Page 160 of The Hyena’s Guardian

The younger wolf looked uncomfortable beneath the attention now, like he regretted speaking at all. “I wasn’t exactly handling the wolf well.”

“You were newly turned,” Melvin replied. “And terrified.”

Connor looked genuinely caught off guard, as though nobody had ever said those words to him with such simple understanding before.

Mac finally broke the silence before it could grow heavier. “You hungry?”

Connor blinked once like the question physically confused him. “…What?”

“Food,” Mac clarified calmly. “Warm house. Pack. Basic survival concepts.”

A startled sound escaped Connor before he could stop it. Not quite a laugh, but close enough that Matt caught the surprise crossing his face afterward.

Melvin stepped fully aside in the doorway then. “Come inside,” he said more gently this time. “You don’t have to stand out there anymore.”

The words landed hard enough that Connor visibly forgot how to respond for a second. Matt understood that feeling too well.

After a long hesitation, Connor climbed the porch steps with the same wary caution he carried in every movement.

Matt watched Theron study Connor and understood what the older wolf recognized in him. Theron knew exactly what it looked like to survive something terrible and spend too long afterward believing survival was the only thing he deserved.

Standing beneath the Colorado night with warmth spilling from the house behind them and the Pack waiting inside, Matt realized something important.

The mountain was gone.

But there were still wounded wolves in the world.

And now they finally had somewhere to come home to.