Chapter 49: Protection
Chapter 49 – Protection
Cameron
I exhale. I close my eyes and walk into the town square.
I’ve stood in boardrooms filled with billionaires. I’ve taken hostile questions from press mobs, handled mergers that shook the market, but I have never felt this level of bone-deep pressure. Every step I take echoes off the cobbled stone like a declaration, and yet I’ve never felt more small.
The town is quiet, but not silent. It’s the kind of hush that hums—packed with bodies, heavy with judgment. Every wolf’s gaze is on me, and I can feel their senses dragging over my skin like searchlights.
Wearing simple jeans and a black T-shirt—Ronan’s suggestion—I walk to the square. The clothes are nothing fancy. Looking around, I realize a six-piece suit might have been overkill I’m glad I didn’t don one.
I walk in slow, measured steps, and I’m met with every expression you can imagine.
Curiosity. Pity. Distrust. Some amusement, but more wariness. The kind that says you don’t belong here.
And still—I keep walking.
Lenora is standing beside Eamon at the front, and the moment I see her, the nerves quiet.
She’s visibly nervous, in a way I’ve never seen her. Her jaw clenched tight. Her shoulders a little too straight. Her hands locked in front of her. She’s in a black dress, simple and loose to the knees. I know she hates dresses, but she looks like a goddess anyway. Her hair is pulled back in a high ponytail, a few strands falling out, lit by the lantern glow like molten silver.
For a moment, I’m not afraid.