There were always going to be too many people around for Ray's taste when they invited all their families over, but as long as he wasn't the centre of attention, it wasn't that bad. He wasn't tempted to go hide inside like Alec clearly was; it was more that he was quite keen to stay close to the edges of the crowd.

He touched Alec's elbow in passing and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “There’s always more food and drinks to bring out, if you need a break.”

Alec gave him a grateful smile. “Don't worry, Gabriel is manning the grill. He keeps sending me inside for fresh meat,” he explained. Ray paused, watching his face for a clue. “I talked to him,” Alec said in response to the unspoken question, a little testily but fond. “He will behave.”

“Good,” Ray decided. “If he doesn't...”

Alec snorted. “You can find your own reasons to shout at him if you want,” he said, pushing Ray gently towards his mother and siblings in the middle of the room.

Ray's eyes were drawn to the pups, who he could feel the most clearly of all his pack and found them chasing after Alec's father as Alec's mum watched from the sidelines. They looked like such put together people: classy without being ostentatious, warm if a little too proper—but they were both betas and professionals so maybe it was something they’d picked up from the humans they spent the day with. Except... Alec's father had to be fifty if he was a day, werewolf genetics or not, and he was laughing his head off with his grandchildren.

Ray had seen them with Alec—so formal it made him itch to ask them to give their son a hug. But what did he know? Alec had such a hard time accepting hugs, maybe they just didn't know how to offer them, slow and measured, so that he could accept their affection.

Alec's mother knelt and picked up Sasha, leaning in and blowing a raspberry on her cheek with unapologetic glee. Sasha's giggles made half the crowd near the main table turn their way and Ray spotted his own mother and Josh’s among them.

He headed over, aware that he was hosting the event and had to at least make an effort to greet everyone.

“Ray,” his mum said with a radiant smile. “You look good.”

Ray smiled back. “I like your blouse.”

“Oh.” She tilted her head towards Josh's mother. “Juliet gave it to me for my birthday, it's gorgeous, isn't it?”

“If it caught our artist's eye,” Juliet said with a glint in her eye, “I suppose I did alright.”

Ray rolled her eyes at her. “Nice to see you. Josh said you finally found a frame for the picture.”

“It was hard to do it justice,” she responded with unapologetic hauteur.

Ray glanced away because she meant it and even though he had accepted a new commission and he was pretty happy with how it was coming along, it was hard to accept such sincere praise to his face—especially from someone picky enough about frames that she’d visited several shops before finding the right one. “Thanks,” he said, for lack of anything better. “I gotta...”

They waved him away but he didn't make it far before Anne was tugging on his arm. “Josh said you got table tennis,” she said, not bothering with a greeting.

Ray raised his eyebrows. “Hello, Anne, long time no see. How are you?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Rayyyyy.”

He shrugged. He had been the tough parent for way too long and he had plenty of his own teenagers to look forwards to now. Plus, he had seen enough of what could happen when kids didn't get to talk to adults like they were both just people. “Say please and I will show you,” he compromised, smiling at her.

Anne widened her eyes slightly and gave him her best earnest look. “Please, Ray, may I play table tennis?”

He laughed, impressed despite himself. “Yeah, okay, come over. Where's Harry?”

“Dunno, running around somewhere. There were other boys around.”

“Yeah?” Ray asked, wracking his brain to try and imagine who it could be. Iesu's brother was older than him, Alec, Sergi and Josh were only children—product of beta marriages—and Gabriel's youngest brother was only a few months younger than Ray himself.

They found Josh adjusting the net on the table as a gaggle of boys, including Harry and Glen, waited around clutching rackets.

“You almost got another football team here,” Ray said and his mate darted a smiling look at him before twisting the net once more and testing it.

“Stop trying to make everyone a footie fanatic, Ray,” he accused good-naturedly. “There’s other games in the world.”

“Football is better,” Ray replied. “Okay,” he told the kids. “How about you all tell me your names and ages and we will set this up?”

It took him a minute to calm them down enough and get them to tell him who they were in order. Even Harry and Glen had tried to answer, maybe not wanting to be left out, maybe just overly-excited.

“Okay,” he decided. “Harry, there’s a whiteboard and a pen on the fridge, go get it for me so we can keep track of points.”

It turned out the two boys were Iesu’s nephews by his sister Sorina. Ray did the maths while he taught them all the basics of swinging without sending the ball across the field or smacking each other on the face, and realised she had to be an omega. That explained why she’d moved countries with her parents and the fact that she’d had Andrew and George at quite a young age. Their English had none of the traces of an accent Iesu’s did so he was shocked when a soft word in Romanian stopped Andrew from tripping his brother.

He looked up to a young woman, green eyed and light-haired but with factions Ray saw echoed every day on Irina’s and Iesu’s face. She offered him a timid smile and a hand to shake. “Sorina,” she said. “Thanks for having us.”

