The Alpha King is unavailable 170

Attached was a photo of Ethan kneeling before Lily's Moonstone Tombstone, his head bowed.

My first instinct was protective rage. How dare he visit her now, after ignoring her for so long? But something else stirred within me - a recognition that despite everything, he was Lily's

father.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard before I typed my response: "He's Lily's father. Let him

1. be. He owes her this penance."

I stared at my own words, surprised by them. For the first time, I acknowledged Ethan's right to

mourn our daughter.

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< Chapter 100: Ashes and Rede...

(Ethan's POV)

+15 Points

I knelt before my daughter's moonstone tombstone, the cold ground seeping through my pants. The cemetery was silent except for the occasional rustle of leaves in the night breeze.

The polished stone gleamed in the moonlight, Lily's smiling face captured in the colored

photograph embedded in the granite. She looked so happy, so alive blood- spattered child I'd seen in the surveillance footage.

nothing like the pale,

"Lily," I whispered, tracing her name with trembling fingers. "I'm so sorry."

The words felt pathetically inadequate. What apology could possibly make up for years of

For missing her

her voice on the phone that last time: "Daddy, can you come be

and the

"Don't be like your mother, full

from my throat, raw and agonizing. I had failed her in

child.

you an amusement park," I said, my voice breaking. "I was going to make it

to

no forgiveness. Just the stark reality of

name etched in stone.

Lily - those were painfully few - but memories of opportunities missed. Birthdays I'd skipped, school events I'd

attention on Emma,

sky began to lighten, casting

the end of

rose to my feet. My Alpha

diminished by grief.

tomorrow; Lily," I promised, my voice hoarse from unshed tears. "Every day, until

slowly toward the

waiting outside, leaning against my car. His usually impassive face

3/5

Chapter 100

he straightened quickly

me with

in acknowledgment, too drained for

eyes darting away from mine. Something

it?" I demanded, my voice

hesitated, clearly reluctant

I growled, my patience wearing thin. "Tell me what you're

+15 Points

"It's about the man who attacked Mrs. Winters in Desolate

jaw tightened at the mention of

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