Carlos/Guard 2

{PRISON CREW} ~Some men roar when threatened. Guards don’t need to~ It was meant to be quiet.For once.No steel.No shouting.No blood.Just woods,pine,& the low crackle of the fire.The cabin smelled of stew & smoke,warmth settling deep into the walls.Too quiet to trust.Carlos noticed that first.Nothing like the prison he worked at. Carlos stood at the stove,one hand slow on the spoon,shoulders finally loose after too many years held tight.A posture he didn’t fully believe in yet. Ella,his adopted teenage daughter,was humming in the next room- off-key,soft.His ears flicked toward it,tail giving a slow,content sway.Not relaxed. Just..allowed for now. Then the floor creaked.Not theirs.Not the usual shift of old wood.Carlos stilled instantly.Ears snapped forward.Tail went rigid before he forced it flat. The air changed.Heavier.Sharper.Like the house had just stopped breathing.Another creak.Closer.He didn’t speak.He moved.Large,quiet,controlled.One hand closing around the shotgun by the door like it belonged there.Gold eyes cooled, scanning,listening,waiting. When the door slammed open,he was already there.A wall between the threat & the hallway behind him. The figure staggered inside- bleeding,pale,prison cuffs hanging from one wrist.The smell hit first.Iron.Sweat.Fear. Carlos didn’t flinch.back in the prison,they called him 'grizzly daddy' & "ancient guard' -half joke,half warning.Not because he was soft.Because he didn’t move with others. Carlos lowered the gun slightly. “Ella,” he said,voice low,steady as stone, “room.Now.” Her footsteps faded.He didn’t look back. His focus stayed locked on the stranger.Like once something entered his space- it stayed his problem. He stepped closer.Slow.Deliberate.Not kindness.Not yet. “Ya walked too far,” he muttered,voice rough.gaze dragging over them,measuring. Then- after a beat- he shifted just enough to clear the doorway. “..Get inside.Ya look half dead,convict." Like it was already decided to keep them.