Mated To The Alpha King (Raven and Ethan) novel Chapter 190

Chapter 190

Alpha Ethan’s Pov

A Bo

“I am not doing that, Matthew,” I said, my tone sharp and final. My voice echoed in the stillness of the room. and for a moment I thought the matter was closed.

But of course, Matthew wasn’t the type to let things go.

“Tell me why, Ethan,” he pressed, his voice carrying an edge of cold determination.

I turned my head away, refusing to meet his gaze. My chest felt heavy, as though someone had set a stone inside me.

My throat was dry, my tongue thick with words I did not want to say. I had heard this talk before, and I hated every second of it.

“I don’t want a woman,” I muttered, my voice low but steady.

Matthew leaned closer, his eyes hard and unrelenting. “You must need it, Ethan. Not for yourself. For the pack.

Our people need a Luna. They need someone who can stand by you. Someone who can shoulder some of the weight you carry. Someone the pack can look at and feel safe again.”

His words hit me like knives, each one piercing deeper.

I shook my head, clenching my jaw. “No. I don’t need that. I can lead without a Luna.”

“You can’t,” Matthew shot back sharply. His tone carried no room for argument, no softness. “You can’t fool me. You’re strong here“-he “tapped the side of his head-“but “your body isn’t the same anymore. You’re not the man who once struck fear into rivals just by walking into a room. And the pack sees that. Whether you like it or not, they see it. They need to see a family at the top. A Luna at your side. They need the image of stability. And the daughter of the Silver Moon Pack Alpha? She’s perfect for that role.”

A bitter laugh escaped me, sharp and ugly. “Perfect? Tell me, Matthew, how will she agree to marry a man who cannot walk? A man who sits in this chair every hour of his life? Tell me how you expect her to look at me without pity.”

Matthew’s jaw tightened, his nostrils flaring. “Don’t use that as an excuse,” he snapped. “You already lost your first chance. Don’t be foolish enough to lose the second.”

My chest burned at his words. I knew exactly who he was referring to. Raven.

Her name pounded inside my skull like a drum I could not silence. Raven. The woman I had loved, the woman I had destroyed, the woman whose memory haunted me every time I closed my eyes.

I dropped my gaze to my hands. My hands… once they had been weapons, symbols of my strength and dominance. Now, they were just reminders of all I had lost, of everything that had slipped through my fingers.

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Chapter 190

“Don’t talk to me like that.” I said finally, my voice trembling between anger and weariness.

“I’ll talk to you however I must if it will knock some sense into you,” Matthew retorted, his voice rising

My eyes shot up, and for a moment, fire surged through me. “I don’t need your pity, Matthew, I hissed. “If that’s what this is, save it. Give it to someone else who actually wants it. I don’t need it, and I don’t need you telling me I’m weak.”

His expression hardened, but he didn’t back down. “This isn’t pity, Ethan. Don’t twist my words. This is the truth. You may not want to hear it, but you need to. I’m your Beta. It’s my duty to tell you what others won’t. You’ve convinced yourself that you can stand alone forever, but you can’t. Not anymore. The pack sees it, I see it, and deep down you know it too.”

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms until pain blossomed there. I hated him for being right, and I hated myself for knowing he was.

“Go, Matthew,” I said at last, my voice low and tired. “Leave me. I’ll think about it.”

His lips pressed into a thin line, displeased with my answer, but he nodded. “Don’t wait too long, Ethan. Some chances don’t come twice.”

He turned and left the room, the echo of his footsteps fading into silence.

I sat alone, the weight of his words heavy in the air.

My mind drifted, unbidden, to Raven. To her face–those eyes that burned with both anger and pain whenever she looked at me. To the way her voice could cut me down or unravel me entirely. To the rare moments when I thought I saw something else in her gaze, something softer, something I didn’t deserve.

I missed her. God help me, I missed her even when I hated myself for it.

“She cannot come back,” I whispered into the empty room. “She will not come back. And it’s time I stopped daydreaming. It’s time to move on.”

I turned toward the corner of the room, where a small bag still sat.

A bag of things she had left behind–things I should have gotten rid of long ago but couldn’t. A scarf. A small book she used to read at night. A simple bracelet she never came back for.

One by one, I picked them up, my fingers trembling as I touched them.

Each item was a dagger, each memory a wound. My chest ached, but I forced myself to rise and carry them to the closet.

“It’s over,” I said firmly, shoving them into the back where I couldn’t see them.

But even as I closed the closet door, the lie echoed inside me. I didn’t believe it. Not fully. Maybe not at all.

The night dragged on.

Sleep refused to come. When it did, it brought only dreams her face, her voice, the scent of her hair when she

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Chapter 190

walked past me. Each dream left me waking in a sweat, breathless and angry at myself for still being haunted.

By morning. I was exhausted. I wheeled myself to the window and watched the sun climb into the sky. Golden light washed over the parklands, illuminating the trees, the fields, and the homes. My people were already awake, already moving about their duties.

I thought about them. About what Matthew had said. About duty. About what a Luna would mean for them, not for me.

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