The dry leaves shifted, parting just enough to reveal thick, diamond-patterned scales.
A massive rattlesnake was coiled tight right beside the yellow frisbee, its triangular head raised and ready to strike.
"Nobody move!" I roared, throwing my free arm backward to block the charging crowd.
The mother’s nails dug into my ballistic vest as she fought to get past me.
"Get your monster off my baby!" she shrieked, her voice cracking with pure terror.
"I’m going to bash its skull in!" the guy with the heavy tree branch bellowed, stepping into striking range.
He raised the jagged wood high above Titan’s exposed spine.
I let go of Titan’s collar and whipped my baton from my belt, snapping it open with a sharp metallic clack.
"Take one more step and I will drop you where you stand!" I barked, locking eyes with the young man.
He froze, his chest heaving, startled by the sudden lethal authority in my voice.
The heavy-set man in the flannel shirt skidded to a halt beside him, his fists clenched.
"Are you insane, Officer?" the flannel-shirted man yelled, pointing at the dirt. "Your dog is mauling that little girl!"
"Look at the leaves!" I shouted back, never taking my eyes off the coiled predator.
Beneath Titan’s heavy paws, the seven-year-old girl whimpered, her tiny chest rising and falling in rapid, panicked gasps.
"Sweetheart, listen to me very carefully," I said, dropping my voice to a calm, steady murmur.
"I need you to stay completely still, just like a statue."
"He’s heavy," she sobbed, tears cutting clean tracks through the dirt on her cheeks. "He’s squishing me."
"I know he is, honey, and I’m so sorry," I told her gently. "Use your inside voice and don’t move a muscle."
The mother finally stopped clawing at my back, her frantic breathing hitching as she followed my gaze.
The buzzing rattle grew louder, a frantic, vibrating warning that cut through the cold autumn air.
"Oh, my God," the mother whispered, both hands flying to cover her mouth.
The color drained completely from the young man’s face, and the heavy tree branch slipped from his fingers, thudding softly onto the grass.
"Is that a rattlesnake?" the man in the flannel shirt asked, taking a slow, involuntary step backward. "In Seattle?"
"Probably an illegal pet somebody dumped when the weather turned cold," I muttered through gritted teeth.
The cold air had made the reptile sluggish, tucked into the rotting oak leaves for warmth, right where the girl’s hand had reached for her toy.
Titan hadn’t tackled her to hurt her.
He had smelled the snake, heard the warning rattle over the noise of the park, and knocked her out of the strike zone with milliseconds to spare.
Now, he was using his own ninety-pound frame as a living shield between the venom and the child.
A low, continuous rumble vibrated in Titan’s throat, his amber eyes locked onto the swaying triangular head.
The snake drew back further into an S-curve, agitated by the heat radiating from the dog’s chest.
If I pulled Titan back, the sudden movement would trigger a strike.
If I tried to grab the girl, the snake would hit her before I could clear her legs.
I tapped the mic on my shoulder, keeping my movements glacially slow.
"Dispatch, 4-Adam-12, I need Animal Control and paramedics expedited to the west treeline of Centennial Park," I spoke barely above a whisper.
Before the dispatcher could even reply, the reptile lunged.
It was a blur of brown and gray scales shooting straight toward the girl’s exposed neck.
Titan didn’t flinch.
Instead of jumping back to save himself, my partner thrust his broad chest forward, intercepting the strike mid-air.
A sharp, agonizing yelp tore from Titan’s throat as the fangs sank deep into the muscle just above his right shoulder.
Still, he didn’t step off the girl.
With a lightning-fast snap of his jaws, Titan seized the snake right behind its head and whipped his neck violently from side to side.
There was a sickening crunch, and he flung the limp reptile ten feet away into the brush.
"Now!" I yelled, diving forward and scooping the little girl out from under him in one sweeping motion.
I passed her straight into the waiting arms of her sobbing mother.
"Check her for bites!" I ordered, already spinning back around to my dog.
Titan took two wobbling steps toward me, his tail giving one weak, apologetic wag.
Then his back legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the frozen dirt.
"Titan!" I gasped, dropping hard to my knees beside him.
Two tiny puncture wounds were already oozing dark blood through his thick fawn coat, the surrounding flesh swelling rapidly.
He whimpered softly, pressing his wet nose against my knee as violent tremors began to wrack his body.
"Stay with me, buddy," I pleaded, tearing off my heavy patrol jacket to wrap it around his shivering frame. "You’re a good boy, Titan. The best boy."
The crowd that had wanted his blood thirty seconds ago now stood in horrified silence.
"My truck is right by the curb!" the man in the flannel shirt shouted, snapping out of his trance.
"We don’t have time to wait for an ambulance, Officer! Let’s go!"
I didn’t hesitate for a second.
I slid my arms under Titan’s ninety-pound body, lifting him against my chest as the flannel-shirted man and the younger guy cleared a path through the stunned onlookers.
Three days later, I was sitting on the cold linoleum floor of the Seattle Veterinary Specialists clinic, resting my forehead against Titan’s bandaged shoulder.
It had taken four vials of antivenom and forty-eight hours in intensive care, but the swelling had finally gone down.
A soft knock at the exam room door made me look up.
The little girl stood in the doorway, wearing the same bright pink winter coat, clutching a giant plush bone that was almost as big as she was.
Her mother stood right behind her, eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"Is he awake?" the little girl asked softly, tiptoeing into the room.
Titan lifted his heavy head from my lap, his ears perking up as he recognized her scent.
He let out a soft, welcoming huff, and his tail thumped rhythmically against the floor.
The girl knelt fearless beside him, wrapping her small arms around his neck as Titan gently licked the side of her face.
In five years of working together, Titan had disobeyed me only once—and it was the noblest thing I had ever seen.
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