Jaymus was happily munching away on the cookies, chuckling a bit as Preston spoke.<i>A scandal, indeed...</i>He doubted that anyone would take a comment like that in a bad way when it came from Preston. The whole pack was aware that they were mates and Jaymus felt a bit pained by that. Before he was even ready to<i>think </i>about sharing his life with someone else, the world had made the decision for him and he felt rushed. What was more, was the whole pack knew of it and was watching them so closely, wondering why they weren't acting the same way their Alpha and Luna were behaving.<br/><br/>It had been around the same time that their Alpha-to-be found Victoria that Jaymus had first felt the pull of his mate. It didn't take long to realize that it was Preston and while his inner wolf<i>begged</i>to jump the other man....Jaymus resisted. He was barely out of puphood and already he was thrown into being a bonded mate! Preston, on the other hand, had three years on him. Three years of being on his own. Three years to fully know who he was before needing to know who he would be to others. Jaymus just wanted to focus on learning who he was, and figuring out his place in his pack. Once he was settled and felt confident in himself, then maybe he could think about settling in with his mate. Of course, his wolf hated that idea but there was always one good way to shut<i>him </i>up.<br/><br/>Munching away on the cookies, his eyes scanned the area and found Saoirse. The little woman seemed so out of place in the crowd and Jaymus' pale blue eyes followed her as she moved around awkwardly. He had a soft spot for the little lady and in a way, took her under his wing. Of course, he had yet to let that be known to anyone. It was quite recently he'd decided to do so and had yet to put the plan into action.<br/><br/>Glancing over to the Alpha and Luna as they came over, he smirked as his eyes met with Victoria's and sent her a little wink. While their bond as Luna and Gamma was still new, he felt a strong connection to his Luna. In a way, she felt like his older sister. He loved her and wanted to protect her, but would also take any chance he could to tease and have fun with her. "Those shoes are killing! What a good decision I made..." He grinned to her, before turning his gaze to the Alpha. He had yet to spend much time with Cyrus. While Jaymus had been really close with Cyrus' father - the man who basically raised him after his parents died - there was little time spent between Jaymus and Cyrus.<br/><br/>While they did share a training group for a short time, Jaymus was so focused on proving to be more than his size that there was little time to chat with anyone, let alone the future Alpha. Of course, that was probably for the better as he wasn't sure how thrilled Cyrus was that his father spent so much time with Jaymus. It had been kept pretty quiet. Jaymus didn't want a big deal made out of it, and the Alpha of course had enough family members to be threatened should an enemy emerge. The last thing he had wanted was for Jaymus to become included in that.<br/><br/>Still, he felt very close to the previous Alpha and felt the urge to protect his son with every ounce of his being, though it certainly didn't make talking to him any easier. With a low bow, he avoided eye contact and even took a step back to give the man some more room. "Alpha..."<br/><br/>Jaymus was quiet and allowed the Alpha time to speak between his Beta and his mate. With a small smile as they joked at his expense, he looked over to Saoirse who was still standing there, looking just about as uncomfortable as could be. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he wandered off a bit with her. Truthfully, he was glad for the excuse to step away from Preston. Being so close to him for more than just a second had his wolf heated. The last thing he needed was to be feeling<i>that</i>before he shifted for the run. It would be hard to control his 'animal urges' if he let it go too far.<br/><br/>"Come, Saudari...I wanna chat with you..."