1
The rifle wasn’t aimed yet. Maddox’s eyes tracked the barrel—a bolt-action hunting rifle, Richard’s hand too close to the trigger guard—while her body stayed loose and ready. Zeus pressed against her left leg, seventy-five pounds of coiled muscle waiting for a command she hadn’t given.
“Richard.” Her voice cut through the spring damp, clear and controlled. “Put it down.”
He swayed on the porch steps, drunk enough that his words slurred together. “She called you people. Shouldna done that.”
Behind Maddox, Brooke’s terrified breathing hitched. The ex-girlfriend huddled with her neighbor twenty feet back, silent tears streaming down her face. Backup flanked the perimeter, officers she knew and trusted, but this was her call. Domestic disturbances went sideways fast. Add alcohol and firearms, and you had mere minutes before someone got hurt.
She’d arrived first and preferred it that way. It gave her time to assess before the crowd showed up.
“Your daughter’s waiting to hear from you,” Maddox said. The lie came easy. Anything to create a connection and find leverage. “Put the rifle down so we can talk.”
Richard’s fingers twitched near the trigger.
Zeus shifted his weight, not by much, just a redistribution of readiness. He felt her tension even before she did, always had. The afternoon pressed the damp and gray around them, ocean salt mixing with wet pavement and peeling paint. Two-story house, overgrown yard, a neighborhood where people minded their business until someone screamed.
“You don’t know what she did.” Richard’s voice cracked. “You don’t?—”
The flash surfaced against her will: different heat, different firearm, Zeus moving ahead to clear a space while her lungs seized?—
Maddox shoved it down.Not here, not now.
“I know you’re hurting,” she said. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She ignored it. “I know it feels like there’s no way out, but there is. Put down the rifle.”
Five long seconds stretched between them. Wind carried the promise of rain, and her Kevlar vest pressed familiar and grounding against her chest. Zeus’s warmth anchored her left side while Richard’s red-rimmed eyes searched for something he wouldn’t find in her face.
Then he swung the barrel.
Not aimed, just a drunk man’s rage given motion, but Zeus launched before she could give the command and his entire body closed the distance in three strides. He hit Richard low and controlled, his jaws finding the forearm that held the rifle, his weight driving the man sideways and away from the weapon.
The rifle clattered against the concrete and skittered away.
“Release,” Maddox commanded, already moving forward.
Zeus let go immediately and backed to her side as other officers swarmed in around them. They had Richard face-down within seconds, cuffing him while he openly sobbed into the pavement. Someone kicked the rifle clear of the scene, andsomeone else called for paramedics to check him over, though Zeus’s bite had been clean and controlled.
Maddox’s hands stayed steady as she secured the rifle and checked it over. Safety on, chamber empty.
“Good boy,” she murmured to Zeus, keeping her voice even. “Good work.”
Zeus looked up at her with those dark brown eyes, intent and watchful, reading her in a way nobody else could.
Brooke collapsed into her neighbor’s arms, sobbing in relief. Another officer approached from the perimeter—Riley, blonde and efficient, her expression bright with approval. “Hell of a call, Shaw. Clean work.”
“Just doing the job.”
Riley’s grin flashed quick and easy. “You’ve been racking them up this month, though. Everything okay?”
“Fine.” The word came out flat. “I’ll write it up back at the station.”
She turned away before Riley could press further. Her chest felt too tight, her breathing shallow, and there was the taste of copper where she’d bitten through her cheek without realizing it. The adrenaline crash pulled at her edges, trying to drag her under, but she kept her spine straight and her expression neutral.
Another call handled, another scene cleared. The math was simple: no injuries, suspect in custody, weapon secured.
Zeus pressed closer as they walked back to her vehicle. He always knew.
The drive back to the station blurred at the edges. Maddox navigated the familiar streets on autopilot, her hands steady on the wheel while her heart refused to slow down. Zeus shifted in his compartment behind her, his presence a weight she could feel even through the barrier.
