Alpha Amanda's Love Adventure (By Aurora Grey) novel Chapter 193

Chapter 193 Broken Man

Derrick’s POV:

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But I found out the truth later. That day, he saved me only because he didn’t want Grandpa calling him heartless.

He used to toss out the healing salves I brought him like they were trash. He’d pull away from me in public like I carried some kind of disease. And every time someone sneered and called me a bastard, he’d pretend like he didn’t hear a damn thing.

“Mr. Derrick, it’s about time,” my informant whispered at my side, snapping me out of it.

I pulled in a breath and pushed open the council chamber doors. The noise inside cut off instantly. Every pair of eyes locked on me.

I walked to the seat next to the head chair and sat down. My fingertips ran along the armrest. Samson had sat here too many times to count. His scent still clung to the backrest, faint yet familiar.

I used to dream about sitting here with him, side by side. Again and again. But he never gave me the chance.

“Samson makes decisions alone. He doesn’t care if the pack lives or dies.” I picked up the file on the table. My voice wasn’t loud, but it reached every single person in the room. “Today, I want you, the council of elders, to decide if he even deserves to be the first-in-line of Eclipse Pack’s Alpha.”

Some voiced their agreement right away. Some didn’t say a word. The murmurs rose like low thunder.

I stared at the rising tension, but all I could see was Samson’s face. That furrow in his brow. That rare smile. That awkward, stiff hug he gave me that one time.

This wasn’t about tearing everything down. I just needed him to look at me. I wasn’t that small, helpless kid who needed shielding anymore. I needed him to feel something. Even hate would have been better than this emptiness.

Footsteps echoed outside the chamber. Heavy. Calm. Steady.

He was here.

I straightened my spine. Behind me, the gray wolf spirit took form in silence. The same one that once humiliated me in front of the pack. Today, it would fight for everything I wanted. It would fight to make him look at me and truly see me.

Samson’s POV:

I had just put down the last signed report from the border when Cody burst in, dragging the freezing air in with him. His voice dropped low. “Mr. Ortega, we’ve got a problem at the council, chamber. Derrick just called in three elders. Says he’s breaking the branch off. He’s leading a standoff in the admin hall right now.”

My hand froze mid-signature. The pen bled a pool of ink onto the page, black and spreading outward. I

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18:37 Thu, Jan 1

Chapter 193 Broken Man

didn’t move. My voice stayed even. “What’s he asking for?”

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Cody blinked, clearly thrown by how calm I was. He scrambled to hand me the tablet. “He didn’t say directly. Just told the council you’re being reckless. That you’ve been ignoring the pack’s needs.”

I flicked through the screen. The names on the list were all familiar. Every last one of them was an old- school elder who hated my new policies. Of course. That was his style. Hit the weakest spot with precision.

Cody spoke up again, carefully. “Want me to get the guard unit? We can’t let him actually pull this off.”

I closed the file in front of me and stood up. I reached for the black coat hanging over the back of my chair. “Get the car. Bring the core guard team to admin. We’re walking in to talk, not to start a war.”

He gave a quick nod and rushed out. The office fell quiet. Outside, the wind and snow battered the windows. It sounded like soft fists slapping glass over and over. For a second, it took me back. Derrick had just turned twelve.

It was winter. He’d just awakened his gray wolf spirit. The other kids had cornered him on the training grounds and were yelling “bastard” at him. I was the one who ran in and stood in front of him.

He grabbed my coat and held on tight. His nails dug into my palm, hard enough to break skin. His voice didn’t shake. “I’ll get stronger than all of them, Samson.”

And he did. The gray wolf got so fast the black wolf guards couldn’t keep up. But I never once looked him in the eye and said, “You did good.”

Grandpa never told us the truth about him. But he didn’t have to. The love letter hidden in Dad’s study. Mom sobbing into her pillow at night. Derrick’s face, a copy of Dad’s down to the eyes. It was all there. All the proof anyone needed. He was the result of betrayal.

I was born as Eclipse Pack’s heir. And that meant one thing before all else. Protect my mother’s name. That truth stood like a wall between us-tall, heavy, and unmoving.

He turned eighteen and handled the branch riot on his own. The celebration was loud. Grandpa just kept drinking. I stood there with the black wolf badge in my hand, fingers turning white. I had every chance to give it to him. But I didn’t.

He glanced down and saw it. His eyes dimmed, slow and hollow. Then he turned toward the elders, raised his glass, and smiled like nothing happened. “I just got lucky.”

That moment burned into me. Everything he’d done, every fight he won, every record he broke, all of it was just to hear us say one damn thing. “You did good.”

The car stopped in front of the admin building. I could hear the voices inside already, loud and angry.

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