Page 58 of Moon Tamed

“What makes you think I don’t?”

“An inside source informed me you overwork.”

“Calden,” his father complained.

“It’s true.”

“If I let you into my faction, you’ll become a tyrant and rule over my schedule, won’t you?”

“No? But I will have a talk with your secretary.”

“I don’t have a secretary.”

“You need a secretary,” I informed him. “One who controls how much unnecessary access to your person results in overtime.”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a competent secretary?” Calden’s father waved his hand in what I translated to be a dismissive gesture. “The first time I shift and pounce Calden, they quit or request a transfer to a saner part of the Hunters.”

“And what do they do about your prank brownies?”

“Quit or transfer,” he admitted.

“As I understand your relentless drive to irritate your son, I will settle with a quarter per hour raise every time I’m forced to deal with that nonsense. You will need to concoct some form of proposal that would make me consider dealing with this insanity on a permanent basis, and you must get confirmation from my current employer he does not mind me being poached.”

“Calden, wrangle the woman. I’ll get on the phone with her boss. Do not let her escape. Do not let her leave your possession until she has a signed hiring contract. Toss her over your shoulder and cart her around the faction if needed.”

“No,” Calden replied. Instead, he pulled out his work cell, and dialed a number. “Daniel, I need a hiring contract for our temp. She will be my father’s executive secretary. She will be in my general custody until the paperwork is signed. We’re stealing her from the temp agency, so reach out to them that we will send a Hunter over to cover her work until they can acquire a replacement. Begin the process of bringing her into the faction, as she’s currently unaffiliated. If we can’t get a waiver to bring her in advance of the placements, set her up as though she belongs to us. Dad has her staying at one of his townhouses at the moment, so just use his address for the official paperwork in the interim. You can claim overtime for this, as my father needs an executive secretary who doesn’t run away at the first hint of trouble.”

At thirty an hour, I’d do a lot more than deal with Allasandro Stephans pulling pranks on his son. “This could have waited until tomorrow.”

“No,” both men informed me. A moment later, Calden said, “Sorry, Daniel. She tried to tell us this could wait. She has no idea how wrong she is.”

“I can’t be impartial in my report if I’m his executive secretary.”

“Just disclose everything,” Calden replied. “You can use the report as a method of complaining about my father’s tyrannical ways.”

I twitched. “I’m not sure that is how to approach this.”

“View it as a method of streamlining your report. As his executive secretary, there is little you won’t have access to,” Calden said.

“But why me?”

“You conquered thousands of invoices in a day. That’s why,” Calden replied. “You’ll just have to accept your promotion with grace. You’ve been doing secretary work for years. You’ll just be trying to tame the city-state’s most chaotic resident. Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

THIRTEEN

Imagine all the books you could buy with that.

I demanded the entire record of Calden’s kidnappings. In exchange, I agreed to sign a conditional agreement to work as Allasandro Stephans’s executive secretary. I needed to handle my report, but my boss at the temp firm agreed.

Working directly beneath Mr. Stephans would test my patience, but when my boss, now former boss, thought I would fit well with the Hunters, I stopped and listened.

If I worked to contain the chaos in the Hunters, I would get a better view of their operations. As I’d proven myself to have integrity, the other factions would believe my word. If anything, the change in position would add to the burden of my responsibilities, but I would get paid better for doing the work.

An unaffiliated only dreamed of earning thirty an hour.

The papers Calden’s father presented promised a quarter an hour of a raise every time he pulled a prank involving me in any fashion.

The only number missing was my hourly pay, which their human resources department worked to hammer out. “Smart people wouldn’t sign this without knowing how much they’re being paid to reside in bureaucratic hell,” I muttered.

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