“Rainier Rochon, you give those little hellions any more sugar I will cut your dick off.”

“Sprite, not around the kids,” Cash called out.

Cassie threw a pillow in his general direction where he was sitting at their kitchen table.

“They like the spray frosting. Plus, it’s funny to watch them open their mouths like little baby birds,” Rain laughed wickedly.

He’d gotten in his car after leaving Quinn’s dorm and drove straight out to his older brother’s house. He didn’t even call them to say he was coming. He realized that he probably should have, but he wasn’t thinking. Instead, when he pulled up to the house, he barely had the car off before the garage door was opening and his brother stood in the light.

Cash was a big guy, huge. Rain and Fin had nothing on their older brother. Cash was built like the bear he was. His mate, Cassie was tiny, sassy, and mouthy, just like Quinn.

His brother didn’t say anything as he came up to him. He gave him a slap on the back and walked him inside, turning off the lights as he went.

They walked down the hallway to Cash’s office and his brother helped him pull out the futon. He grabbed some blankets and pillows from the closet and tossed them down. Cash walked out pulling the door closed behind him.

That was his big brother. He was exactly the kind of man and mate that Rain wanted to be when he was older. His brother took care of his mate; his first thoughts were of her, then his kids. Everything he did was for them and he was happy as shit.

Rain wanted to take care of Quinn that way. He imagined making her breakfast in the morning. Covering her with blankets while they watched TV. All the things that most people took as a normal part of life, Rain saw as an act of love.

When he finally woke up, he heard his niece and nephew making noise. There was no keeping those two quiet. He lay there for a while going through the minutes and hours since he’d met Quinn. Each smile, each laugh, the sound of her voice when she was sad. But that peace only lasted until the door creaked open and a small brown bear head peeked around the corner. His niece, Jett.

Her bear’s fur was so light it almost looked blonde and made her blend into light colored areas. There was a rug in the living room that she could practically disappear into. That was if she was naked. She currently was sporting pink-striped footed pajamas that had unicorns and rainbows on them. Totally a Cash purchase. Cassie stuck to skulls and crossbones when it came to dressing her kids.

“Hey, Jetty,” he called softly and the little bear pushed through the door and came bounding up to him. She clawed her way up the bed and onto his chest and proceeded to lick his nose. She was quickly joined by Axl whose bear was black as midnight and wearing a black onesie that had an evil looking penguin on it that said I still live with my parents. That was a Cassie purchase. The bears happily welcomed him to their home before they got distracted with wrestling each other. Rain pushed the little bears off his chest and sat up. “Scoot you too. I’ll be right out.”

The twins scampered out of the room and Rain got up to go after them. He found Cash and Cassie in the kitchen cooking breakfast. They moved around each other like they were dancing. Both working without talking like they had always done it for dozens of years instead of just a handful. They probably had a routine that they didn’t even realize.

Rain also didn’t miss the little touches between them. They reached out to each other as they passed, their fingers just touching.

“Did Frick and Frack wake you up?” Cassie asked when she saw him standing in the living room with a baby bear trying to climb his leg.

“Babe, don’t call them that,” Cash said.

After a family breakfast he offered to watch the monsters with Cash, not that he needed any help, and spending time with his kids was Cash’s idea of a party. Cassie went to work and then came back to have lunch. That was when she yelled at him for feeding the kids spray frosting. He had found it in the cupboard when the babies started fussing.

He wasn’t sure if she really didn’t want the kids having sugar or if she was mad because it was part of her own goodie hoard. Cassie was well known for her affinity for sugar and her willingness to cut a bitch if you broke into her personal stash.

Now he was ignoring her and squeezing the nozzle into the kids’ mouths. The frosting was bright pink and the kids were covered in it. The level of food dye in the stuff was probably really bad for them, but Rain figured that their bears’ metabolism would burn it off.

His plan was that when the sugar really kicked in, he’d head over to his parents until it wore off. What were uncles for?

The babies were squealing for more and spontaneously shifting between human and bear they were so excited.

“You little asshole, you’re going to ditch them with me aren’t you?” she accused him.

Cash was silently laughing in the kitchen as Cassie stood with her hands on her hips tapping her foot. Considering the way Cassie looked, she wasn’t very intimidating. Her hair was in a bob that reached her shoulders and was bright teal. She was wearing purple lipstick and a Van Halen t-shirt and a flowered skirt. Her voice stern but she looked fucking cute. He totally got why Cash never worried about making his mate mad.

Cash had told him once to find a girl that got cuter the madder she got. It was great advice, and if he let himself think about how Quinn had looked last night, she hadn’t been mad but she had been frustrated, and she was still beautiful. There was a chance that he would see her totally pissed off and he expected her to look like a goddess.

“I’m not ditching these beautiful babies, I’m visiting mom and dad.”

“Take them with you. She loves babysitting.”

“Babe, if we want her to babysit next week we can’t wear her out with cracked out babies today,” Cash reminded her.

“We don’t have crack babies, we have hellions. Totally different,” she said, glaring at Rain then shooting her mate a look.

“Fine, but I’m taking them over to play with their cousins. Cash, can you stop by after work?”

“Yeah, Sprite.”

“Rain, are you staying for dinner?”

“Not sure. I’m thinking maybe I’ll see what Angel is up to.”

“I think he’s in Seattle this weekend. Didn’t you talk to him?” Cash asked.

Shit, he had never returned Angel’s text from the other day. He’d been so caught up with Quinn and class that his family wasn’t on the forefront.

“Oh, yeah. Slipped my mind. I’ll text him, tell him he sucks ‘cause he missed me.”

“I’m sure he’s going to be crying in his cornflakes,” Cassie laughed.

“Okay, you two. No more frosting, I’m sure mommy has cans spread all over the house, but she wants this one back.”

“You got that right, biotch.”

Rain took the frosting and walked it back to the kitchen with the kiddos trailing behind him.

“Now they aren’t going to leave you alone,” Cash said with a laugh.

“They love me. I think I might go for a run first before heading to mom and dad’s.”

“Good idea. You know how to get in if we aren’t here,” Cash said.

“You still have the freezer locked up?”

“Shit, no. I took it off after you and Fin went to college. It’s full of kid crap now.”

“It’s fine. I’m sure mom has something. I’ll try to fill up over there first.”

Rain leaned down and gave raspberries to both the babies on their necks, then kissed Cass on the cheek. He nodded to his brother and headed out onto the back deck. Cash’s house looked over a river. It was secluded and you didn’t have to worry about stumbling on anyone. He stripped out of his clothes by the riverbank and took a deep breath as he tried to relax.

His bear was there but a little hesitant to come out. It had been a while, and his bear was just as confused about their life as he was. Convincing his animal that he needed him to take over, he felt the change pour over him like a waterfall. There were sparks of color and the world shimmered into something different, and all at once Rain was looking through his bear’s eyes. The big creature who was a dark brown color scratched his black claws into the dirt. His bear was taking in the sweet fresh scent of the trees, the water, and the animals in the distance.

He told his bear to run, to take it all in. The animal agreed, jumping through the river until he made the other side.

They needed hours in the woods to stop thinking, to stop worrying. To find a little peace.