Page 66 of The Hyena’s Guardian

Theron blinked once. “Doing what?”

“Looking like you’re about to walk directly into a tragic self-sacrifice scene.”

Theron stared at him in silence.

Matt’s expression flattened. “That was not supposed to be confirmation.”

The bond reacted sharply to the fear beneath the humor.

Theron felt it.

Matt feared losing him.

The truth struck with enough force that for a moment the chamber seemed unsteady beneath his feet.

Every instinct Theron possessed rejected the feeling. Hope was dangerous. Attachment was dangerous. And after centuries beneath the mountain, he no longer trusted himself with either.

And yet the bond carried no deception with it. Theron felt the truth of the emotion clearly beneath Matt’s controlled expression.

Matt feared losing him because somewhere along the way, Theron himself had started to matter beyond the prison he guarded or the mountain failing around them.

The mountain groaned violently beneath the chamber before Theron could respond. Stone cracked somewhere deep below, and distant screams echoed through the catacombs.

The moment shattered.

Matt’s head snapped toward the tunnel entrance. “That sounded bad.”

“Yes.”

Matt sighed. “Your ability to confirm my worst suspicions is becoming deeply unsettling.”

Another tremor rolled through the floor, harder this time. Several operatives cursed while fractured stone broke loose from the ceiling near the rear passage.

Vale looked toward Theron sharply. “How long before the lower sections collapse completely?”

Theron listened carefully to the shifting vibrations moving through the mountain before answering.

“I am not certain,” he said. “But if containment fails, none of us survive long enough for the collapse to matter.”

The chamber fell silent as everyone finally understood what he meant.

Matt exhaled beside him before checking the magazine in his pistol again. “Okay,” he said. “Then we move fast, save everyone still breathing, stop the ancient underground apocalypse king, and get out before the entire mountain comes down on us.”

One of the younger wolves stared at him. “You say that like this is a normal mission briefing.”

Matt shrugged tiredly. “Honestly, denial is carrying me pretty far right now.”

A few strained laughs broke through the tension. Theron watched the room find its balance. The fear hadn’t disappeared, but it no longer dictated every movement. Without realizing it, Matt had become the point everyone unconsciously oriented themselves around.

The thought settled painfully inside Theron’s chest.

This was what leadership looked like now. Not power held through fear, but trust earned so completely that people followed even when terror surrounded them.

Once, long ago, others had looked at Theron that same way before the mountain, before the corruption, and before centuries turned him into something people feared on sight.

The memory ached like an old wound reopening beneath his ribs.

Matt glanced toward him again, and the bond pulsed softly between them the instant their eyes met.