The first thought that crossed Brooke's mind as Jasper pulled away from their kiss was that she wished it didn't have to end. The second was that he looked twice as cute with a tail.

Gray fur flew from the length of fluff sprouting from the seat of Jasper's pants. She laughed as the tail smacked a nearby tree branch, sending a cascade of white flowers to the ground. "Can I pet it?"

"Absolutely not." Jasper turned in circles before finally clamping the tip of his tail between his hands. Instead of holding the appendage steady, all that did was make his arms bounce up and down in time with his wagging.

"But it's so fluffy!" She'd always imagined werewolves as sleek and muscular, as powerful as the ocean. With his lower body wiggling frantically at the sound of her voice, Jasper looked like he was channeling the world's most excitable puppy.

"The last thing I needed was to get fur all over my suit." Wearing black during summer hadn't been the best idea to begin with, but now a layer of gray hairs covered his sleeves.

"I'm sure it'll wash off. Besides, you're adorable!" Brooke ran her hand over his thick gray fur, marveling at how soft it was. How did he keep it so nice?

Jasper's tail flew out of his grip, smacking the back of his pants in a flurry of flying fur and rustling fabric. "You're making it really hard to put this damn thing away." Despite his frustrated words, his lips twitched with laughter.

Brooke let go, giving the tail one last stroke as it stilled. "Sorry, I've never been close enough to touch one before."

"It's fine. I just need to concentrate while I do this."

Jasper shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Then another. And another.

The tail vanished.

Brooke sighed. There went the most adorably fluffy thing she'd ever seen. If she had a tail like that, she'd keep it out all the time just so she could pet it.

Only when Jasper covered the back of his pants with a grimace did Brooke realize why he'd been less than happy about partially shifting.

Stray pieces of fabric stuck out from between his fingers. Although most of his pants remained pristine, there was no ignoring the gaping hole where his tail had been moments earlier. Heat rushed to Brooke's cheeks as she realized what else must have been ripped open.

She glanced away as much for his privacy as to save herself from thinking too hard about what happened to his underwear. "I know a few paths that are usually reserved for our vampire employees. It's so dark in there we should be able to get you most of the way back to your room without anyone seeing anything."

"I don't have time to go all the way back there. I have a meeting in fifteen minutes." Jasper groaned. "Father is going to be so embarrassed, and I don't even want to know what the other Alphas will say."

Any lingering happiness from their kiss vanished as the realization of what she'd done crashed over Brooke like a tsunami. This was her fault. If she hadn't gotten Jasper so excited right before an important meeting, he never would partially shifted.

She'd gotten him into this mess, and she'd be damned if she didn't do everything she could to help him. But where would she find something for him to wear on such short notice? She obviously couldn't give him her clothes since they were way too small, and even if she could find a member of his pack who'd be willing to help, they could never run back in time.

No, a werewolf couldn't cross the resort fast enough. But a selkie could.

"I'll go get help," Brooke said. "There's a shed near here where you should be able to hide until I come back."

Jasper groaned. "It's not like I have any other options."

###

The rich, earthy scent of mulch flooded Brooke's nose the instant she opened the door to the supply shed. "Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long."

Jasper paused, with muddy footprints showing he'd been pacing between an empty wheelbarrow and a shelf full of bird feeders. Sweat ran from his forehead to his sideburns and the muscle in his jaw twitched with anxiety, yet he still bowed to her and her father. "Thank you for coming back so quickly."

"One of the perks of the travel tunnels." Brooke's dad thumped the large plastic capsule in his arms. "You're lucky I always keep spare clothes by the kitchen in case any of my staff need to look nice in a hurry. I take it you had an accident?"

Jasper groaned. "You're making me sound like a pup that hasn't been toilet trained."

"He got really excited about a super important meeting that's starting in a few minutes," Brooke said. At least she was only half lying. It was a miracle Jasper hadn't shifted and run to the meeting already.

"Uh huh. Sure." Her dad opened the capsule, revealing three neatly folded outfits and a pair of shoes. "I wasn't sure what size you wear, so I went ahead and grabbed a variety. I wasn't sure if you needed the shoes, but I figured they couldn't hurt since you spent all morning in the gardens."

"Thank you!" Jasper threw off his ruined clothes, earning an indignant yelp from her dad and a noise that Brooke could only describe as her brain turning into a hormonal puddle of mush and flying out her mouth. "Sorry, I have to run if I'm going to make that meeting."

"A little warning would have been nice." Brooke's dad covered his eyes with one hand, waving his other one in the direction of Jasper's nether regions. "You could poke someone's eye out with that thing."

It had certainly given Brooke entirely too many thoughts about what she might have done if she and Jasper had been alone in that shed. "Is there anything else I can do to you? I mean for!" A flurry of giggles flew out of Brooke's mouth as she forced herself to look away. From what she'd seen, she'd already done more than enough to Jasper.

"It would be great if you could get rid of my old clothes," Jasper said as he kicked away what was left of the pants he'd been wearing. He crammed his feet into her dad's spare shoes with a torrent of swearing. "Thank you!"

With that, Jasper ran out of the shed so quickly Brooke could have sworn he'd shifted his legs. At least, that's what she would have thought if she hadn't caught a glimpse of his muscular thighs when he'd taken off his pants.

Goddess, what she wouldn't give for a longer look at him...

"Nice to see the two of you acting on your feelings," her father said.

"What feelings?" Brooke laughed, praying to the Goddess that he couldn't hear her heart trying to hammer through her ribcage like a polar bear pounding through ice. "He just needed a little help getting ready for his meeting."

Her dad brushed a hand through her hair, sending white flower petals raining to the floor. "You don't get this many knots in your hair by helping an Alpha prepare for a meeting."

Brooke groaned. She knew she should have taken a minute to tidy up before asking him for help, but Jasper had been so freaked out about getting to his meeting on time she didn't want to waste a single second. "Please don't tell Mom."

"Someone's going to have to tell her and all the werewolves before the Blue Moon Ball." Her dad sighed and massaged his temples. She hadn't seen him this frustrated since he'd had to fire a chef who kept forgetting to debone the fish. "Why in the Goddess's name haven't you two told anyone yet? Usually werewolves can barely go five minutes without howling their soulmate's name from the rooftops."

Brooke cast her gaze to her shoes, which were still speckled with mulch from her walk to the shed. "It's complicated."

"There's hardly anything complicated about being soulmates." Her father's voice softened. "Unless you want to sever the bond. If you need silver, I can—"

"No!" The word flew out of her as sharp as shark teeth. She cleared her throat. "No. Jasper and I really like each other. We just don't know if we're soulmates."

Her father raised his eyebrows. "The guy came here so stiff and serious he could have made a great white crap itself, and you made him so happy he shifted clean through his pants. What's there not to be sure of?"

She couldn't tell him. Not when Jasper had been so nervous about opening up to her. "That's something you'll have to ask Jasper."

"I don't care about his private business," her dad said, waving that idea away. "Frankly, it doesn't matter. What does matter is Cedar Pack and Kudzu Pack are both going to find out about whatever's going on with you two sooner or later. I don't know how they'll react, but I can't imagine either of them will be happy about you hiding this from them."

"I know." Brooke groaned. Even if Gwen was okay with what she and Jasper were doing, the rest of her pack were bound to take it badly, to say nothing of the other werewolves. "Can I at least talk to Jasper?"

"It would be best for you both to be on the same page." Her father nodded. "Alright, I'll give you until sunset on Friday. If you two don't talk to your mom by then, I will."

Brooke's stomach sank. After everything they'd done to try to keep what they'd been doing secret, how was she going to tell Jasper their cover had been blown?