Page 57 of Moon Tamed

Laughing at my dismay, Calden’s father opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a rather thick folder. “I wasn’t prepared for comedy hour, but this should give you a decent overview of the general situation.”

I approached the desk, sat on one of the empty chairs across from him, and set the monstrosity on my lap before opening it. A table of contents greeted me, and I discovered the folder had been organized by month and year.

The table of contents consisted of ten pages of incidents, with a reference to a second file of older kidnappings or attempts. “This table of contents implies at least some of these weren’t attempts. They were successful kidnappings.”

As one, the Stephans men shrugged.

With wide eyes, I flipped to the first case, which proved to have been a successful kidnapping, resulting in Calden having been taken out of the city-state for a period of two weeks. The kidnappers, a pair of young shapeshifter sisters, had wanted to stake some claims on him.

According to the police report, Calden had indulged them, taught them how to better control their instincts, and defused the situation. The two girls, both of whom had been minors at the time, had gotten off with a slap on the wrist.

They’d run away from home, as their parents hated shapeshifters.

“I admire your handling of that situation,” I admitted, holding up the overview page for Calden to see.

“They were really sweet girls. They just had no idea how to control their wolves. They got the help they needed, so they’ll be fine. I did give them a stern lecture about why they need to properly pursue their future men rather than resort to kidnapping.” Calden grinned. “Their method was adorable, though. They used a toy gun, and in a wavering voice, the one asked me to please come with them. They didn’t think to take the plastic tip off their paintball gun. They had remembered to remove the air canister and the paintballs so it looked like a gun if someone hadn’t really seen one up close before. But the bright pink tip gave it away.”

Despite my concern over the situation, I giggled at the thought of a pair of teens kidnapping Calden with a paintball gun. “And you went with it?”

He tapped the side of his nose. “I could smell they were shapeshifters, and desperate shapeshifters can hurt those who haven’t awakened their animals yet. They look even younger than they are, so I decided to go see what the problem was. It quickly got out of hand, as the girls aren’t all that stupid, so it took me a week to settle them down before I could contact Dad about it. Then Dad had to deal with law enforcement, as they took me out of city-state limits. We prefer to handle these cases outside of the court system.”

“Doesn’t that just encourage them to keep trying?” I asked, frowning while I considered the thick folder.

“Well over half of the kidnappings are organized by people within our faction to test their skills,” Calden’s father admitted. “It’s the ones who aren’t in the faction that are the problem.”

“And it didn’t occur to either of you that maybe you should ask them to limit their hunting of Calden to the faction hunts?” I blurted.

“He’s worth more alive than dead,” Calden’s father reminded me. “And it’s not my place to inform women that kidnapping isn’t a viable flirtation method. I admire the effort they put in for a chance to meet him. It’s rather ridiculous, really. Only two of the kidnappings were for actual ransom, and Calden did a perfectly fine job of freeing himself. Kidnappers rarely remember that shapeshifters can shapeshift, and it’s very difficult to restrain a human who can turn into a wolf. It’s only when they collar him that it’s an issue, and most keep the collar loose enough he can slip it off when he shifts.”

“It’s good to be a wolf,” Calden informed me in a solemn tone. “Every member of the faction is kidnapped at least once. It is part of the faction waiver. It permits Dad to scheme to have the new members kidnapped. It’s a faction event, and the kidnapped finds out the day they’re grabbed.”

How had I never heard of that tradition? Had I known that was a part of their tradition, I would have been exploring the Hunters of Moonriver as an option long ago. “You kidnap your new members. As part of their welcome to the faction?”

“We do,” Calden’s father confirmed.

“And all someone has to do is sign a waiver and sell their soul to the faction?”

“That’s correct.”

“And post-kidnapping, the formerly kidnapped can help plan future kidnappings?”

Calden smirked but said nothing, leaving his father to reply, “That is typically how it works.”

“Time off per year?”

“We start at four weeks, and a new week is added every other year, to a maximum of eight weeks a year. Any accumulated vacation time over that is paid out every check,” he stated.

“Starting income?”

“Starting income is determined on the skills of the incoming Hunter, although no one in the faction starts at anything below thirty an hour. Subsequent raises are determined by skills, expertise, and general performance. There is a minimum yearly increase of five percent to account for cost-of-living increases,” Calden’s father replied.

I twitched, as thirty an hour would completely change how I lived my life. “Eight hours, five days a week?”

“Overtime is paid at double, and we have a list of when overtime can be done. Otherwise, it can wait.”

“Follow your own rules,” I informed him.

Calden choked, and his father raised a brow at me.

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