Roxie felt like the air went out of the room when Alexander spoke. For just a second, she caught a glint of him that felt more like Alaric than his brother, but she knew that could not be true. Alex had always been more serious, but maybe over the years he had changed. It threw Roxie off and she looked back over at Johnny, who gave her a nod. She sucked in a breath and steadied herself.<br/><br/>"This grudge between the packs, it...It's taken enough lives and caused enough pain. My terms are just that, peace between both of us. The people that led the packs before us, they couldn't set their differences aside and do what was best for everyone involved, but we can..." She was not sure that was enough to motivate him. It was hard to talk about the cost of the dividing lines that caused the packs to fight. It had started over a century ago, when this city was little more than a town for farmers.<br/><br/>There had only been one pack then, but two brothers had gotten it in their head that they would become alpha one day, and eventually that lead to division. Those men were long since dead, but the animosity had remained.<br/><br/>"It's not how it's traditionally done, but you and I would lead, side by side, like a typical alpha pair would. We'll just leave out the mate bond stuff and lead that side of our lives separately."<br/><br/>In the wild, wolf packs were led by mated pair. Werewolf packs were similar, but the matebond was much more complicated between them, because they acted on so much more than just instinct. Roxie lifted her gaze to Alexander's and for a just a moment, she thought she saw a look in his eyes that she had seen on Alaric's face a hundred times before. Something in her shifted suddenly, she could her wolf in the back of her mind, pacing as if it were trying to get the measure of Alexander. The sensation brought back other memories, the good sort, when she and Alaric had been happy together.<br/><br/>"I just want what's best for everyone. I don't want anyone else to lose their lives over this grudge."