A growl rolled from his chest.
Not playful.
Not uncertain.
A warning.
“Titan. Heel.”
Nothing.
My stomach tightened.
“Titan.”
His muscles bunched beneath the harness.
Then he exploded forward.
The leash burned through my fingers.
“Titan! No!”
He tore across the field.
I ran after him, searching for whatever he had detected.
A weapon.
A suspect.
A threat.
I saw none.
Only a little girl in a bright pink coat chasing a yellow frisbee toward the overgrown edge of the park.
Maybe seven.
Blonde pigtails bouncing as she laughed near a cluster of oak trees.
“Titan! DOWN!”
She turned.
Her smile vanished.
Titan hit her with his body.
His jaws never closed around her, but the impact knocked her backward into the frozen dirt.
Her scream stopped the park for half a heartbeat.
Then chaos erupted.
“He’s attacking her!”
“Get him off!”
