This trip was going to be a complete disaster.

Under normal circumstances, the ocean was like a second home to Brooke. She'd been born to splash through the waves, snack on squid, and explore underwater caverns with nothing but her whiskers. As a selkie, the water called to her like an old friend, inviting her to cast aside her troubles and dive beneath the surface.

Today, she ignored the sea's siren song. Instead, she resigned herself to taking a glass-bottom boat tour with Jasper and a handful of other werewolves. Including Gwendolyn, the young Alpha Jasper would marry if he didn't find his soulmate. She couldn't forget about her.

No matter how much she wanted to.

While their packmates gave each other a wide berth, Jasper and Gwendolyn stood side by side as they peered through the transparent hull. Despite his legs wobbling with the telltale quiver of someone who had no idea how to balance on a boat, his smile was much more confident. Rich, baritone laughter rolled across the deck as his fiancée gestured for him to look at something down below.

It seemed like they were having fun, but it couldn't hurt to check on them, right? After all, as the Cowrie Cabana's head event coordinator, it was Brooke's job to make sure the guest of honor enjoyed himself.

She wasn't jealous. Nope, not even a little.

"How's everything going?" she said, fighting to keep her smile from widening when Jasper immediately turned his attention to her. "Is the sea treating you okay?"

"Let's just say if you hadn't brought me that sunscreen yesterday, I'd look like a lobster." Jasper fanned his face with his hand as sweat ran down his forehead. "Goddess above, it is hot today!"

"That's why I wore my robe." With the long, flowing garment shimmering around her like the sun-kissed ocean, Gwendolyn looked right at home as her golden hair rippled in the salty air. "Weather like this makes me wish I could jump overboard, but I doubt the sharks would react well."

"Blacktip reef sharks are thankfully shy," Brooke said, pointing at the small, thin sharks lurking among the coral. "They almost never go after anyone unless they're wading in the shallows."

"Don't the younger ones form groups?" Gwendolyn asked. "It's so fascinating to me how some animals end up becoming fairly solitary once they grow up while wolves stay social their whole lives. I don't think I could stand leaving my packmates behind."

"Some fish stay together their whole lives too, especially if they tend to live in schools to help them deal with predators," Brooke said. Finally, her mom's lessons about all the marine life that lived near the resort were actually paying off! She bent down and pointed at the thick, green eel peeking out from two towers of coral. "Fish like that moray are perfectly happy living alone. They tend to stay hidden during daytime too, only hunting when it's dark out since they're nocturnal."

"What's absolutely crazy about eels," Gwendolyn said, "is we're still not entirely sure how ones that live in rivers reproduce."

"That's nuts!" Brooke blushed. Looks like she'd been thoroughly outmatched. "How did you learn all that, Gwendolyn?"

"Before my father made me start working at Roses Galore, he let me get a degree in biology. It wasn't too hard to make him think I wanted to better understand the olfactory system for the sake of our business, even though that was far from the only thing I studied." Gwendolyn smiled. "And please call me Gwen. There's no need to be so formal."

"Alright, Gwen." The name rolled off her tongue much more easily than her full one, yet Brooke's stomach still squirmed as if someone had sewn a dozen sea snakes inside her. Gwen hadn't been anything but kind and polite since she'd met her, so why did the thought of her being anywhere near Jasper make Brooke queasy?

"Meanwhile the only thing I know about the ocean is my stomach hates it." Jasper put a hand in front of his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut. "Goddess, I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"If I knew you were this prone to seasickness, I would have brought along some medicine," Gwen said sympathetically. "The boat's barely moving."

"Don't remind me." Jasper grimaced. "Who ever heard of an Alpha who couldn't handle some water?"

"It's actually common for guests to get queasy when they're not used to being out on the ocean," Brooke said.

"Then why am I the only one who feels like— WHOA!"

A wave rocked the boat, sending Jasper crashing into Brooke. She wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling him close to her so he wouldn't fall.

Heat radiated from her chest, so sudden and intense that she nearly dropped Jasper right then and there. Everywhere his skin touched hers, warmth pulsed to her core. Her heartbeat quickened until it thundered in her ears like waves crashing against the shore.

"Thank you for catching me, but could you please let me go?" Jasper grunted as he repositioned his legs. "I think I can stand."

"Shoot, sorry!" Brooke eased away from Jasper, suppressing a sigh as the warmth surging beneath her skin faded to a dull tingle. An itch she longed to scratch, one that could only be satisfied by Jasper's bristly sideburns brushing against her—

Goddess, she was doing it again!

"I'll go grab some things to help you feel less queasy. Don't follow me," Brooke rushed to add as Jasper tottered toward her. "Go wait by the railing. Looking at the horizon might help."

Before he had a chance to respond, Brooke ran to the boat's emergency supplies. Seasickness had never been a problem for her—unless she counted the homesickness all selkies felt when they spent too long away from the sea—but her family had more than enough experience helping guests settle their stomachs.

By the time Brooke returned with a packet of ginger candies, Jasper stood at the railing alone, his hands clutching the metal so tightly his knuckles whitened. "Thanks for catching me back there," he said. "I had no idea you were so strong."

"I guess all the time I spend hauling around party supplies has given me some muscle," Brooke said as a blush warmed her face. She offered him the bag of candies. "Suck on one of these."

Jasper groaned. "Why am I not surprised you're bringing me more sweets?" Still, he popped a piece into his mouth, his lips scrunching into a grimace. "Shit, that's strong!"

"I know, right? It does work, though." Brooke let out her longest, most overly dramatic sigh. "If only chocolate could cure seasickness. Then I'd have an excuse to bring a whole box every time I brought guests out here."

"My mom used to say chocolate could fix anything. She'd always give me some whenever I overdid myself sparring against the other pups." For just a moment, Brooke thought she saw tears in Jasper's eyes before he blinked them away. "I don't know why I'm telling you that. She's not even part of Cedar Pack anymore."

"No, but that doesn't make her time with your pack any less important." Brooke took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I don't know why your parents split up, but I do know sometimes you just have to let your feelings out. That's what Mom told me when Grandma..."

The words died in Brooke's throat. It had been years since her grandma had passed away, but that memory stung like saltwater in an open wound.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Jasper said quietly. His fingers intertwined with hers, the gesture carrying all the warmth of a hug.

They stood there for a long moment with only the waves shushing against the hull for company. Brooke wished they could stay like that for hours. Maybe forever.

Like all things, that moment was only temporary.

A grimace not unlike his expression when he first tasted the ginger candy twisted Jasper's features. His fingers released their hold on hers, returning not to their earlier position clutching the railing but deep inside his pockets, where she couldn't even consider reaching for them.

"Are you okay?" Brooke asked. As if she didn't already know the answer. She'd screwed up again. Somehow, without saying a single word, she'd taken the beautiful moment they'd shared and ruined it. She was sure of it.

"I'm fine!" Brooke shied away from his voice. "I'm fine," he said softly. He shook his head as if he was dismissing a flea. "I need to go be with Gwen. Everything will be hard enough without her thinking I don't want to be near her."

With that, Jasper left Brooke standing alone by the railing. Her heart tossed as fitfully as the waves. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? Jasper was spending time with who was in all likelihood his mate-to-be, and the two of them were getting along great.

Yet, the sight of Jasper's arm wrapping around Gwen's shoulder and pulling her close as they watched the fish swimming below made tears burn in Brooke's eyes. He was a guest, and that was all he would ever, could ever be.

No matter how much she wished they could be something more.