20. Chapter 20 - Matt #3
Melvin smiled then, warm and genuine in a way that grounded something inside Matt’s chest. That expression had steadied him through more disasters than he could count.
“When are you coming home?” Melvin asked softly.
The question lingered quietly through the bond between Matt and Theron.
Home.
Matt looked sideways toward the older wolf beside him before answering. “Soon,” he said.
Mac nodded once like the decision had already been made long before the call even started. “Good,” he replied simply. “Then bring him with you.”
Theron went completely motionless beside him, and Matt felt the reaction through the bond: shock first, followed by disbelief and something dangerously close to hope.
Melvin leaned closer toward the screen. “Fair warning,” he said, “Mac’s Pack meetings are basically controlled chaos, and Matt talks too much.”
“That is slander,” Mac replied.
“It’s objectively true.”
“I am still on this call.”
Theron had been quiet through most of the conversation, studying the wolf and panther on the screen with the same careful attention he gave everything unfamiliar. Then his eyes shifted briefly toward Matt before he nodded once. “That,” he said calmly, “is already very obvious.”
Matt stared at him in open betrayal. “You’ve known me for like two days.”
“And yet,” he said calmly, “I am already fully convinced Matt could verbally survive in complete isolation for several centuries.”
Melvin laughed first. A second later, even Mac looked away briefly like he was losing the fight against amusement too.
Matt pointed accusingly between all three of them. “Wow. Okay. Incredible. Glad everyone’s bonding.”
Beside him, Theron looked suspiciously unbothered by the accusation.
Mac noticed it and his expression softened as he studied both of them through the screen for another moment before nodding once, like some internal decision had finally clicked into place.
“Get some rest,” he said. “Both of you.”
“That sounds suspiciously responsible coming from you,” Matt replied.
“Near-death experiences occasionally inspire personal growth.”
Melvin snorted beside him. “No they don’t.”
“Fair.”
Matt smiled despite himself, but exhaustion was starting to settle heavily through him now that the adrenaline and relief had finally begun fading. The bond carried the same fatigue from Theron beside him, quieter but no less deep.
Mac noticed because of course he did. “You look exhausted,” he said flatly.
“I got crushed by a mountain yesterday.”
“And somehow you still won’t sleep unless someone orders you to.”
Matt considered that briefly. “That feels emotionally targeted.”
“It was intended to.”
Melvin shook his head fondly before looking toward Theron again. “We are looking forward to getting to know you better when you get here.”
The sincerity behind the words softened something in the hallway.
Theron went still beside Matt for half a heartbeat before inclining his head once. “I believe I would like that as well.”
Something warm crossed Melvin’s expression at the answer, and even Mac looked faintly more relaxed afterward. “We’ll see you both in Colorado soon,” Mac said simply.
Home. The word settled heavily through the bond between Matt and Theron.
Matt swallowed once before nodding. “Yeah,” he said. “Soon.”
The call ended a few seconds later.
Silence pressed softly through the hallway afterward while rain continued tapping against the safehouse windows beyond them. Matt lowered the phone and leaned back against the wall, suddenly aware of how exhausted he actually was now that the conversation was over.
Beside him, Theron remained quiet for a long moment before speaking. “They accepted me very quickly.”
Matt glanced sideways toward him. “That’s kind of how Pack works.”
Theron grew quiet for a moment before speaking again. “They know almost nothing about me.”
“Yeah,” Matt said. “And they accepted you without hesitation.”
Theron fell silent, as though acceptance remained harder to understand than rejection.
Matt’s expression softened. “Theron, nothing about you is something they’re going to hold against you.
You survived something impossible for longer than anyone should’ve had to.
If anything, Mac and Melvin are probably already trying to figure out how fast they can feed you and officially adopt you into the Pack. ”
The older wolf grew quiet again after that, though Matt felt some of the lingering tension beneath the bond finally begin to ease.
It did not disappear entirely, but it loosened enough for him to finally breathe again.
Matt pushed himself away from the wall with a tired groan. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s survive one more night in this place before Vale decides sleep is a privilege we haven’t earned yet.”
Theron’s mouth twitched faintly. “Your people are deeply strange.”
Matt laughed softly as they started back down the hallway together. “Yeah,” he said. “But they’re good people.”
As they walked down the hallway together, Matt felt something inside Theron finally ease, as though the future no longer looked like something he had to face alone.