Ray took her hand and felt her relax. Of course, she was an omega in his territory. “My pleasure,” he replied. “You guys speak Romanian at home?”

“Yes,” she said simply, no clue as to whether the question pleased or disturbed her.

“Iesu and Irina are trying their best,” Ray said. “But maybe you can try and speak to the babies and let me know how they are doing?”

She couldn’t quite hide her surprise at that. “That’s... admirable.” Ah, there was the song Ray had come to expect under the vowels.

He shrugged. “Would be pretty stupid to pass up the chance.”

“Are you learning too?” she asked, sidestepping a little in what he immediately realised gave her a better angle of the table and the kids without forcing her to look away from him.

“Me?” Ray laughed. “I couldn't even hack French. I don't think—”

“Well,” she suggested with a sly smile that reminded him of Irina. “You don't need that much to get my brother in line.”

He snorted. “Should I learn to say 'heel'?” he joked.

“I think 'shut up' might come in handy more often,” she replied, unmistakeably affection in her voice.

He laughed. “Okay, what's that?”

“Taci din gurâ.”

One of the children laughed behind them and Sorina gave a shrug. “Not something you tell children,” she admitted. “You ready?” she asked and repeated it slowly.

Ray repeated it, feeling like his tongue wasn't quite up to the task and she made him say it again. After four tries, he thought he had it and Iesu's sister gave him a thumbs up. Ray tilted his head towards the table. “You want to play? I feel bad about beating them at it and I'm banned from football.”

Her expression flickered at that and too late he realised there weren't that many reasons he could be forced not to play football. As an omega, she'd probably guess. But if she did, she didn't let her stop her long. “Sure.”

They watched Harry and Anne battle it out until she beat him with a shout of triumph that made half the adults in the place jump, Ray included. Then Ray sent them all to get some food from the grill and faced his sister in law. “You know how to play?”

“We had a table at school,” she explained, then proceeded to swiftly score twice. It wasn't reflexes, Ray had always been one of the fastest wolves in his pack and she was maybe a little above average. It was skill.

He was panting after a few minutes, losing badly but grinning hard. “When you said you had a table at school...”

“I kinda beat everyone there,” she admitted.

He laughed. “Okay, lemme see if I can remember how this goes and make it entertaining for you.”

By the time his stomach growled and he raised his racket to admit defeat, he noticed they were being watched. It was only Iesu and Irina, and then he saw Iesu's parents were standing closer to Sorina with a man who had to be her brother. He looked a lot like Iesu, dark haired and dark eyes, a little thicker around the shoulders even though he was a beta.

Iesu took a step forwards and kissed his sister. “Showing off?”

“Taci bin gurâ, Iesuvel,” she replied and Ray laughed at the unexpected pleasure of understanding her.

Iesu shot him an alarmed look. “What’s she been teaching you?”

Ray shrugged, suppressing his smile. “Don’t forget our guests,” he reminded his mate.

Iesu seemed reluctant but sighed and introduced everyone. He spoke English for the most part but when he briefly pointed at Iesu he switched to Romanian for a word or two. Ray saw Codrin stiffen and caught Sergi's startled look but Iesu's parents didn't react and Sorina just kept smiling.

He wondered if Iesu had just shoved Sergi out of the closet as unceremoniously as Gabriel had done to Alec but Sergi, who was normally quiet, was actually adding to the conversation quite naturally, trying out the Romanian he'd picked up and impressing Iesu's family with his pronunciation.

Iesu's brother was the only one still quiet and Ray sighed and figured he’d take one for the team. He edged closer and offered him a racket. “Want to go once before the kids get back?”

Codrin looked startled, but he nodded. It was disconcerting to see someone who looked so much like Iesu look so serious.

They played for a few minutes, light and easy. The man had clearly played before but he either had had no interest or no chance to become a machine like his older sister.

Ray scored again and looked up to prepare for Codrin's serve, but his brother in law shook his head. “You win,” he said and Ray realised he hadn't heard his voice before.

“Going easy on me?” he teased.

Codrin's lips curved but he didn't quite smile. “Just hungry.”

“Oh, sorry,” Ray said at once, putting down his racket. “Let’s—”

“Do you know what he said?”

Ray stopped, then glanced at Iesu and his family. Sergi wasn't there anymore. He licked his lips and met Codrin's eyes. “I can guess.”

“And you are not...” The man looked concerned and he'd known Ray for the space of minutes.

“Hey,” Ray whispered. “It works for us,” he promised. “Really. I'm happy... I'm happy for them.”

Iesu's brother watched him for a moment longer. “Okay, I— sorry, it's none of my business.”

Ray waved him away. “You are family now. You can be nosy,” he said and waited a beat before heading for the grill.

