Bound To The Broken Alpha (Amy and Daniel) novel Chapter 244

hapter 244 A Distraction

DANIEL

Three weeks passed, and I still didn’t feel like I could breathe or rest well. The council chamber was crowded, loud, and tense. It was the hearing of Elia and a verdict would be passed too.

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The elders sat in their rows, whispering among themselves. The delegates who had been suspended stood off to the side, as if hoping the ground would swallow them before the verdict landed.

I sat still, hands clasped, every muscle locked, watching Elias like a hawk.

He stood in the center of the chamber with his wrists bound in reinforced cuffs. He always had an arrogant posture, but today it looked even worse. Chin high. Eyes half–lidded.

A tiny curl of amusement at the corner of his mouth. He looked like someone who thought he had already

won.

One of the councilmen cleared his throat.

“Proceed,” he ordered the clerk.

My mother sat near the front looking calm, but I knew her well enough to catch the tension in her shoulders. She wasn’t nervous. She was impatient. She wanted this done. She wanted the danger removed.

The clerk lifted the first folder. “The evidence gathered includes transaction logs, concealed emails, unauthorized fund diversions, tampering with pack records-”

He kept listing them one by one. Elias‘ smirk started to slip. Not fast. Not dramatically. Just small cracks at the edges.

I watched every shift. His jaw twitched once. His eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of a shell account Clara revived. His fingers curled in the restraints when they mentioned the footage of him meeting with an unofficial envoy from the South.

He didn’t look smug anymore. He looked irritated. o

“Elias,” one of the elders said sharply, “do you deny these charges?”

He lifted his chin. “I deny the conclusions you’re jumping to. Evidence without context can be twisted. I demand a full legal review-”

“You’ve had three weeks of review,” the elder snapped. “The evidence stands.”

Elias opened his mouth again, but my mother rose before he could speak.

“There is more,” she said.

The room quicted immediately.

She held up a slim folder.

“This is the final piece. The one that confirms the motive.”

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Chapter 244 A Distraction

Elias stiffened. That reaction alone told me everything I needed to know.

The head elder nodded. “Present it.”

my mother walked forward and handed it over.

The elder flipped the folder open-

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And that was the moment the building shook.

It wasn’t subtle. The entire chamber jolted sideways, walls rattling. Light fixtures swung. A loud blast echoed from somewhere beneath us, like something had ruptured or someone had set off a controlled charge.

Screams burst from every corner of the room.

People stumbled. Papers flew. Dust shook loose from the ceiling.

I didn’t think, instinct took over. I grabbed the councilwoman nearest to me before she fell and pulled her away from a collapsing shelf.

“Stay down,” I ordered.

Smoke came in through the vents. My eyes burned instantly. The chamber lights flickered hard, buzzing, then steadied with a sickly glow.

“Everyone remain calm!” one elder tried to shout, but he sounded terrified.

My vision blurred from the dust. I blinked hard and scanned the chamber.

Elias.

I had to find Elias.

Through the smoke, I saw movement at the center of the room. I pushed forward, coughing, ignoring the people scrambling around me.

By the time I got close–he was gone.

His restraints were on the floor. Cleanly cut through. No struggle. No blood. No sign he fought his way out.

He’d been moved.

Someone had timed this blast to the second.

I crouched and picked up one of the metal restraints. The cut was smooth, neat. Whoever had done this hadn’t used brute strength. This was a blade. A specialized one. Someone really skilled.

“Secure the doors!” I shouted.

Guards finally rushed in, trying to restore order. Elders shouted over each other. Delegates panicked. Smoke continued to drift through the chamber, making everything harder to see.

Cole stumbled toward me through the haze. “Danjel! Are you alright?”

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Chapter 244 A Distraction

“I’m fine. Elias escaped.”

Cole’s expression dropped. “How? We have guards surrounding the building-”

“He was helped,” I snapped. “No one escapes this clean unless someone inside arranged it.”

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My phone buzzed in my pocket–one alert after another. My men were reporting disturbances across the compound. Minor, but coordinated. Enough to pull guards in different directions.

A distraction.

All of this had been planned.

Cole steadied himself on a bench. “We need to lock down the entire compound.”

“I’m already on it.”

I pushed past him and headed for the chamber exit, shouting at the guards lining the hall.

“No one enters or leaves! Shut down all access points. Secure the lower floors first. Then the perimeter.”

They scrambled, tripping over each other as they obeyed.

I rushed toward the main stairwell. The smoke was thicker out here. Someone had set a fire in the east corridor. I smelled burning plastic and wiring. I heard shouts from the upper floors.

I pushed through it all, my chest tightening with each second Elias stayed free.

I ran down the hall and skidded to a stop at the main entrance. Guards were already sweeping the area, looking for signs of Elias.

“He didn’t go through here,” one guard said. “No visual on him.”

“He wouldn’t take a main route,” I muttered.

Which meant he was still inside.

Or underground.

Or hiding until someone retrieved him.

I turned sharply and followed the scent trails around the door. Nothing familiar. Nothing that belonged to Elias alone.

But then…

A faint trace brushed my senses.

I crouched, inhaling again.

Cole rushed up beside me. “What is it?”

“Someone was here. Not from our territory.”

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“You know the scent?”

“No.”

“Then who-”

“I don’t know,” I said, cutting him off. “But they got him out.”

I stood slowly. My hands curled at my sides.

Elias escaping today wasn’t an accident. Someone powerful had stepped in. Someone with resources and boldness. Someone who wanted to pull him out before the verdict was given.

Someone who benefited from keeping Elias alive.

Cole watched me carefully. “What now?”

I stared down the hall, still catching the fading trace of that foreign scent.

“We need to find Elias,” I said quietly. “And we find whoever helped him.”

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