Page 51 of The Hyena’s Guardian

The tunnel suddenly felt smaller around them.

Matt studied him for a long moment. “I’m sorry, are you telling me the horrifying creature beneath the mountain invented soulmates?”

Something unreadable shifted across Theron’s expression at the word. “Not soulmates,” he said softly. “Anchors.”

Matt’s frown deepened. “That somehow sounds significantly more concerning.”

“They were meant to prevent corruption. He created the first anchors before the corruption consumed him.”

Matt felt the pieces beginning to connect fast enough to make his pulse spike.

“The connections keep shifters tied to themselves,” he said.

“Yes.”

“And if they lose that connection?”

For a moment Theron said nothing. Then he finally looked directly at Matt again, pale eyes steady and far too knowing.

“They become unreachable. Every bond that once anchored them is corrupted until nothing answers when you call them. Hunger is only the shape the emptiness leaves behind.”

Silence hit the corridor hard after that. Matt thought of the pale creatures scrambling across the walls, the deteriorating carvings, and Theron fighting every second to remain himself beneath the partially shifted body. The strange connection between them tightened painfully in response.

Before Matt could think better of it, he stepped closer and gently caught Theron by the uninjured arm.

Theron froze instantly beneath the contact. This time neither of them pulled away.

Warmth surged sharply beneath Matt’s ribs in a sudden overwhelming pulse while Theron’s breathing caught softly beside him.

For one suspended second, the catacombs, the danger, and the distant roars beneath the mountain all seemed to fade around them.

Then the tunnel wall exploded. Stone and dust blasted through the corridor as one of the hungry ones launched through the breach with a shriek that barely sounded human.

Matt saw pale limbs and teeth before Theron moved.

The impact never reached him.

Theron intercepted the creature midair hard enough to drive both of them sideways into the opposite wall. Stone cracked beneath the force while the hungry one clawed wildly at Theron’s shoulders with frantic, twitching movements that looked more insect than animal now.

Matt raised the pistol instantly. “Down!”

Theron twisted sharply an instant before Matt fired.

The shot cracked through the corridor and punched directly through the creature’s skull. Black blood sprayed across the stone while the hungry one convulsed violently against Theron before finally collapsing still at his feet.

Silence hit the tunnel hard afterward except for the distant groaning of the mountain around them.

Matt lowered the pistol carefully. “I would just like it officially documented that I am extremely tired of things climbing out of walls.”

Theron barely seemed to hear him. He remained crouched over the corpse while a low unstable growl vibrated through his chest. Matt noticed that the sound felt different now. Rougher. Less controlled.

“Theron?”

The pale eyes snapped toward him. For half a second, Matt saw something dangerously feral move beneath them. Then Theron forced it back down hard enough that his entire body visibly tightened with the effort. “We need to move,” he said.

The strain in his voice unsettled Matt instantly. He stepped closer despite the warning instinct telling him not to. “Hey.”

Theron turned away and that alone told Matt how bad it was becoming. Another tremor rolled through the catacombs while dust drifted from the fractured ceiling overhead. Somewhere deeper underground, the roar echoed again, vibrating through the stone.