Page 105 of Moon Tamed

“I don’t bite, not like those wolves,” he informed me.

“The wolves are surprisingly domesticated. They even cook and clean.”

“Calden’s mother was a strange one. Most of her home? Pristine and spotless. But she had two rooms in the house where chaos reigned. So, her husband and son learned a lot about tolerance from the two rooms she tended to destroy as her happy place. Calden is a lot more like his father and prefers when his messes involve dirt from being outside. He didn’t go into his mother’s junk rooms all that much. He’s not interested in crafts, wood working, and things like that.”

“He’s decent at skinning, though.”

“But is he anywhere near as skilled as you?”

“Not precisely,” I admitted.

“Good. It’ll keep him on his toes. And if you were worried about it, you’re about as different from his mother as possible for two women to be. His mother liked hunting shiny baubles and trinkets far more than animals. She loved animals, make no mistake. She wouldn’t have been charmed by a wolf otherwise. But she wasn’t really Hunter material for all she worked in the faction. She was more of a Legacy type. You are not.”

No kidding. “So that stuff Marko was saying about you trying to lure me off?”

“Bravado, to make certain Calden didn’t put up a fight coming over. Calden’s father needs a break from worrying about you children, and he’ll be comfortable knowing you’re with me and my wife. That’ll let him focus on the election without you two being underfoot.”

“This is not going how I thought it would when your sons showed up.”

Kirkland Marchandle winked at me and gestured to the front door of his home, which was a gated estate unlike the Stephans’s properties. “This is my weekend home, although we spend more time commuting than I care to think about. The back yard connects to the woods, so it’s a good place for Calden to take you if you need to stretch your legs as a wolf. I’ve also worked with new shifters enough to be able to handle any emergencies should they arise, but I’ve seen your medical report for your shifter genetics, and you’ll be popping back and forth between your forms in no time. I volunteered to give you the more scientific lecture as the Hunters tend to boil the whole discussion down to shifting isn’t comfortable and it can take anywhere between a few seconds to a few minutes depending on your diet, skill, and determination.”

“Diet?”

“Essentially, shapeshifting breaks down all your cells and reorganizes them into a new shape. A shifter’s DNA is very complicated. You essentially have two entire sets of DNA, one for your human self and one for your wolf self. There are some cases of overlap, but when you shapeshift, you ultimately rewrite all of your cells with limited exception. We haven’t pinpointed how someone maintains their memories and personality through the shift yet, but that’s how it works. At least for now.”

“What is the general process like?”

“For shifting? I can’t tell you how shapeshifters control their transformations. It’s personal, or so says Allasandro. Once you figure out the trick to it, you’ll begin your shift, and your cells will switch to their alternate state. Some people switch their states rather quickly, with each cell simultaneously undergoing the appropriate adjustment. Others cascade, so the body reforms from a starting point. Some cascade in an accelerated state. Those are the luckiest, as it’s fast and orderly. Some, like Calden and his father, have excess magic, so their clothes can become part of their coats. That trick only works with their clothes, so they tend to leave their wallets, cellphones, and keys lying around if they shift in a hurry. As a general rule, they strip before they shift because of it. I recommend putting your personal property in a safe place and stripping before your intentional shifts. For your first time? Nobody knows what will happen. I expect your clothing will be destroyed unless you’re one of the lucky ones. It could go either way. As a warning, there is a high chance you’ll be rather ill after your first few shifts. Your body will go through an adaptation period. You’ll eat like a horse, you won’t ever want to think about what you’re expelling or how you’re expelling it, and Calden will hover until you want to bite his face off, I’m sure.”

“That sounds like less than a fun time,” I admitted.

“It only lasts a few hours in most.” Kirkland led me through his home, which had a casual and modern feel to it with decor I expected to find in something like my parents’ home rather than the home of one of the city’s faction leaders. Then again, Allasandro Stephans rarely did what I expected from a faction leader.

I needed to stop making unfounded assumptions, as it never ended well.

He took me to what had to be his personal office and gestured for me to sit at one of the two armchairs tucked in a corner near an end table. “I’ll be blunt with you, Coraline. Nobody actually wants Allasandro’s job. The Hunters are organized, they’re used to the work, they keep things running smoothly, and the last thing we need or want is to overturn the government right now. We have a plan if Allasandro can’t handle the work, but we wanted to confer with you as you’re the closest to a non-biased party we have. And that’s accounting for your relationship with Calden.”

“Is there anyone willing to run?” I asked.

The older man snorted and relaxed in his seat. “There are always those who want power willing to gamble to get power. The people aren’t stupid, and those who want power haven’t been smart. Their ambition blinded them, and when opportunity knocked, they failed to answer. The evacuation from Earth would have been the perfect moment for someone ambitious to take Moonriver’s reins.”

I nodded, as I’d thought the same and had been surprised by how quiet things had been, even among those protesting the vaccination mandates. “Why is that, anyway?”

“We, as in the faction leaders across the city, made a point of showcasing why it would be a very bad idea. Mostly, we had tens of thousands of refugees to care for, and the last thing the refugees need is to witness us bickering among ourselves. And those who were more vocal were told they should consider leaving and that there were plenty of other city-states capable of handling their whining.”

Ouch. I could see how such a statement would not go over well with many. “How many do you think will leave?”

“In my faction, we have about twenty who were borderline on deciding to leave the planet to pursue sciences. The refugee situation made them decide to take the placement tests to see if they qualified. Most qualified, and the one who didn’t was given the option to undergo training in a different field.” The man smiled. “We’re better off without them, anyway. They’re the kind who think we shouldn’t have welcomed refugees in the first place.”

“But they would have died!”

“I know that, you know that, but they don’t care. The refugees aren’t people to them, and it’s important we remember that.”

I made a sound, and after a moment, I realized I growled.

“And Allasandro was not joking about how borderline you are, I see. I’ll do my best to keep from irritating you into your first shift, but I can’t promise that. This is a rather irritating discussion.”

“On that, we’re agreed. So, those who are truly against this are leaving the planet or city-state?”

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