Page 60 of Breeding Clinic

Liam lets me go so he can cup my face, his thumbs stroking over my jaw. “Kat, we’ll give you as many babies as you want us to put in you. How many do you want? Four? Five?”

“Five!” My eyes widen. Five is excessive. “I was thinking of three.” I’m thirty-five. We’d need to have them pretty fast. Omegas stay fertile longer than betas, but still.

“Three?” He drops a hand to cup my rounded belly. “Three is easy.”

That’s easy for him to say before the babies get here. “You might change your mind when we’re buying three different sizes of diapers. And not sleeping for the next five to ten years.”

“Good thing there are four of us,” Matthew says. “We can take turns. Packs make it easier. I don’t see how beta pairs get through it.”

“And don’t forget my mother is dying to get her hands on her first grandbaby,” Gabriel says. “She’s offered to come stay with us and help.”

We still need to do the whole meet each other’s families thing. But first things first, there’s something I want to see. I plant a kiss on Liam’s scruffy cheek. He shaved this morning but he’s already got stubble growing. It’s all that extra testosterone from being an alpha. “We can talk about it over dinner.”

“Don’t be long.” Liam sees me into my car, shutting the door for me.

I tap an address into my phone, then wave at them as I pull out. The GPS tells me which way to turn. Across town wherebusiness centers and restaurants get left behind for subdivisions. Where all of the houses look almost the same.

I pass those too, going out to a country road where the houses get older. Grand Victorians and turn of the century Edwardian houses. The original owners were wealthier and could afford to live farther out of town. They splurged for the upgrades on their kit homes.

They also had large families. This one has five bedrooms, four if we want an office. In the late eighteen hundreds it belonged to a doctor. He saw his patients on the first floor, and the family lived above it. His first-floor office has been converted into the main bedroom. A modern bathroom was added, tied into the kitchen plumbing on the other side of the wall. An octagonal room on the first and second floor makes a turret that the covered wraparound porch attaches to. The attic that used to house the servants is tall enough it could be converted into a family living room and play space.

Overall, the house is over three thousand square feet. It’s only been on the market for two weeks. The plumbing and electrical were all updated, but the roof is original. It probably needs replacing soon. A roof like that could cost thirty or forty thousand to replace. The septic system and well need investigating too.

Practicality tells me not to get too excited. But this house… It’s a dream come true.

It’s been painted sage green with plum and cream gingerbread. The gilded accents are worn and need redoing. But the house looks almost exactly like the realtor’s photos. A blessing, compared to some of the other houses I’ve seen. Those had creative angles or straight up photo editing to make them look better than they really are.

Not this house. This house is gorgeous. It’s my dream house. The house is surrounded with flowers. Whoever liveshere now loves to garden. There’s an oak tree in the front with a red swing hanging from it on chains. I can imagine sitting there, a child in my lap. Reading to them, and watching their siblings play on the lawn.

Trees ring the property, old and established. There’s a small creek out back in the woods behind the property. I never saw myself as the sort to live outside of the city. To give up convenience for quiet. But there’s a peacefulness here that I like.

I think about our children, older and playing in that creek. Catching fireflies in a jar and fishing. Walking barefoot in the grass. Planting seeds in the garden with them. Writing my books in that sunny round tower nook while they’re in school. Helping Matthew bake pies from the blueberry bushes we’ll plant in the back. The basement is large. Big enough to turn it into a fitness center for Gabriel. With a small section held aside for Liam to make beer. He mentioned wanting to try it once, but they don’t have the space for the equipment that would take.

In this house, there’d be no shortage of space. A family of seven would fit it nicely. And the schools are good. I play with the GPS, learning how far away it really is. Forty-five minutes to Matthew’s bank. A half hour to Gabriel’s hospital. The same for the bar. And I can work anywhere as long as there’s electricity and wi-fi.

I snap a photo and text it to Jen.

Jen

Gorgeous!

What do they think?

Kat

I haven’t told them yet

Girl…

I know

I’ll tell them tonight

How’d the appointment go?

Good

It’s a girl

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