Page 157 of The Hyena’s Guardian

Matt nearly choked laughing.

Diaz grinned while Marcus pointed accusingly toward Matt. “You brought home an ancient supernatural smartass.”

“In my defense,” Matt replied, “I did not know that part initially.”

Theron looked toward Marcus calmly. “That is inaccurate. I learned a significant portion of it directly from him.”

Diaz barked out a laugh.

Marcus pointed across the kitchen. “Oh, I already like him.”

Matt stared at Theron in betrayal. “You’ve known me for like two weeks.”

“And yet,” Theron replied evenly, “I adapted remarkably quickly.”

The evening settled after that, though not perfectly. Theron still startled occasionally at unfamiliar sounds, and he watched crowded conversations with careful caution before deciding whether to join them. Every unexpected piece of modern technology earned at least a brief look of suspicion from him, particularly when it beeped, vibrated, or activated without warning.

But slowly, piece by piece, Theron stopped standing near exits and positioning himself like someone expecting violence at any moment. By the end of the evening, he no longer looked like a man preparing to disappear the second survival demanded it.

By the time night deepened across the mountains, the house had grown quieter.

Marcus had finally lost a fight against exhaustion and passed out sideways across one of the couches while Diaz continued arguing softly with him despite the fact he was no longer conscious. Melvin disappeared upstairs after threatening bodily harm against anyone who left dishes in the sink overnight, and Mac remained outside on the back deck nursing a beer while watching the mountains beneath the stars.

Matt eventually found Theron standing alone near the edge of the property overlooking the valley below.

Moonlight silvered the open fields surrounding the house while cold wind rolled softly through the grass around them.

Theron looked up as Matt approached. “Your Pack is loud.”

Matt snorted softly. “You noticed that too?”

“They are also strange.”

“Definitely true.”

“But…” Theron hesitated briefly, like the words themselves still felt unfamiliar. “They are kind.”

The quiet honesty in his voice nearly undid Matt on the spot.

Matt stepped beside him near the fence line and leaned lightly against the wooden post. “You don’t have to earn a place here, you know.”

Theron looked toward him.

“If you want one,” Matt said quietly, “you already have it.”

Silence lingered between them beneath the stars stretching over the valley. Theron remained quiet for several seconds, his attention fixed somewhere out across the darkened hills before he finally stepped closer. Warmth moved through the bond beneath the small movement, steady and certain in a way that still caught Matt off guard every time.

Matt barely had time to breathe before Theron’s hand slid against the side of his neck and gently pulled him forward into a kiss. There was nothing desperate or uncertain about it now. The kiss carried quiet certainty instead, warm and steady enough that the cold mountain wind faded almost instantly beneath the heat moving between them.

Matt kissed him back, one hand sliding against Theron’s chest while the other caught lightly at the back of his jacket. The kiss deepened gradually beneath the quiet night around them until Matt forgot entirely how cold it actually was outside.

When they finally pulled apart, Theron rested his forehead lightly against his for a brief moment. “I spent centuries believing survival was all I was allowed to have,” he admitted quietly.

Matt’s chest tightened.

Theron’s eyes lifted toward him again beneath the moonlight. “You gave me something beyond that.”

Emotion lodged painfully in Matt’s throat. He kissed him again before words could ruin it.