Xavier's POV
"Is it true?" Her voice was cautious. "Is Elizabeth really gone?"
"She left this afternoon. Took a placement with a pack in the western territories."
"And you're okay with that?"
"I'm more than okay with it. I should have sent her away weeks ago. You were right about everything, Thelma. I was blind and stupid and too caught up in an old promise to see what was right in front of me."
She was quiet for a moment. "What did she say? When you confronted her?"
"That she's had feelings for me since we were teenagers. That she came back hoping I'd choose her over the mate bond. That she never meant to hurt anyone, but she had to try."
"At least she was honest in the end."
"Honest about her feelings, maybe. But Thelma, she manipulated me. Used my guilt over her mother to keep h
