Gabriel ran alongside Reta, the night air crisp with the coming autumn. The two of them tried to get out at least once a week, since these kinds of runs fed Reta’s soul as much as their time spent twined in each other’s arms fed his own. Well, perhaps it wasn’t just the tangle of limbs that gave Gabriel solace, since their tongues ended up tangled together almost as often. Taste, trust, and affection.

They had tried to keep the changes in their relationship from their coworkers, but the teasing hadn’t even taken a week to begin. Doug had spoken with them both, warning them to keep their personal and professional lives separate. Quiet affection and smiles aside, they found that they were able to walk the line with relative ease; their days may belong to the office, but their evenings and nights were their own.

Gabriel’s attention snapped back to the present as he suddenly felt the power of boundary wards which had been anchored to the surrounding trees. “Reta,” he called out as a warning. She turned her head to him and he swore he read a smirk on her doe’s face, even as she bounded even further ahead. She wouldn’t do this without a warning first… A grizzly’s distinctive roar reminded him that yes, she was indeed playful enough bring him here without advance notice.

Gabriel could only sigh as he kept moving towards the uncommon welcome. Even though he expected the sight, actually seeing a doe nuzzling up against a seated grizzly roughly the size of a dump truck left him breathless. The grizzly acknowledged his presence with a subdued vocalization that sounded a bit like a ‘harrumph’, but continued to pet Reta with paws the size of truck tires.

Two more grizzlies entered the clearing, their bodies not nearly as large as the first, but still incomparable to their wild brethren. The newcomers growled their own greetings to Reta, who responded with her own high pitched bleat even as she remained by the seated bear’s side. The two newcomers changed into their speaking forms, and approached Gabriel.

During the introductions - Reta’s mother Mabil and younger brother Brev - Reta and a tall, well built man that Gabriel could only assume was her father joined them in their speaking forms. “See? I told you that they’re all absolute marshmallows,” Reta teased.

“You take that back,” Brev growled, already reaching out to poke her in the side. Reta laughed and danced away from her scowling brother to hide behind Gabriel.

Gabriel laughed, even as he initiated greetings with her father. The teasing and roughhousing had the feel of an exceptionally common sight in Reta’s adopted household. Though he guessed that she typically hid behind her father.

Mabil gently chided Reta after all the formalities were over, “You didn’t warn him that you were coming over for dinner, did you?”

“Of course not. He was already a bit intimidated from just knowing that I was raised by a bear clan, so I thought it would be simpler if he just met you all,” deadpanned Reta, who was still using Gabriel as a shield against Brev.

Gabriel suddenly envied her family’s ability to growl, for that comment definitely deserved nothing if not a good growl. Not trusting his own vocal cords to the task, he decided to take a different, if equally satisfying route. He quickly turned, grasped Reta around her hips, and promptly tossed her over his shoulder. Ignoring her squeaks and fists pounding on his back, he turned to Mabil and asked, “So, you said something about dinner?”

Laughter rang out from many voices, and Mabil reached out to cup Gabriel’s cheek. “You’ll fit right in. Welcome to our family, Gabriel.” The five of them chatted and played as they walked back towards their den; actually, four of them walked, and one was carried, much to her brother’s delight.