The expression on Benjamin's face rapidly changed, and it wasn't on his own accord. The angery scowl he'd become accustomed to faded away the minute he felt that pull. Though he black coat he was wearing should have prevented him from feeling Roxie's touch, his body still knew she was. It knew it was his mate, her soft fingers were seemingly unique now that there mate bond had been revealed. He was surprised by her actions, yes, but he wouldn't allow it to show. Once they were cramped together in the small side room, two things were abundantly clear. Roxie was going to give him a very vocal response to his words, and his Wolf was ready to pin her against the wall and fuck her right there. Of course, Benjamin wasn't about to let that happen, but he had trouble ignoring the feelings washing over him.<br/><br/>He listened attentively the moment she revealed that she also did not believe a member of her pack killed Alpha Morris. At the very least they were both convinced an outside force is involved in all this. But one thing really set him off. "Don't call me Ben. We aren't friends, not anymore." A frown came to his face, he knew what would happen if they never acted upon their mating bond. Both of them would suffer both mentally and physically, depression was all to common among those who reject their mates. Suicide also wasn't uncommon. Even if they had drifted apart, Benjamin still cared about Roxie, though he would never admit it. Slowly, his frown faded away, and a sigh passes his lips. "I'm not going to lie to you. I need help, and no matter what my brain or my wolf tells me to do, I won't reuse your assistance. Everyone else is to blinded by sadness and rage to see the truth." For a moment, his eyes met hers, only to then quickly look away as he added "Even if we end up on opposite sides, I'll never hurt you. I owe you that at the very least."<br/><br/>Benjamin slipped out of the side room and back into the main hallway, while looking back at Roxie. "I guess we're in this together. Meet me..." he paused for a moment as a sadness washed over him, memories both good and bad came to his mind as he finally told her "Meet me at the old place in a few hours. I have to convince my Pack to contain their anger while we figure out who killed the Alpha." He left it there, chosing not to reveal anything else at the moment, not when there could be any unwanted listeners. Yet having to go back to the old place would be hard, it had once been a place he loved to go to. But now? It was only bad memories.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center">--------<br/>
--------<br/>​</div>It was a rather unassuming place, their old stomping grounds. A small cabin roughly in between both packs territories, and far enough outside of town that no one was just going to stumble onto it. Of course, it had been a few years since either of them had come here, but the overall structure was still fine. The leaves crunched under Benjamin's feet as he approached the cabin, and the sound changed to that of shoes on wood once he stepped onto the deck. Upon actually heading inside, he was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the place. No animals had gotten in, and the only real issue was the dust that covered some of the old desks and chairs. Heading towards the small area that was considered the kitchen, he managed to find the old box of matches they'd used as kids, and set the work lighting the candles scattered around the cabin. Warmth was provided by a small fireplace, which, after collecting some branches and logs, was a flame. Zachary stripped off his coat and tossed it onto the old couch as he laid a large binder on the coffee table in front of said couch. It was full of information and pictures from the crime scene, he'd gone over a lot of it and had found inconsistencies that didn't add up.<br/><br/>Of course, he now waited on Roxie to see what she could add, perhaps a fresh pair of eyes could reveal a solid clue, the bastard who killed Alpha Morris had seemingly made things just difficult enough for a normal person to see nothing that would point to an outsider committing the murder. But Benjamin wasn't normal, and he'd make sure to make whoever did this suffer in every way possible. He'd tried to talk to the Alphas son, but he reused to even get out of bed. The poor boy wasn't even able to cry anymore, he'd already used up all of his tears.