Page 112 of Moon Tamed

“That sounds like a plan.”

Six hours after beginning my work, I finished my report, checked it for the fifth time for errant typos, and handed it over to Kirkland Marchandle for opinions. Upon his blessings, I sent a copy to my boss and leaked it to a particularly chatty reporter who promised to make certain it would hit the media outlets hot on the heels of the official election announcement.

Said reporter, a younger women with a reputation of being a hardass and fierce huntress of the truth and only the truth, laughed at the contents of my report, praised the moments I’d expressed some irritation on how difficult it was to ferret out any wrongdoing by the upper echelons of the Hunters, and promised everyone already knew what I’d presented but that it was a relief to see evidence it was the truth.

Then she inquired if the media might be permitted to discuss my status with Calden.

When I’d turned and asked Calden for his opinion, Lydia Meyerville had chortled her laughter.

Stealing the phone, Calden said, “You may, but only if you inform people that she is newly shifted and has not undergone her adaptation period. As such, she shouldn’t be bothered for at least three weeks.” After a few more pleasantries, Calden hung up. “She’s a good sort for a reporter, and she’s one of the ones I actually like, so she’ll be delicate with any news about us. Apparently, I’m fragile, and the pressure might shatter my esteem.”

I snorted, and then I cackled over the thought of Calden being fragile.

I could understand hurt and wary, but fragile? No, not him. “You haven’t seemed at all fragile.”

“A few years ago, I was. I’ve learned to accept that life is not something I can control, and if the worst were to happen, life does go on. It just took me a long time to realize that. And I would rather lose and have a chance to win than never have tried at all. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I wanted to take that chance with you. I’ll admit, I was testing you in the lobby, but your reactions were not what I anticipated. And then Lucky? Well, the bird has good taste in women, but I am the victor here even without a beautiful tail to show off.”

“Lucky is a gorgeous peacock, though.”

“And loud. So very loud.”

I laughed. “That he is. And I mean, he has good taste in men, as I hear he proposed to you as well.”

“Maybe he was just trying to convince us we belonged together and was using strange bird rituals trying to show us his approval,” Calden suggested.

“That’s probably not the case, but I’m claiming that story and will use it ruthlessly on anyone who is foolish enough to ask me about my relationship status.”

“We’re just going to tell people the peacock told us we should be together?”

I nodded. “That is exactly what we’re going to do. And if people ask us too many times, we’re going to have to throw one of those stupid parties couples do, and it will be peacock themed, with actual peacocks in attendance.”

“Which means we’re going to have to have a peacock themed wedding.”

“We’re absolutely going to have to have a peacock themed wedding.”

“Would you believe there are a few single peacock shapeshifters in the Hunters?” Calden asked, and he flashed a grin my way. “I bet we could recruit their help with the festivities.”

“How many peacock shapeshifters are there?”

“We have a group of six men, two of whom are single. The other four are married with children, who will likely become peacocks down the road. Their wives are also shifters of the peahen variety, and they all have extended feathered family we could easily ask to join us for some trouble and mayhem.”

“You can consider that a date, Mr. Stephans.”

“That better not be the first date, or the guests will be at high risk of a mauling due to our levels of general frustration.”

“You should just take me to the bookstore now that the report is done, we’ll have a coffee date, and call it a day. Then we’ll go to some fast-food joint and have a second date right on the heels of the first. I have no rules about the second date. Do you?”

“I’m sure I can come up with a few we’ll both like.”

“We should go discuss that at the bookstore.”

“Yes, we should.”

Epilogue: The people wanted Allasandro Stephans to remain in power.

Lucky the Doom Bird won the election in a landslide with Espresso and Latte tying for second place. I shouldn’t have been excited that the whole thing went to the birds and the bunnies. I even showed up on the ballot and, to my amusement and dismay, I won the role of Queen of Animals, a position meant to care for and check on the elected animal representatives of Moonriver.

The people of Moonriver loved animals, and by the time the dust settled, every electable position had an animal representative. The Hunters would be ruled by our bunnies as the second-place victors.

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