Page 131 of The Hyena’s Guardian

Not of dying. Of leaving him.

“The collapse will separate the bridges,” Theron admitted. “Once the seal ruptures, there will not be time to cross back.”

“No.”

Matt’s grip tightened around his arm. “We are done having this conversation.”

The First King watched from across the collapsing chamber with quiet certainty.

“He still believes you can keep him,” the King said softly.

Matt ignored him completely.

Theron stepped closer instead, close enough that Matt could feel the tremor running beneath his control through the bond between them. “Listen to me.”

“No.”

“Matt.”

The way Theron said his name almost broke him.

The chamber shook violently again. One of the outer bridges collapsed entirely beneath the stabilizer teams, forcing Vale and the surviving agents onto the remaining central span while Baptiste struggled to arm the final detonator sequence near the eastern anchor.

“We are out of time!” Vale shouted.

The King began moving toward them. This time the throne chamber moved with him.

Black mineral erupted outward beneath his feet while the fractured bridges groaned under the pressure of the mountain trying to reshape itself around his will. Corrupted wolves surged behind him through smoke, dust, and falling stone as the abyss widened beneath the throne.

Matt stepped forward instinctively. Theron caught his wrist. The contact hit the bond hard enough that both of them froze.

Emotion slammed through the connection violently now that neither of them was hiding from it anymore. Fear tangled with relief, exhaustion, desperation, and something deeper that had finally become impossible to deny.

Matt felt the realization strike Theron through the bond at the same moment it took hold inside him. Neither of them wanted to survive this alone anymore.

The King understood. Rage exploded across the chamber. “You choose weakness,” the ancient wolf snarled.

“No,” Matt said.

Then he looked directly at Theron. “I choose you.”

Everything stopped for half a heartbeat. Even the bond seemed to flare brighter between them beneath the collapsing mountain. Theron stared at him like the words had physically stunned him.

Then the First King screamed. The force of it shattered the remaining chains surrounding the throne. The chamber lurched violently.

“Now!” Baptiste shouted.

Theron moved instantly. Matt barely had time to react before the older wolf tore free from his grip and sprinted toward the collapsing central bridge leading directly beneath the throne platform. “Theron!”

The King surged forward at the same moment.

The collision hit the bridge like an explosion. Stone shattered beneath their combined force while black mineral erupted upward around them in jagged waves. Theron drove the King backward across the collapsing span toward the exposed heart seal glowing beneath the throne.

Matt stopped resisting the shift. Fur surged across his body as he dropped onto four powerful limbs and charged after them.

The hyena roared as he tore through corrupted wolves trying to block the bridge. Bodies crashed into the abyss around him while gunfire echoed behind from Vale’s teams covering the remaining platforms.

Ahead of him, the throne platform continued collapsing downward into the widening fracture. Theron slammed the King hard enough into the exposed seal beneath the throne that the entire chamber shook.