Wildfire

Chapter 17

Shiloh

It was Rue's first official day as Luna and I could tell he was stressed beyond belief. I see his tensed muscles from across the room, the sweat on his brow as Harper scolds him for yet another improperly signed document.

It didn't take a genius to see that Harper was frustrated with Rue. Harper was a perfectionist when it came to his work. He strives to be the best Luna he could be and wanted everyone else to work as hard as they could.

Because of how long I had known Harper, I knew that this was him going easy on Rue. But I'm sure Rue would beg to differ.

I turn back to Kalen, who was going over the soon to be updated terms of our alliance with a neighboring pack. Toby was curled in his arms, headphones in his small ears, watching a movie on Kalen's phone. From the looks of it, the movie was of the Disney genre.

Toby glances up, smiling at me when he notices I was looking at him. Toby reaches into the large bag of hot Cheetos on Kalen's work desk, frowning as he feels around.

"More," Toby whimpers at Kalen, his wide blue eyes tearing up. "More."

Toby's new favorite word was 'more'. Since he learned it, it became a big part of his daily vocabulary.

Kalen was a sucker for Toby. I'm sure Toby used that knowledge to his advantage. I know I would if I were him.

Kalen would drop everything to be at Toby's side the second he calls for him. It was almost comical, watching how reacted to Toby. I was used to witnessing the tough, brooding side of Kalen. Now he seemed to be mellowing out, not wanting Toby to see his bad side.

Speaking of Kalen being in a good mood, he came into the office this morning with a much more pleasant aura. I was curious so I asked him what made him so happy today. He told me that he had a good day yesterday. That was all he said. I knew that there was more to the story, but I want going to push him. Nothing mattered, as long as Kalen was happy.

Without taking his eyes off of the document, Kalen pulls out another large unopened bag of hot Cheetos from his desk, handing it to Toby. Toby squeals happily, opening the bag and pulling out a large handful of the spicy snack.

"Goddess, how do you eat so much, Toby?" I ask, laughing at the reddish-orange residue on his hands and around his mouth.

"Goddess knows that if I ate that much, I'd be fatter than I already am," Harper comments.

"You're not fat, baby," Kalen says, looking up from the papers, his eyes sincere. "And besides, there's nothing wrong with being a little bigger."

"Pretty," Toby says. Harper swallows, staring at Toby. Another new word. Although, it sounded like he was saying 'pwetty'.

"Thank you, Toby," Harper whispers, turning back to Rue. Hiding his face from our view. There were most likely tears in his eyes at this point.

Harper has always struggled with his weight, hating the way his body looked. It is good that Harper has Kalen and Toby to shower him with love and boost his positive body image. It was the same process that I was now going through with my mate. I needed to work with Rue and how he sees his body as well.

Kalen kisses Toby's temple before resting his chin atop his head. His arms wrapped around Toby to keep him in place.

I want to hold Rue...