When he said he couldn't forgive her, it hit her like a punch square in the chest.  Roxie was still upset with him, but it was more about the way he had treated her and talked about her in recent years, and less about the incident so long ago.  She had been so mad back then, but she had forgiven him for that, she had just been too stubborn to tell him about it.  Even if she disagreed with the way he had handled things, she had eventually seen that there was no avoiding all of it.  He was just trying to protect the pack, to protect his family, and hers as well.  Ignoring the feelings bubbling up beneath their skin would drive them both insane.  They wouldn't be able to work with each other like this, that much Roxie knew was true.  Even with their estrangement, she could tell the stress of the investigation was getting to him, and she had heard from her Alpha that Ben had effectively taken over pack leadership, and she could see the way the stress was getting to him.<br/><br/>She did not answer his questions at first, instead, she moved over to where he sat on the couch, and moved in front of him.  Roxie put a hand on his shoulder and pressed him gently back against the couch, while she moved to straddle his lap, eventually settling to sit in it.  It was an aggressive move, one she worried was wrong, but he needed this and even if he couldn't forgive her, a part of Roxie still cared so much about him.  They<i>both</i>needed this.  Her hands moved to cup his face, to tilt his chin so his eyes met hers.  "It won't fix anything, but it'll feel good and it'll calm our wolves down."  Her words were soft.  Roxie had a gift for that sort of thing, she could desescalate even the most aggravated of wolves, with just calm, gentle words.  She looked down at him with eyes like crystal pools, watching his features for the smallest hints of a reaction.  It was possible he'd just throw her off his lap and tell her to leave, but the call of their wolves was magnetic.  It would eventually be hard to ignore.<br/><br/>"Do you mean that?  What you said, you can't forgive me?"  The words were gentle and curious, and before he could answer, she gave in a little more to her instincts.  Roxie shifted slightly and captured his lips with hers.  It felt like the intense pressure they had been under ebbed off a little as she did, it lifted and fell away, only to leave different pressures and needs in its wake.  He smelled good, he tasted even better, and even though Roxie knew it was just a trick of the instinctual bond they shared, she didn't care.  After a moment she pulled back and again met his eyes.  "Do you mean it?  I need to know if you mean it.  If we can never work the past out.  If that's the truth."  Her words were slightly more urgent now, more demanding.  It wasn't going to be easy, even if he could forgive her, they still had so much to work through.  If he could consider it though, then they had a path forward in this.