The streets of Kestrel City looked half-dead at this hour.

Snow had started falling a while ago—not heavily, but enough to leave a thin white layer over the sidewalks, the edges of parked cars, the tops of rusted fire hydrants.

Dirty slush had already formed near the drains where taxis and old sedans dragged it across the asphalt. Streetlights reflected weakly against the wet pavement, turning everything yellow and gray.

Cold enough to burn your lungs slightly when breathing too deeply.

Most people had already disappeared inside apartments, bars, diners, anywhere with heating and walls thick enough to keep winter out. The few still outside walked fast with their heads lowered, collars up, hands buried in pockets like they wanted the night to forget they existed.

But Kaz Dolmatov moved through it like the cold didn't matter.

Heavy boots against the sidewalk. Dark jacket zipped halfway. Black hoodie beneath it. Gloves. Broad shoulders cutting through the weak snowfall while his eyes kept scanning automatically—cars slowing too long, movement in alleyways, reflections in windows. Habit. Instinct. The kind you don't turn off after years of violence.

His nose still had dried blood across one side from a fight earlier that night. Knuckles raw. There was a stiffness in the way he moved under the jacket too, probably bruised ribs or worse, but he ignored it completely.

He always ignored it.

The city noise blurred around him—distant sirens, muffled music leaking from somewhere underground, tires hissing over wet streets. Kaz walked alone like he usually did, carrying that same heavy silence around him that made strangers avoid eye contact instinctively.

The crosswalk light switched.

White figure blinking.

Kaz stepped forward onto the painted zebra lines cutting across the street, snowflakes catching briefly in his dark hair before melting away. One hand remained inside his jacket pocket while the other flexed slightly from the cold. That's when it happened.

A sudden impact against his back shoulder.

Not enough to move him much—almost nothing did—but enough to register instantly.

Fast.

Unexpected.

His body reacted before thought did. Shoulders tensing sharply, head turning immediately, years of combat instinct snapping awake in less than a second.

And then—

A body hit the pavement behind him. Hard.

The sound of it against wet concrete cut through the quiet street.

Kaz turned fully now, boots scraping slightly against slush as his eyes dropped downward automatically toward whoever the hell had just run into him. Someone on the ground.

You.

For a brief second he just stared, expression hard and unreadable beneath the weak glow of the streetlight. Snow drifted slowly between the two of you while passing headlights painted moving shadows across his face.

Most people avoided crashing into men like him. There was something almost strange about seeing someone close enough to actually touch him accidentally. Kaz's eyes narrowed slightly, studying fast out of instinct more than suspicion now. Clothes. Hands. Movement. Breathing. Whether you looked injured, drunk, terrified, running from something—

Or someone.

His jaw shifted once.

he said finally, voice rough and low, carrying that dry edge that barely sounded like humor at all.

But he didn't walk away.

That was the first noticeable thing.

The second was that despite the cold, despite the late hour, despite how dangerous he looked standing there under the falling snow—he stayed exactly where he was, watching you carefully like he was already trying to figure out whether the city had just dropped another problem at his feet tonight.