Mated To The Alpha King (Raven and Ethan) novel Chapter 225

Chapter 225

Alpha Ethan’s Pov

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I woke up to the sun so high today that it almost blinded me while sleeping, its rays sneaking in through the curtains Ava had always insisted should be drawn at night.

She liked the sunlight, said it made mornings feel alive. But for me, today, it only felt like punishment, an intrusive brightness in a world that had gone unbearably dark.

I turned to the other side of the bed, stretching my hand out of habit, hoping maybe, just maybe, I would feel the warmth of her beside me. But like yesterday, and the day before that, and the night she slipped away forever, it was empty.

Cold. Silent. My palm pressed into the sheet as if I could pull her spirit back, but all I touched was absence.

A small tear escaped, rolling down the side of my cheek onto the pillow.

I wiped it quickly, ashamed of my weakness even though no one was watching. You can’t break down now, Ethan, I whispered to myself. Not today. Not when everyone is depending on you. Not when your daughter is depending on you.

Ava’s dying wish still echoed in my head, fragile yet powerful: Promise me, Ethan… promise me you’ll be strong for her. Don’t let her feel the emptiness of losing me.

Those words were the only thing keeping me upright. Today wasn’t about me, or even about Ava—it was about our daughter..

About giving her the strength she would one day need to carry the memory of her mother with pride, not sorrow. And today… today was the day I would have to bury the woman I thought I’d grow old with.

Dragging myself off the bed felt like tearing my soul out of my chest. I whispered, “I have to be strong,” and repeated it until the words carried enough weight to hold me up.

I went into the bathroom, and for the first time in years, I washed myself without her gentle hands to guide

1. me.

Ava had always insisted on helping me, even when I told her I could manage on my own. She loved those quiet, intimate mornings, teasing me for being stubborn while she lathered soap across my shoulders.

I would give anything to feel that again. But today, the water was just water cold, empty, unforgiving.

When I was done, I stood dripping in silence, staring at the mirror.

My reflection looked like a stranger hollow eyes, pale skin, lips pressed into a line so tight it might never loosen again.

The man staring back at me wasn’t Alpha Ethan, feared by many and respected by all. He was just a widower. A broken father.

I opened the closet and pulled out a black hoodie and matching black pants. Ava had once joked that black

12:47 Tue, Sep 30

Chapter 223

In his office, he sank into his chair, rubbing his forehead. I didn’t sit I couldn’t. My fists clenched and unclenched at my sides, my chest heaving.

“Your wife,” he began, his tone heavy, “she has a lung disease. It made breathing while giving birth extremely difficult for her. She”

“I don’t want to hear about that!” I slammed my hand against the desk, making papers scatter. My voice thundered. “Where is Ava?!”

“Alpha, please, calm down.““WHERE IS SHE?!” I roared, my voice breaking, raw with fear.

He straightened, meeting my furious gaze with one that was calm but unbearably heavy. “She gave birth to a baby girl.”

For a moment, my world shifted. A girl. My daughter. My blood. Ava’s gift to me. A fragile smile ghosted my lips, a spark of joy daring to pierce the darkness.

But then the doctor’s next words shattered me.

“…but unfortunately… we lost her.”

The ground fell out from under me.

The room spun. My ears rang. The clock ticked on the wall, but I couldn’t hear it anymore. The words echoed, stabbing into me again and again. We lost her.

“No…” My voice was a whisper, barely recognizable. “No. No, no, no.”The doctor swallowed hard, his shoulders sagging. “We tried our best, Alpha. We did everything we could. But… she couldn’t make it alive.”

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12:47 Tue, Sep 30

Chapter 924

Chapter 224

Alpha Ethan’s Pav

魚蛋

I left the doctor’s office, his words still echoing in my head like a curse I could never escape. We tried our best… but she couldn’t make it alive.

The hallway stretched before me like an endless tunnel, pale lights flickering overhead.

I wheeled down the corridor like a man without a soul, each step heavier than the last, as if the floor itself wanted to drag me down into the earth with her. The voices around me were muffled, distant. Nurses murmured.

People bowed their heads as I passed. But I didn’t hear them. I didn’t see them. My vision had narrowed to a dark tunnel, my body moving on instinct alone, guided only by grief.

The door to her room was half open when I reached it. My hand hovered over the handle, trembling violently. For a long heartbeat, I couldn’t bring myself to touch it. The metal felt like ice against my palm, but somehow I pushed it fully open.

The smell hit me first iron, antiseptic, and something worse: silence.

Ava lay on the bed.

Her body still. Her chest unmoving.

Her skin was pale, almost translucent, her lips drained of the rosy warmth I loved to kiss. She looked like she was only sleeping too still, too cold to ever wake again.

My heart cracked wide open, the pain so sharp it stole my breath.

I staggered forward until I was standing at her bedside. My fingers trembled as I reached out, brushing over her face.

The warmth I had known, the softness of her skin that used to spark fire under my touch, was gone. She was

cold.

So very cold.

And she wasn’t breathing.

That could only mean one thing.

She was gone. Forever.

