Page 87 of Moon Tamed

I needed every point I could get to defeat Calden’s father. Upon my victory, I’d run off with the man’s son and refuse to give him back.

I’d even add a tally of kidnapping to Calden’s book to get what I wanted, although I’d make sure my target didn’t object to becoming a missing person in my custody.

I suspected word had spread about my tendency to shoot anyone who came into easy range, as all the observers took care to keep their arms and legs out of my range. The few times I spied a shoe over the edge of the catwalk, the Hunter realized their mistake and corrected it before I could gain another point.

Somewhere deeper in the maze, my brother squealed, and a rather amused woof informed everyone that Calden had taken his portion of the hunt seriously. I followed the sound to discover the wolf had pinned my brother to the floor and soaked his face in slobber.

Peter squealed, but thanks to having dropped his paintball gun, all he could do was fend off the fluffy shapeshifter hard at work giving his face a bath.

I picked up Peter’s paintball gun, pointed it at his leg, and fired. Then I nailed him again with my gun to make certain I could claim at least one point from him. “You are lucky you don’t have your face protection on anymore, else I’d be going for heart shots because those are worth more points.” I worked my foot under Calden and stepped on my brother’s chest. “This is how a smart woman hunts down her brother. She sends the wolf to do all the work and leisurely finishes off the helpless prey.”

“You’re evil,” my brother spluttered between rounds of Calden soaking him with wolf slobber. “What did I do?”

“You haven’t taken me shopping for camping supplies yet. Those who do not provide me camping supplies are ruthlessly hunted.”

“I surrender, just make him stop.”

I laughed at my brother’s pleading tone, but I leaned over, wrapped my arms around Calden’s neck, and made a show of pulling the cooperative wolf off. “I think they wanted to see us wrestle on the floor and cat-scratch each other, but this is more amusing.”

“They labeled this as a light warm up,” Peter complained.

“Well, yes. I have no idea what I’m doing. That’s why I brought a wolf! Nobody said I couldn’t catch and bring a wolf. I caught this one fair and square.” I attached the pom pom leash to Calden’s collar. “I hate losing.”

“I came in expecting to be humiliated for the amusement of the Hunters, so it isn’t too bad. Nobody warned me about the wolf breath, though.” Peter escaped from beneath my foot and got to his feet. “We’re the appetizer for the activities, present only to entertain people. But then I heard rumor you started the entertainment early.”

“Eh, my boss annoyed me. He deserved a paintball round to the chest. He’ll get over it eventually. That was worth at least a point.”

“If it’s a confirmed heart shot, it’s worth five points,” my brother replied.

There was something rude about using my smallest paintball gun to take out my brother’s chest at point-blank range, but I wanted my five points. “Oh. I thought it was two.”

Peter stared down at his chest, which had a splat of baby blue over his heart. Heaving his most dramatic sigh, he collapsed to his knee and began his death scene ritual.

As it would take him ten minutes to get over my cruel betrayal, I headed in the direction of the maze’s exit. I’d get some work done and shoot as many co-workers as possible before I was dropped off in the maze to be hunted as a prize.

Mr. Allasandro Stephans either refused to learn from his mistakes, couldn’t bear the thought of accepting defeat, or enjoyed being shot in the chest with paintballs. In the matter of several hours, I’d hit my boss so many times that Calden no longer bothered lifting his head whenever his father stepped into my office. The carpet would need to be cleaned, I’d missed a few times and had decorated the walls with paintball splatter, and a few times, I’d shot the wall on purpose to add to the colorful mayhem.

Even my feathered residents no longer reacted to the bang-splat of my boss being assaulted with yet another bright ball of blue paint.

“You’re enjoying yourself a little too much,” he stated, and he held out a folder. “I need these to be dealt with today, please.”

As I refused to be assaulted with glitter and had already dodged it several times, I gestured to his son, who slept on the floor nearby. “You know the rule. You open the folders over him, and if he wakes up covered in sparkling confetti, you will be blamed.”

“It’s blue to match your paintballs and his collar.”

“I recommend you apply the questionable substance to him in a consistent fashion to maximize his shimmer potential. But you do not get to claim any points from me, good sir.”

Calden’s father regarded his stained suit with a sigh. “I’m pretty sure that one was worth five.”

“Do record my points appropriately. It’s the only way I have a chance of victory.”

“Coraline, you’re so far ahead of everyone else in scoring at this point, that we aren’t even bothering to catch up to you. You realize you’ve been going after heart shots all morning and afternoon?”

“I really want to win.”

“We have noticed. What are you winning? There has to be some prize to make it worth your while this much.”

I gestured at Calden, who must have fallen asleep in earnest, as he hadn’t budged, even when I’d shot his father with the paintball gun.

---