Page 89 of The Hyena’s Guardian

Matt’s smile widened, soft and knowing. “Good.” He leaned in, pressed a kiss to Theron’s shoulder, then settled back against his chest. “That’s good.”

They lay in silence for a while. The cave breathed. Matt’s hand never stopped moving, tracing the scars with absent tenderness, learning them by heart.

After a long minute, Matt spoke again.

“Can I return the favor?”

Theron’s brow furrowed. “What?”

Matt’s hand slid from his arm to his chest, then lower, palm resting over the hard plane of Theron’s stomach. “You took care of me. Let me take care of you.”

Understanding dawned. With it came warmth, and beneath that, something careful and held back. Theron caught Matt’s wrist gently, pausing the motion without stopping him. “Not here.”

Matt stilled. “Why?”

“Because I want it to be somewhere safe. Somewhere monsters aren’t waiting outside.” His voice dropped. “Somewhere I can be with you without counting the minutes.”

Matt searched his face. Whatever he found there softened something in his expression.

“You want to wait.”

“I want it to mean something.” Theron’s voice was barely above a whisper. “It already does. But I want the whole thing. Not a stolen moment in a cave while we’re running for our lives.”

Matt’s hand relaxed beneath Theron’s grip. His thumb brushed across Theron’s knuckles. “Okay.”

Theron blinked. “Okay?”

“Yeah.” Matt’s smile returned, warm and genuine. “I get it. I don’t like it, because I wanted to make you feel good the way you made me feel good. But I get it.” He lifted their joined hands and pressed a kiss to Theron’s fingers. “When we’re somewhere safe. When monsters aren’t trying to kill us. I’m holding you to that.”

Theron’s chest tightened. The laugh that escaped him was surprised and real, huffed against Matt’s hair. “Deal.”

Matt settled deeper against him, his body molding to Theron’s side like he belonged there. His hand found Theron’s chest again, palm flat over his heart, feeling it beat steady and strong beneath his touch. “We’re going to make it out of here,” Matt said. “And when we do, I’m going to find the softest bed I can and take you apart slow.”

Theron’s arm tightened around him. His voice came rough. “I’d like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Matt pressed a kiss to Theron’s throat. “Then it’s a date. Part three.”

Theron laughed again, quieter now but no less genuine. The wolf settled beneath his ribs, alert but no longer restless, as though it too had begun to understand that survival might not be the only future left to them. For the first time in longer than Theron could remember, the mountain no longer felt like the boundary of his existence.

Chapter 13 - Matt

Matt knew something had changed before they made it back to camp.

It wasn’t one thing he could name. Theron did not suddenly walk more easily, and the mountain had not magically lifted whatever ancient weight it had pressed into his bones. He still moved with that same controlled awareness, every step measured, every sound registered before it reached anyone else.

But something in him had quieted.

Not softened exactly. Theron would probably object to that word on principle. The sharpness remained, but it no longer seemed aimed inward with the same relentless force. His shoulders still carried centuries, but they were no longer locked as though he expected the mountain to punish him for breathing.

Matt noticed because he couldn’t seem to stop watching him. That was becoming a problem. A very serious problem, if he wanted to keep pretending he had any kind of tactical awareness left.

Theron walked a few steps ahead through the lower tunnel wearing the clean thermals Baptiste had given him. They fit better than Matt expected, though the sleeves stretched across his forearms and the shirt did little to hide the breadth of his shoulders.

Matt was not proud of the amount of attention he paid to that. He was also not sorry.