Page 152 of The Hyena’s Guardian

“That seems statistically unlikely.”

“You’d think that.”

A faint flicker of warmth brushed through the bond beneath Theron’s skepticism.

Matt smiled before lifting the phone between them. “You ready?”

Theron hesitated for only a second before nodding once.

Matt hit the call button.

It rang twice.

Then Mac’s face appeared on the screen looking exhausted, irritated, and very obviously still in uniform.

“You look terrible,” Mac said without preamble.

Matt grinned weakly. “Good to see you too, Alpha.”

“You disappeared into a classified supernatural catastrophe for two damn days. I earned the right to insult you first.”

Movement shifted somewhere offscreen before Melvin appeared beside him almost instantly, dark eyes sharp with concern.

“Gods,” Melvin muttered. “You actually look worse than Mac said.”

“Wow,” Matt said. “This feels aggressively hostile for a reunion.”

“Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?” Melvin shot back.

The words hit harder than Matt expected.

Something in his expression must have given that away because both Mac and Melvin quieted afterward. Mac’s eyes narrowed instead. “You okay?”

Matt glanced briefly toward Theron beside him before answering. “Yeah,” he said honestly. “I think I finally am.”

Something in Mac’s expression shifted at that. Recognition surfaced almost, like he had already pieced together far more than Matt intended to say aloud.

Mac had always been terrifyingly good at reading people.

His gaze flicked once toward the edge of the screen where Theron stood partially out of frame. “There’s someone there with you.”

Not a question.

Matt exhaled softly through his nose. “Yeah.”

Beside him, Theron went completely still. Matt suddenly became aware of how much the moment mattered because Theron was listening for rejection, even if he would never admit it aloud.

Matt straightened away from the wall. “There’s someone I need you both to meet.”

Mac stayed quiet.

Melvin’s expression softened instead, like he had already figured out far more than Matt intended to say.

Matt glanced toward Theron once before continuing. “He’s important to me.”

The silence afterward lasted barely two seconds, but Matt felt every single one of them.

Mac’s gaze moved between them. “Well, whatever happened out there explains why you look half dead.”