Claimed By My Stepbrother novel Chapter 83

Chapter 83

Camila POV

Then he walked out.

The silence that followed was deafening. My heartbeat was everywhere–In my ears, in my throat, in my wrists.

I felt cold all over, but my skin was sweating.

“What the fuck,” I whispered, half to myself.

Ethan turned to me, brows furrowed. “Camila–what happened?”

I didn’t answer immediately. I was too busy trying to process what the hell just happened. Too busy trying to catch up with the sudden chaos of it all. Liam had just outright admitted he’d sent men after me. Had confirmed he suspected me of being… whatever he thought I was. A woll?

what the fuck was wrong with his nose?

I mean seriously.

Ethan was the damn werewolf, not me. I was human. Very human. I couldn’t even grow a decent pair of eyebrows without help from a brow pencil, let alone sprout claws and run with the moon.

“This is so-” I let out a harsh breath and leaned against the wall again, hands gripping the edge of a nearby shelf to steady myself. “Unbelievable.”

“What did he say to you?” Ethan asked, moving closer. His voice was gentle now, more concerned than angry. But there was still that protective tension under the surface, like he was ready to go after Liam if I gave him a

reason.

1 shook my head, finally meeting his eyes. “How come I smell wolverine and you don’t?”

Ethan blinked, visibly thrown. “What?”

“Yeah,” I said, throwing my hands up. “Apparently I smell like a fucking bush dog and I have a tinging feeling it has something to do with you!”

“Oh

Oh?

“Oh?! Are you freaking kidding me right now?”

Ethan exhaled, rubbing his face with both hands. “Shit.”

“Yes. Shit! That about sums it up.”

We stood in that supply closet, the heavy silence pressing down on us like a fog. Ethan was clearly rattled, but

not in the way I expected. He didn’t look scared. He looked… like he was starting to connect something I hadn’t caught yet.

“That’s why I can’t leave your side, he said finally, voice low. “There are alot of things I need to protect you. from.”

1 blinked at him. “And whose fault is that?”

He shrugged slightly, eyes still on me.

God.

This was getting out of hand.

I crossed my arms and leaned harder against the wall, willing it to support more than just my body. I needed

it to hold together the pieces of me that were slowly falling apart.

First my mom gets engaged to Greg, who just so happens to be Ethan’s dad.

Then I find out Ethan’s a werewolf and I’m his mate.

Then masked men try to kidnap me.

Now Liam’s accusing me of being one of them and well, my life is in fucking danger!

I needed a nap. A long one. Preferably in another dimension.

“I just want to go home,” I whispered.

Ethan nodded. “Okay.”

But it wasn’t okay. Nothing was okay. And we both knew it.

The second he reached for my hand, I almost pulled away. Almost. But then I looked at him–really looked at him–and the storm behind his eyes made something inside me unclench He was scared too. Not of me. For me.

So I let him take my hand.

We slipped out of the closet in silence. The hallway outside was quiet, too quiet, the kind of silence that felt like a held breath. Like the entire building knew something was about to go down and didn’t want to get in the

way.

Ethan kept close, practically glued to my side as we moved quickly down the hall, I could feel his energy now- coiled, on edge, like a live wire just waiting for something to snap. Every now and then, his eyes would flick toward shadows, like he was checking for movement..

It didn’t make me feel safer.

It made me feel hunted.

Chapter 83

Like I wasn’t just with a werewolf–I was suddenly in their damn world. The rules were different here. There was no logic, no reason, no “explain yourself to the cops safety net.

“Where are we going?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady as we reached the stairwell.

“Home”

“Smart,” I mumbled.

He glanced over at me. “You doing okay?”

I gave him a look.

‘Right. Dumb question,” he mumbled

We took the stairs quickly, my hand still clutched in his. The way down felt longer than usual, and I realized somewhere between the third and second floor that I was trembling. Not a lot, Just a soft, shivery kind of tremble that started in my fingertips and made its way up.

I hated that he noticed.

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