Allie woke up as Graham got out of bed. She kept her breathing steady, listened to him dress, heard the short burst of sound as he opened the bedroom door into the living room, and relaxed back into the only real quiet time she’d get all day. Reaching out, she checked on the boys, checked on the family in the city, checked on David and was thrilled to find him out of the park and eating breakfast with Auntie Carmen and Auntie Bea. With any luck, his presence would mute their smugness at her news.

It looked like they were getting their seven sons.

Given the Gale ratio of sons to daughters, she and Graham and Charlie had laughed about the thirty-five girls they’d have to get through for seven boys. The only thing keeping the aunties from putting Graham out to stud was that cursory research on blended families suggested the seven boys had to be full siblings.

She could still draw the line at four.

“And if a condom can’t stop your daddy, there’s always more permanent solutions,” she murmured as she stroked the slight curve of her stomach—a curve that had nothing to do with this set of twins and everything to do with the last set. And possibly all the pie her mother had been sending. The permanent solution would mean she and Graham would no longer be anchoring second circle, fertility being nonoptional, but there were enough second circle Gales out here now . . .

Of course none of them had the benefit of their grandmother’s meddling, the need to defeat the Dragon Queen making them strong enough to hold the entire city.

They could take turns so no one would have to hold it for more than the space between rituals, but with Calgary changing so quickly on its own, they’d have to scramble to keep up.

“Looks like we’re doing this, babies.” She sat up and threw off the covers. “So let’s do it right.”

After she broke the news to the aunties, she’d call Peggi and talk her into moving west. Her son would horn by next ritual and Cameron needed backup. The city could always use another pharmacist and her husband could return to school for the master’s degree he always talked about. Both her older daughters were already third circle so, if they didn’t want leave Darsden East in their last years of high school, there was plenty of family to take them in. Peggi wouldn’t be hard to convince; Allie’d heard she hadn’t spoken to Auntie Jane since the Hunt for Uncle Evan.

“The aunties won’t like losing Steve,” she told the babies, “but I don’t really care what those aunties won’t like. We have more than enough aunties of our own.”

But no sisters.