I stayed on my knees beside Titan and the little girl.
Her mother was only a few feet away.
“Please get my daughter!”
“I will.”
I kept my voice calm.
“But nobody move yet.”
Titan’s growl became deeper.
His eyes never left the pile of leaves.
Then I heard it.
A faint sound beneath the shouting.
Dry.
Sharp.
Close.
Something was hidden in the grass beside the child.
That was what Titan had detected.
He had not charged across the park because he wanted to hurt her.
He had reached her before she could move any closer to whatever was concealed beneath those leaves.
Suddenly every detail made sense.
The way his body became rigid.
The first ignored command of his career.
The desperate sprint.
The way he knocked the girl away from the bushes.
The way he kept her on the ground instead of letting her stand.
Titan had seen danger before any human in the park understood it was there.
I looked toward the terrified crowd.
Minutes earlier, people had been ready to condemn him.
Now nobody moved.
I slowly reached toward the child while Titan remained fixed on the hidden threat.
For the first time since the chaos began, I understood exactly what my partner had been trying to tell me.
He had never lost control.
He had taken control before the rest of us even knew we were in danger.
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