Bound To The Broken Alpha (Amy and Daniel) novel Chapter 363

Chapter 363 Disappearing

AMY

++5 Pearls

I woke before dawn, not because something was wrong, but because my body hadn’t caught up with the silence yet. The room was still dark, the curtains barely letting in the early light.

Daniel lay beside me, on his back, one arm resting where it always did. His breathing was steady, even, but I knew him too well. He was awake.

I didn’t say anything. I just lay there, listening to the space between us. Silence used to be normal. Now it felt rare, almost fragile.

For weeks, every waking moment had been filled with decisions, voices, problems that didn’t wait their turn. Lying there without urgency felt unfamiliar, but not unwelcome.

Daniel shifted slightly, then turned his head toward me. His eyes were open.

“You’re up early,” he said quietly.

“So are you,” I replied.

He gave a small nod, accepting that there was no point pretending. For a while, we stayed like that, neither of us reaching for the other, neither pulling away.

After a moment, he spoke again. “Let’s leave today.”

I turned my head to look at him. “Leave?”

“For the day,” he said. “Just us. No guards. No meetings. No pack visits.”

My first instinct kicked in immediately. My mind started listing reasons why it wasn’t practical. Security risks. Missed calls. Responsibilities that didn’t pause just because we wanted them to. I felt the tension build in my chest before I stopped myself.

I knew that reflex. I’d been living inside it for too long.

Daniel watched my face carefully. He didn’t interrupt. He didn’t argue.

“I don’t mean running away,” he added. “Just being gone.”

I exhaled slowly. “We can’t just disappear.”

“We can,” he said. “For a few hours.”

I looked at the ceiling, then back at him. “No entourage?”

“No entourage.”

“No council updates?”

“They’ll survive.”

1/4

Chapter 363 Disappearing.

+5 Pearls

I hesitated, then nodded. “Okay.”

He didn’t smile, not fully. But some of the tension left his shoulders.

We left just after sunrise. No convoy. No waiting staff. Daniel drove, something he rarely did anymore. I sat beside him, watching the road pass by, noticing how strange it felt not to be surrounded by movement and noise.

For a while, neither of us spoke.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said eventually, his eyes still on the road.

It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t rehearsed.

I didn’t answer right away.

“I know I’ve said it before,” he continued, “but I needed to say it without explaining it.”

That caught my attention. I turned toward him. “Without explaining it how?”

“Without defending myself,” he said. “Without trying to justify why I hesitated.”

I folded my hands in my lap. “That hesitation mattered.”

“I know.”

“It wasn’t about whether you believed me,” I said. “It was about knowing you might not.”

He nodded once. “I understand that now.”

I let the silence sit between us again. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just heavy in a way that felt honest.

We stopped somewhere small and quiet to eat. Nothing private or exclusive. Just a place where no one stared and no one whispered. We sat across from each other, the table between us cluttered with simple dishes.

“This feels strange,” I said.

“Good strange?” he asked,

“Necessarily strange.”

He smiled faintly at that.

I caught him watching me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. Not in the way people watch someone they need something from, but the way he used to look at me when our lives hadn’t become so layered.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “I missed this.”

12:20 pm

Chapter 363 Disappearing.

“So did I.”

+5 Pearls

After we ate, we walked. Not far. Just enough to stretch our legs and exist without purpose. We didn’t hold hands at first. Our shoulders brushed now and then, close enough to remind me that he was there.

“I don’t want us to turn into something that only works on paper,” Daniel said quietly.

I glanced at him. “We’re already close to that.”

“I know,” he replied. “That’s why I’m trying to fix it before it becomes permanent.”

I stopped walking and turned to face him. “This can’t just be about today.”

“It isn’t,” he said immediately. “I want time. Real time. Scheduled time that can’t be overridden.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You, asking for structure?”

He gave a brief, humorless laugh. “Apparently I need it.”

I considered that. “And when something urgent comes up?”

“Then it waits,” he said. “Or someone else handles it.”

I studied his face, searching for hesitation. There was none.

“Okay,” I said. “But it goes both ways.”

“I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise.”

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