Marcus turned to her, exhausted and hopeful. “You like the paperwork guy?”

He blushed. “I have a book on penguin courtship rituals.”

The thaw turned into a full-blown melt. She was in trouble.

And sometimes, just sometimes, the keepers learned it from them.

“They’re picky ,” Elara shot back, defensive of her beloved duo, Kumo and Suki. “It’s the bamboo shipment. Too fibrous.”

“What are you doing?” Priya whispered.