There are bears everywhere.

When Magnus said family dinner, I was expecting his parents, maybe a sibling, not upwards of 30 people.

I can feel my palms start to sweat at the amount of people.

“Magnus?”

His light tan eyes lock onto mine as he lets himself out of his seatbelt.

“I don’t think we brought enough pie…”

His lips twitch upwards slightly, but I can see the nerves behind his eyes.

“Is it too much to fast? They can be a lot. We can leave Gorgeous; I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“It’s more people than I was expecting to meet but I’m not backing out now Mister Bruin.”

His nostrils flare slightly, and I chuckle to myself at how much that affects him. He is so open with his reactions. It makes it so easy to tease him.

Zhen yips as Magnus lifts him from the car seat. He stays in his panda form most of the time. I believe it’s his way of coping with the changes and his own grief.

He has also grown quite attached to Magnus in the day he’s been here.

Climbing out of Magnus’s truck I take in what I assume to be his parents house. It is one of the fanciest log cabins I’ve ever seen, it was huge, 2 stories and looked more like a rustic resort. There were people everywhere, playing games in the yard, sitting on porch swings and wooden deck chairs, chatting. A small pack of grizzly cubs ran through the adults.

This was like an entirely different world to me. When my family gathers it’s more like a business event , adults standing around drinking, networking, schmoozing and making business deals while the children are with nannies and caretakers where they won’t ‘be disruptive’. It was never this… warm.

“Is that my ungrateful offspring I smell?” A loud feminine voice cuts over the random chatter and next to me Magnus groans loudly and passes Zhen to me. I manage to hold him and the pie in my hands.

Following his gaze, I see a short, curvy woman pushing her way through the crowd and I am slightly surprised.

She’s a good foot shorter than Magnus’s 6 and a half feet, her dark brown hair is piled up in a messy bun away from her face. Her jeans are faded and ripped, her black tank top looked to be speckled with paint, like her son she was tattooed heavily. Looking down at her feet, I notice she is barefoot, which to be honest I find to fit her entire aesthetic.

I would never have guessed she is Magnus’s mother; she looks young enough to be his sister, but they have no features in common expect for the light tan color of their eyes.

“Come on Ma, ungrateful? Really?” Magnus mutters as he leans down to embrace the much smaller woman.

Her eyes twinkled with mirth as she smirked at him.

“That’s what you get for hiding your mate from me Fluff Butt.”

It takes a lot of self-control not to laugh at THAT nickname.

“Forgetting to tell you is not hiding Ma,” he whines, “where’s Pa at?”

“Kitchen of course. You know how he gets. Now introduce me.”

Her gaze shifts over to me, widening slightly as it settles on Zhen.

“Ma, this is my Mate, Doctor Jing Owens. Jing this is my Mother.”

“Hello Ma’am, it’s an honor.” I go to hold out my hand then realize both are occupied at the moment.

“Please call me Siobhan. Now tell me, who is this ball of cuteness that my son so casually forgot to mention.”

Of course, he didn’t tell them about Zhen. What am I going to do with him, he can be such a mess.

“This is Zhen, my son.” I shift Zhen so he can see Siobhan, his eyes keep moving all around as he tries to take in everything. Like me, he has never been around such a free-spirited environment.

Siobhan’s mischievous eyes go to her son and the smirk on her face is downright evil.

“Oh, Fluff Butt, I hope you know what this means?”

Magnus narrows his eyes at his mother’s back as she leads us into the house.

“You’re an evil woman.”

I try to ignore all the stares from various members of Magnus’s extended family.

Once we get into the house, we seem to be following the sound of voices and Magnus visibly pales under his freckles.

“Um…. How many of them are in the kitchen Ma?”

“Just your father and all your siblings.”

Magnus stops in his tracks, shaking his head.

Well, now I’m really concerned.

“Just how many siblings do you have Magnus?”

“Six.” He says, “They are never gonna let me live this all down.”

I nearly drop Zhen in my surprise.

“Six?”

“Mags didn’t tell you. There’s him and the other 2 triplets plus two sets of twins.”

Magnus shrugs.

“I didn’t think it was that important to mention considering everything that’s been going on.”

He’s going to be the death of me, I fucking swear.

Turning to his mother I pass her the pie.

“Siobhan will you give us a minute.” I put Zhen down on the ground and make eye contact with him. “Zhen you can stay here or go with Magnus’s mother, your choice. Between you and me bud, I bet there is something sweet where she’s going.”

“I did hear something about an over abundance of cookies earlier…” Siobhan smiles down at Zhen, “and I think they are just the thing for adorable little panda cubs.”

We watch Zhen scamper after Siobhan barking his excitement. I guess cookies will win over a strict upbring when you’re 5.”

Turning back to my Mate I, once again, must focus on not laughing. His head is hanging low, shoulders drooping, hands shoved deep in his pockets, a decent physical representation of guilt.

“Let’s talk.”