Roxie looked at the charm in her hand.  She had once worn it on a necklace, something she always kept close to her heart.  Her mother's friend, a witch, had enchanted the little wooden wolf for safety and she had given it to Alex when he chose to leave the packs and abandon his connection to him.  She looked down at the charm and then back up at him, her brow furrowing.  "Alex, wait..."  She said, but he was already halfway gone and before she could pursue him, she heard rustling in the house behind her.  Ben was up.  She turned to face him, the charm still in her hand.  He knew her well enough that he would probably recognize it and he might even put two and two together and figure out why she stopped wearing it.<br/><br/>"Alexander was here.  He looked...Horrible."  Her eyes searched her mates, hoping she'd find some answer there.  As she looked at Ben, the last words Alexander shared with her floated through her mind.<i>You shouldn't be so quick to trust him.  </i>Why shouldn't she trust him?  Was it just an old grudge?  Was Alex still mad at Ben for what had happened between them?  She closed her hand and suddenly realized she had shared everything, but she was not sure she could just lie to Ben.  She wasn't sure she even wanted to.   "He gave me back the charm and he said I needed it more than he did.  And he said I shouldn't trust you...."<br/><br/>She looked both frustrated and heartsick at that idea.  "Why would he say that, Ben?  Is there something you aren't telling me?"  She didn't think he could be the murderer.  He had bristled and protested when she had suggested that he try to take on the role of Alpha for his pack, so she didn't think this was some kind of twisted power grab.  He had embraced the mate bond, something he could have pushed against, even though them being mated absolutely made things more complicated.  "No secrets.  We can't have them if we're going to make it through this..."