Page 46 of Moon Tamed

The woman spluttered.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t start fights you can’t win,” I suggested. “Calden will be down shortly. I think he’s also herding cats, but not the literal kind.”

My father chuckled. “Long day?”

“The invoices almost won, and I’m pretty sure I broke at least three printers today conquering the red tape. Mom looked like she wanted to throw up, so I thought I’d come offer rescue.”

“We were discussing the upcoming hunt, and Miss Fletcher has some complaints about the base materials we were addressing. I’m sure it’ll be fine, as Mr. Stephans approved the materials before production, and he has been given samples of everything to be used. Miss Fletcher believes the designs to be too fragile to handle a proper hunt.”

“Well, finesse and grace are learned skills, Dad. If they bumble about the playing field, of course they’re going to break things.” At the rate I kept rolling my eyes, I’d make them sore. “I’m sure she can take it up with Calden if she has a problem?”

“Who is taking what up with me?” Calden asked from behind me.

I turned. “Oh. I thought you would be upstairs longer.”

Calden twisted around and pointed in the direction of the elevators, where his father chatted with several Hunters. “He showed up right after you left, so we came down right away. What’s the problem?”

“The snoot here got mad at me for approaching when she was talking to my parents,” I informed him. “They were busy having an important conversation.”

That earned me a raised brow. “And she was only having that conversation because they were here waiting for you. Really, Sarai? First, they’re doing us a favor with a delicate bit of crafting work—work none of us can do because it’s too delicate. Second, the whole point is for the pieces to be fragile. The hunt is for skill and finesse, not for brute strength. If you can’t handle how delicate the objects are, don’t participate in that section of the hunt. They’re making the pieces expecting them to be broken. That’s the entire point. We want to showcase finesse, and recovering something delicate in a hunt is a good way to showcase it. They’re not supposed to be flawless jewels. They’re supposed to be delicate and easily broken.” As though questioning if the woman could compute what he said, he repeated, “Fragile is good in this case. But please don’t show your ass to the temp. She’s doing a huge amount of work bailing us out due to the quarantine right now, and Mr. Stephans will lose his temper if you drive her off from being insufferable. Let it go, and stop poking your nose where it doesn’t belong. Leave the artisans and crafters alone. You’re not going to get them to rig it so the challenges are easier for you. If you want to win, win fairly. You know the other Hunters will call you out if they feel you cheated. Don’t give them a reason to accuse you of cheating.”

The woman scowled, but she nodded before stalking off without another word.

Calden sighed. “Sorry. That’s the ex, and she knows I spend time with your family, so she goes out of her way to be as difficult as possible. If she keeps it up, just come to me, and I’ll have my father straighten her out.”

I marveled that the woman had the audacity to continue being trouble, especially when Calden made it clear he wouldn’t be tolerating such behavior. “I probably shouldn’t have called her a snoot right off the bat,” I admitted.

“She probably earned it, and after the day you’ve had, if she complains to my father, I’ll just tell him she was trying to interfere with the hunt again. This is her normal. I’m used to it.”

“That’s the rabbit woman?” I asked with wide eyes.

“Yep. That’s her.”

Damn. Just from the few moments I’d spent dealing with her, I marveled at Calden’s patience. “Please tell me she wasn’t like that the entire relationship.”

“She wasn’t that bad. She just stopped pretending once we stopped being a couple.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Think I’ll get fired for calling her a snoot?”

“No, because I would’ve called her something far worse,” Calden admitted. “Still, I’m sorry for her,” he said to my parents.

My father waved away Calden’s apology. “She does this every time we set foot in here. It’s expected. I’d be more worried if she wasn’t trying to be a bit of a bear. When she’s not being a beast, she wants something and thinks we can be buttered up to get what she wants. She pulled that trick once trying to get a date with your brother, Coraline.”

My poor brother. “Please tell me he escaped unscathed.”

With a soft snicker, my mother herded me in the direction of the doors. “He caught her pulling similar tricks, and he wasn’t nearly as nice as you were. He got pissed she was giving your dad a hard time. Snoot was far nicer than what he said, which is why I’m not even scolding you for it.”

“Well, if she’d been polite, I would have been polite.”

“And you’re tired and cranky enough you couldn’t do polite if you wanted at this point.”

“I can do polite! She just didn’t deserve it.”

“Sure,” my mother replied, crouching for a look into the cheetahs’ carrier. “And how are my grandkittens doing today?”

“They don’t really belong to me,” I mumbled. “But they were good. No messes, minimal destruction, and my feet and shoes emerged unscathed. They’re eating well. Calden says they’ll have a habitat in the building soon.”

“Alas, for the grandparents of the kittens, this is true,” Calden confirmed. “But I’ll make sure that the handlers and receptionists know you’re authorized to see the cheetahs and work with them. I’ll have your names added to the training roster along with Coraline. How is Lucky doing?”

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