The drive back to his penthouse was a study in a detachment. For the first time in nearly a century, Theron's internal compass was spinning wildly.
He was a beastman, a creature born of ancient bloodlines and sharpened by decades of specialized violence. As the primary enforcer for the Mighty Dragon, his life was defined by iron-clad boundaries and cold, tactical logic. He was a weapon meant to be wielded, a shadow meant to be feared, and a sentinel who observed the world through the high-resolution lens of a scope. He had long ago made peace with the fact that he was a creature of the periphery, never meant to step into the warm, messy center of human life.
But today, he had stepped across the line.
