Page 33 of The Hyena’s Guardian

The creature reacted instantly.

Its entire posture changed at once, broad shoulders tightening while the claws flexed against the stone floor. Matt felt the shift physically before he fully understood it. Whatever calm restraint the thing had shown until now vanished beneath something sharper and far more dangerous.

The pale eyes snapped back toward him and the creature moved.

Matt barely saw it happen. One second the corridor ahead of him was occupied. The next, the creature crossed the distance between them with terrifying speed and grabbed the front of his tactical vest hard enough to slam him backward against the wall.

Pain exploded through Matt’s shoulder as the creature slammed him against the stone wall hard enough to drive the air from his lungs. His hand moved instinctively toward the pistol at his side, but the creature closed the distance before he could draw it, leaning in close enough that those pale eyes suddenly filled his entire field of vision.

Up close, the thing looked even less human than before. Its face carried traces of what it had once been buried beneath predatory features that no longer fully belonged to any recognizable species. Fur framed sharp bone structure while elongated fangs flashed briefly beneath curled lips.

But the eyes remained intelligent, locked onto Matt with a level of focus that felt disturbingly human beneath everything else the creature had become. There was desperation in them too, buried deep beneath the predatory tension vibrating through its massive frame.

The creature growled low in its throat before speaking in a voice roughened by disuse and shaped by something far deeper than normal human vocal cords.

“Quiet,” it said.

Matt stopped struggling instantly.

Because the thing holding him against the wall was not supposed to be able to talk.

Matt’s pulse hammered unevenly against his ribs while the creature held him pinned against the stone wall. Up close, the thing radiated controlled violence in a way that made instinct recoil automatically. Every part of Matt’s training screamed at him to fight back, but the pale eyes locked on his own carried something more complicated than simple aggression.

And somewhere deeper in the tunnels, something moved.

The sound echoed faintly through the corridor a second later. Stone scraped against stone far beyond the reach of the flashlight while a low vibration rolled through the floor beneath their feet.

The creature reacted instantly.

Its head snapped toward the darkness behind them while the claws gripping Matt’s vest tightened hard enough to strain the fabric. The shift in posture was subtle but unmistakable. Whatever confidence the creature carried around Matt vanished the instant that sound echoed through the tunnels.

Matt understood enough to cut through the panic flooding his system. Whatever terrified the creature had turned its attention toward the danger coming for Matt.

The thought stole his attention from the claws inches from his throat.

Another distant scrape echoed through the ruins.

This time the creature released him instantly and stepped backward into the corridor, body lowering into a defensive stance while its attention locked toward the darkness farther underground.

Matt sucked in a sharp breath and finally drew the pistol from his holster.

The creature glanced back toward him at the movement, but instead of attacking, it looked almost frustrated.

“Don’t,” it said.

The voice still sounded wrong coming from something built like that. Rough and uneven, yes, but unmistakably intelligent.

Matt kept the pistol raised anyway. “You’re going to have to give me significantly more information before I agree to anything happening right now.”

The creature ignored the weapon completely and turned its attention back toward the tunnel.

Matt heard it then: footsteps echoing somewhere deeper in the tunnels. They were not Baptiste’s and they did not move like the wolves either. These sounded faster and uneven in a way that raised the hairs along the back of his neck.

Beside him, the creature’s breathing deepened as he listened toward the darkness ahead.

Then he spoke again without taking his eyes off the tunnel.

“They followed you.”