My chest tightened, my lungs squeezed as if the same sickness had taken hold of me. I dropped to my knees beside her, clutching her limp hand to my lips, pressing frantic kisses into her frozen skin.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice cracked, hoarse and broken. “Why didn’t you tell me you had that kind of sickness, Ava? You knew I would have stopped this; I would have protected you. I wouldn’t have let you get

12:47 Tue, Sep 30

Chapter 224

pregnant, not like this, not with your lungs so weak.”

The words tore out of me like glass shards, each one cutting deeper than the last.

“And now…” My forehead pressed against her arm, the sobs shaking through my body. “Now you’re gone. You left me… you left me alone. And with a child to look after”

Tears that I had fought with every ounce of strength since the waiting room finally broke free. Hot, unrelenting, they streamed down my face, soaking her hospital gown.

I wept like a man who had lost the only thing that tethered him to life.

I remembered her smile then, unbidden. The way she used to curl into my chest on quiet nights, whispering about the future she dreamed of a home filled with warmth, laughter, and maybe a child or two.

She had wanted this so badly, wanted to give me a family, even when I never asked. Even when she was the family I needed.

Minutes passed. Or maybe hours. Time had no meaning anymore.

I stayed there, clinging to her hand as if my grip could anchor her soul back into her body. But she remained cold. Silent.

The door opened behind me. Soft footsteps entered the room. But I didn’t move, didn’t lift my head, and didn’t care.

“All I want is to cry my heart out,” I whispered to myself, my voice breaking.

“Alpha…” a voice called gently.

I didn’t answer.

“Alpha,” the voice tried again, closer now. “Do you… do you want to see the child?”

The words sliced through me like a blade. My shoulders stiffened, but I still didn’t raise my head. My throat burned with the bitterness of bile and grief.

“Leave,” I muttered.

“But Alpha,” the voice persisted softly, “the baby needs your presence. She hasn’t stopped crying since she was born. She’s looking for you.”

My grief exploded into fury. My head snapped up, my face wet with tears, my eyes red and burning.

“I don’t fucking care!” I roared, my voice shaking the walls. “Get out! I don’t want to see the baby!”

The person flinched, silence filling the room again, thick and suffocating.

After a long pause, the voice returned, lower, hesitant. “Alpha… she’s your daughter. She“.

“GET OUT!” I bellowed again, standing now, my chest heaving.

12:47 Tue, Sep 30

Chapter 224

My wolf growled in tandem, a guttural sound of rage and pain. His growl echoed mine, his grief manifesting

anger

The footsteps retreated, the door creaked, then shut. Silence returned, thicker than before.

I turned back to Ava, collapsing against her once more. My tears fell harder, unstoppable. My hand shook as it brushed over her hair, her lifeless cheek.

“I don’t want to see her,” I whispered brokenly. “I don’t want to see the child.

She’s the reason. The reason you aren’t breathing. The reason you left me. The reason I’ll never hear your laugh again. Never feel your warmth again.”

I buried my face in the crook of her neck, sobbing into her cold skin.

“She took you from me. And I can’t.” My voice cracked, shattered into silence.

I stayed like that, crumbling, holding on to a body that would never hold me back, cursing the child I refused to face.

田

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12:47 Tue, Sep 30

Chapter 295

Chapter 225

Alpha Ethan’s Pov

I woke up to the sun so high today that it almost blinded me while sleeping, its rays sneaking in through the curtains Ava had always insisted should be drawn at night.

She liked the sunlight, said it made mornings feel alive. But for me, today, it only felt like punishment, an intrusive brightness in a world that had gone unbearably dark.

I turned to the other side of the bed, stretching my hand out of habit, hoping maybe, just maybe, I would feel the warmth of her beside me. But like yesterday, and the day before that, and the night she slipped away forever, it was empty.

Cold. Silent. My palm pressed into the sheet as if I could pull her spirit back, but all I touched was absence.

A small tear escaped, rolling down the side of my cheek onto the pillow.

I wiped it quickly, ashamed of my weakness even though no one was watching. You can’t break down now, Ethan, I whispered to myself. Not today. Not when everyone is depending on you. Not when your daughter is depending on you.

Ava’s dying wish still echoed in my head, fragile yet powerful: Promise me, Ethan… promise me you’ll be strong for her. Don’t let her feel the emptiness of losing me.

Those words were the only thing keeping me upright. Today wasn’t about me, or even about Ava–it was about our daughter..

About giving her the strength she would one day need to carry the memory of her mother with pride, not sorrow. And today… today was the day I would have to bury the woman I thought I’d grow old with.

Dragging myself off the bed felt like tearing my soul out of my chest. I whispered, “I have to be strong,” and repeated it until the words carried enough weight to hold me up.

I went into the bathroom, and for the first time in years, I washed myself without her gentle hands to guide

1. me.

Ava had always insisted on helping me, even when I told her I could manage on my own. She loved those quiet, intimate mornings, teasing me for being stubborn while she lathered soap across my shoulders.

I would give anything to feel that again. But today, the water was just water cold, empty, unforgiving.

When I was done, I stood dripping in silence, staring at the mirror.

My reflection looked like a stranger hollow eyes, pale skin, lips pressed into a line so tight it might never loosen again.

The man staring back at me wasn’t Alpha Ethan, feared by many and respected by all. He was just a widower. A broken father.

I opened the closet and pulled out a black hoodie and matching black pants. Ava had once joked that black

12:47 Tue, Sep 30

Chapter 225