What the Hound Doesn't Say
- L N Bokete
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Mateo.
Stoic. Silent. Loyal to a fault.
He walks like a man sculpted from control. Eyes always scanning. Shoulders taut like they’ve never known softness. He speaks in clipped sentences, and when he does, every word feels like it’s passed through a thousand filters. He doesn't waste breath.
But sometimes… I catch him looking at me.
Like he's trying not to.
And in those moments, I wonder.
Does he see me as a threat? A duty? A complication? Or is it something else entirely?
There was that moment on the rooftop—just the two of us. No guards. No Maddie. No Diego. Just quiet. And moonlight. And that hum that happens when silence is full of everything unsaid.
He asked how I was.
Not in that polite, performative way people do when they don’t actually want the answer. No—he really asked. And for a second, I almost broke.
I almost told him that I’m not okay. That every night, I lie awake memorising the sound of every creak in the floorboards. That I carry a knife in my purse not for protection, but to feel prepared—because prepared is the only thing I have left. That I whisper my parents’ names like a spell I hope will give me strength.
But I said none of it.
Because Mateo serves his family. And I serve my promise. The one I made when the rain fell over two caskets. The one that won’t let me rest until I know who did it—and why.
And still… he stayed.
After he asked. After I said nothing. He stayed a beat longer than necessary. His eyes on me like he was watching a storm gather behind my ribs. He didn't try to fix me. Didn't dismiss me. He just saw me. And that scared me more than any blade ever could.
Because if he really sees me—if he feels something—then it changes everything.
It means the Hound has a weakness.
It means loyalty might not be absolute.
It means if I go too far… he might be the one sent to stop me.
Or worse, he might be the one who follows me into the fire.
So no—Mateo doesn’t say much.
But in his silence, I hear a question he’s too afraid to ask:
Would you run… if I ran with you?
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