Page 159 of The Hyena’s Guardian

Connor blinked once.

Then his attention shifted fully toward Melvin.

Matt saw the exact moment recognition hit him.

The younger wolf went very still beneath the porch light while confusion, disbelief, and something far more uncertain flickered quickly across his face.

His nose twitched once as Melvin’s scent reached him clearly beneath the cold mountain air, confirming whatever his eyes had already begun to recognize.

“You…” Connor stopped briefly before trying again. “You were there.”

The quiet words changed the atmosphere.

Melvin frowned. “What?”

Connor looked suddenly unsure whether he should have spoken at all. “The facility,” he said carefully. “New York.”

Matt felt Theron straighten subtly beside him while Mac’s attention sharpened.

Recognition stripped the warmth from Melvin’s expression. “Oh Gods,” he said quietly.

Matt looked between them. “What?”

Melvin stared at Connor for another second before speaking again, much softer this time. “You were the wolf from the lower containment wing.”

Connor lowered his eyes after that.

And suddenly Matt remembered the conversation from months earlier. Melvin coming back upstairs after getting separated from him briefly during intake processing at the Council facility. The way he had gone unusually quiet afterward. The anger sitting beneath his skin for the rest of the night.

“You saw him?” Matt asked.

Melvin nodded without taking his eyes off Connor. “Just once.” His expression tightened. “They said he was unstable.”

Connor gave a hollow laugh that carried absolutely no humor inside it. “That’s one word for it.”

Silence pressed heavily across the porch.

Matt remembered enough from his own early turning to understand what “unstable” could mean inside certain Council facilities. Isolation. Restraints. Forced shifts. Sedation. Wolves treated more like dangerous animals than terrified people who had survived something traumatic.

From the way Melvin’s jaw tightened, he was remembering the same thing.

“You were hurt there,” Melvin said quietly.

Connor stiffened like the words themselves were dangerous.

Mac stepped slightly closer to Melvin without drawing attention to it while the younger wolf visibly struggled to decide whether denying it mattered anymore.

Finally Connor shrugged once. The movement looked more defensive than casual. “They said it was necessary.”

Something cold settled across Theron’s expression beside Matt.

Melvin looked furious in a way Matt had only seen a handful of times before. Not explosive anger. Worse. Controlled anger.

“They chained you to the floor,” Melvin said.

Connor’s silence confirmed it.

Matt felt his stomach twist sharply.