“I'm not, though,” Codrin explained. “It’s just... Iesu's...” He sighed. “I love him, but he is a bit much. Sometimes.”

Ray snorted. “Your sister just taught me how to say...” He hesitated but then figured the worst that could happen was that Codrin laughed. “Taci bin gurâ.”

Codrin did laugh, actually looking Ray in the face as he did. “Yeah, that's perfect.”

&

“Hey, charmer,” Gabriel said as Ray approached the grill for another burger. Alec was nowhere to be seen.

“What?”

“You charmed the in-laws,” Gabriel explained, flipping a couple burgers in quick succession.

“Your parents?” Ray guessed. Gabriel’s parents hadn’t come to the barbecue, although he’d seen his brother Nathaniel around, so maybe...

Gabriel snorted. “You don’t need to charm my parents.” He extended a hand for Ray’s plate and placed a bun and barely cooked burger on it. “Baked potato?”

Ray shook his head. “Because of Maria?”

Gabriel stopped and looked straight at him. “No, because my parents are judgemental jerks.”

Ray held his gaze. “And yet you seem to keep trying.”

His cousin sighed. “Yeah, well, they are my parents, I'm allowed a few issues.”

“Sure,” Ray agreed. “As long as nobody else gets caught in the cross-fire.”

Gabriel took a moment to move the burgers out of the hottest part of the grill, then glanced around and waved. To Ray's surprise, Codrin came over.

“You mind?” Gabriel checked and Iesu's brother took the spatula from him like they’d arranged it in advance.

Gabriel met Ray's eyes. “Should we go swap the Coke bottles for cool ones?”

They took a couple each, although it was obviously the privacy of the kitchen they were after and not better refrigerated beverages.

“Did Alec talk to you?” Gabriel asked as soon as they were inside.

“Yeah,” Ray admitted. Maybe it wasn’t his place to get between them, but he hadn't been able to keep quiet. Not when Alec...

Gabriel didn't seem offended. He looked... relieved. “Is he really okay?”

“Ah, yeah,” Ray said. “He... he's fine.”

“Okay, I just... I got caught up with my dad, and... You are right, it was out of line.”

“I haven't said anything.”

“Alec told me what you said, and that he agreed.”

“Oh, I didn't mean...”

Gabriel raised a hand. “Please do,” he told Ray sincerely. “You can judge me all you want, and more. You— I have given you plenty of reasons, and besides... Alec's a little... I mean, he can tell me, technically, but...” He faltered. “I know it's difficult for him,” he said in the end, taking bottles out of their fridge. “And it seemed to help him to know what you thought.”

Ray started emptying the flat drinks in the sink, hoping Marisa didn't walk in and shout at him for being wasteful. “It's crazy how... how he doubts himself. I mean, he's so smart and he... Well, he knows a lot about a lot of important things, doesn’t he?” Ray said, feeling like he was babbling. But Gabriel just nodded. “And then when it comes to... dunno, people? It's like he forgets his opinion is important and valid.”

Gabriel slanted a soft look his way. “I’m glad you two are talking,” he said almost shyly.

But Ray could see he meant it. Maybe if you grew up with parents like Gabriel’s, being expected to be a man by being strong all the time and telling everyone what to do, it was difficult to stop—even if you knew it wasn't right. “Well, I'm happy for you. For the two of you, I mean. He's a good influence,” he added a little teasingly, and Gabriel didn't seem able to repress a little smile.

“He is.”

“And he's happier, you know that, right?” Ray asked.

Gabriel nodded. “Thank you, Ray. If... If there's something you need, you will tell me, right?” That gave Ray pause and Gabriel must have thought he had misunderstood somehow. “Or Alec. If that's easier—”

“Stop,” Ray asked. Even a single word was hard when it was Gabriel, but Gabriel listened, holding himself back so Ray could continue. “I will ask. Not sure who, but if I need something, I will ask. I know... I know you got my back.”

“Good.” He picked up three bottles and signalled with his head so Ray followed him to the corridor. “I meant Iesu's family, by the way. His sister wouldn't shut up about you getting the kids to learn Romanian.”

“It was hardly my idea,” Ray pointed out as they came out of the house.

“Yeah, well, apparently her mate was a bit of a dick about it with her kids.”

Ray shrugged. “Such high standards...”

“She also said she taught you how to tell Iesu to shut his mouth,” Gabriel added with a smirk.

Ray shot him an unimpressed look. “And you think I'm teaching it to you?” he asked. “You are out of the dog house, doesn't mean you get treats.”

“Ouch,” Gabriel said, widening his eyes dramatically. “What if I promise to be good?” he wheedled.

“You already have,” Ray pointed out smugly.

Gabriel laughter followed him as he walked off to put down the drinks on the nearest table. It was only when his hands were free again that he noticed his wolf hadn't objected to him brushing his alpha off.