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maybe?”
    “Mice don't like cheese,” Sara informed him.
    “What?” he asked, confused. “She loves cheesecake and she was eating a cheese sandwich earlier.”
    Sara shrugged from where she lay sprawled in a chair reading a magazine. “Tara likes cheese. The mouse doesn't. Mice don't like cheese all that much, it's a common misconception.”
    “Ah,” Alex said, watching the little mound of sawdust quiver. “I picked up some of Mario's cheesecake for you to have later. I didn't want you to miss out.”
    A little nose poked out of the bedding, sniffed, and then inched forwards. Her head appeared, then her ears, finally the whole mouse was up against the bars, sniffing. He sat the box with the cheesecake next to the cage.
    “I'm sorry about my mother,” he told her. “She's just your typical mama bear, trying to keep her cubs in line... and get them mated off. She just gets overexcited.”
    The mouse eyed him. He could swear she rolled her eyes at him.
    “Okay,” he said with a shrug. “She gets bossy and interferes a lot. The good news is that once we're mated, she'll go home and pick on my brother.”
    The mouse snorted at him and ran off to play in her wheel.
    “So, you have one of those overbearing mothers?” Sara asked. “Pun intended.”
    “It's a bear thing,” he said, shrugging.
    “Do you think maybe you could set her on Barry?” Sara asked hopefully. “Might keep them both out of the way for a while. I'd do it myself, but I have anger issues. It'd get messy.”
    That would be a truly evil thing to do, and yet totally brilliant. He was really going to like his mate's sister.
    The wheel stopped spinning and Tara scurried over and looked at him, eyes narrowed.
    “What?” he asked her. “My mother will enjoy it, Barry won't, and it'll keep both of them away from us. It's a plan with no downside.”
    A little mouse paw opened the latch on the cage and the mouse came out. She looked at him and took a few steps toward him. He put his hand down and the mouse climbed onto it, her little feet tickling the palms of his hand. He gently stroked her head with one finger. She looked at the door and then back at him.
    “You want me to take you upstairs?” he guessed. The little mouse nodded at him.
    He carefully got to his feet and carried her to her bedroom. She was so tiny in this form, it made him feel like a giant. If they had kids that turned out to be bears, he'd have to watch none of them accidentally squished her. Maybe he could get her one of those plastic balls to run around in.
    He set her down on the bed and she squeaked at him.
    “Okay, I'll be downstairs,” he said, walking to the door. He'd love to stay, but she'd been freaked out enough for one night. For now, he could give her space.
    Back downstairs, he sat down to wait with Sara.
    “So how big a threat is this Barry?” he asked her.
    “I don't know,” she answered, frowning. “Tara kept what was happening from me, from the whole family. We didn't hear from her much, she never let on how bad things were. Not until recently. I never liked him, I always thought he was a slimeball, but I had no idea what she went through. I suspect she still hasn't told us everything. If I'd known, I'd have dealt with him years ago.”
    Alex nodded. “So, it was bad enough to have her move here to get away from him. She seems scared of him. I don't like that.”
    “Me neither,” she agreed. “Tara's braver than most people realize, braver than even she knows. She just gets overwhelmed sometimes, and Barry can get to her more than most. The excessive running away is a symptom of Barry.”
    “You make him sound like a disease,” he said, smiling.
    “Yeah, you don't want to come down with a bad case of Barry,” she drawled. “May cause excessive running, vomiting, and homicidal rages.”
    “I'm not going to let him get to her,” he said. No matter what he had to do, Tara was his mate and nobody was going to upset her.
    “Neither am I,” Sara