Preston may have seemed calm and cool on the outside, fixing his alpha with all of his attention throughout the rest of the meeting, but on the inside, he was far from the calm, collected beta he appeared to be.  He felt like he had failed both his mate and his alpha with a few simple words.  Had his paranoia finally caught up to him?  Was he really stepping out of line?  He tried not to compare this pack to his old pack, but he distinctly remembered the beta as being the one who was in charge of security.  He hadn't thought to ask how it was done in this pack.<br/><br/>When Preston had first come here, he had no intentions of staying and he thinks the former Luna saw that in him.  He was ready to bolt, ready to seek revenge or die trying.  He may have been a quiet wolf, but he had held a lot of anger, mostly at himself.  He had seen his own failure as something he needed to fix and he thinks that was why he had been placed in the care of the widower.  She needed someone just as much as he did.  He'd never thought to ask, but he knew she had lost her son and mate at some point and they both filled a hole for each other.<br/><br/>She kept Preston grounded and sane.  And he stayed, just as much for her as for himself.<br/><br/>Unsurprisingly, there had been an attempt to keep him as far away from the politics of the pack as possible.  It was a smart move.  A wolf with a former status like Preston could spell trouble to a pack.  It had been Cy who had broken the unspoken rule, Cy who had declared early on that Preston was going to be his beta, and the grey wolf was determined to never let him down.<br/><br/>Sitting in the meeting room, with the broken remnants of a pen and both his mate and alpha unhappy with each other, he kind of felt like he was already failing.<br/><br/>He sat through the rest of the meeting silently unless he was spoken to directly.  When the meeting was over, Jay was up and out of his seat before anyone else could be and Preston was eager to leave.  He wanted to talk to Jay, but for now, it didn't seem appropriate.  Truthfully, he was angry with the smaller wolf.  It hadn't been personal, Preston was doing his job.  What did Jay want from him?  He kept his distance as his mate asked, but he still had a job to do and he was determined to do it to the best of his ability.<br/><br/>He moved slower than Jaymus, but made it no secret that he was trying to get out of there as well.  Perhaps to give the Luna and Alpha some time together, or even to start on his own work, he was unsure.  He took the time to bow to the both of them respectively before rushing away, only to be caught by the Luna.  He cringed before turning around because he never quite expected the two of them to have much interaction.  The luna and gamma worked together, the luna and alpha were mated, but what purpose did the luna and beta have together?<br/><br/>"Ma'am?" He asked, inclining his head respectively when he turned around. His curiosity turned into concern once she began to speak.<i>Worried about Jaymus?  What was wrong?  He wasn't eating? Why?  </i>He almost missed the way she had called him out on it as well and it took him a moment before he processed her words and he blinked at her in shame.<br/><br/>"You're not wrong," he admits, but his eyes are already trailing after the direction Jaymus had gone.  "I will make sure he eats, my Luna," he bowed again.  It wouldn't have mattered if it was an order or a suggestion, but Preston took it to heart and quickly followed after the smaller wolf.<br/><br/>Catching up to him was harder than he thought it would be, but soon he was walking beside the other man, his stride even with the others.  It never ceased to amuse him that Jay was just slightly taller than him like this, but his wolf was so much smaller.  An inch didn't make much of a difference for humans though and Preston enjoyed being able to see his mate at eye level.  It made them seem equals.<br/><br/>"We should probably talk," he says slowly, gaging the other's reaction.  "We should figure this security thing out.  I'm still learning some of this and I realize now I should have come to you with my intentions with the security system since it involved your scouts so we could have a plan together when presenting it to the alpha.  I'd like to discuss this with you in detail before we go back to the alpha with a better plan, perhaps over lunch?  Our Luna has decided we are not eating enough and has ordered me to drag you out to eat."  He tries not to sound eager as he asks, silently reminding himself to thank Victoria later for this opportunity she had given him.  He also knew Jaymus wouldn't have gone if he hadn't hinted that the Luna had ordered them to do so.  He wanted nothing to do with Preston, but what the Luna said was law, even if there was a grey area between her and Preston.