet."

As he marched off to go unpack his bags, Jasper dared not look behind him. One glimpse of the sadness shining in Brooke's eyes had already been more than enough to make his heart ache.