Don't get too close, his grampa had told him, but it was hard not to. She was there. Simply there.

When Owen confronted Keller, he reluctantly confirmed that Masrani Global had started to play around with the DNA some more while making the new raptors more resilient to germs and virus infections.

"What did you splice into her?" Owen demanded.

"Nothing. She's pure velociraptor. Well, as pure as we can make any of them anyway. Thirty years ago they looked quite differently. We just gave her a push to expand her cognitive functions and hope to tune down the aggression."

Well, fuck.

"You want to turn them into what? Labradoodles of the dino world?"

"Not at all, Mr. Grady. We always need to modify them, recreate sequences that were destroyed or degraded. You can't just clone a dinosaurs from millions of years old blood. That's make-believe. In doing so, and in perfecting them to not drop dead because of the common flu, we add a few features here or there."

Like size. Or no feathers. Things came and went as scientists worked on perfecting their lab-grown animals to look like the visitors expected them to look, behave like they thought they should. Colorful skin had made way for greenish-gray once more, with stripes or spots for variation. There had been a few feathered versions, but Masrani had wanted the old variation.

So they had gotten it.

None of the dinosaurs at the park were pure-bred, if you could call them that. They were clones from long-dead animals whose genetic material had been found and combined with today's reptiles or amphibians. A lot had been added to the original program, so to speak. And the labs were still working on making a better dinosaur. Too many still fell victim to everyday germs.

"What about the other pack in the enclosures?" Owen asked.

"Still the original version. They are healthy enough and we seem to have that under control."

"You just mixed together a cocktail of genetic information, gave it a good shake and dumped the result into my lap?"

Keller shrugged. "They are your expertise, Mr. Grady. I thought you'd appreciate the effort."

Owen froze.

Keller's expression was friendly, but there was a glint in those eyes, something that told Owen that the man knew; or suspected.

"She already sees you as her alpha, right?"

"Possible," he said, feeling numb.

Keller knew. He had created the raptors to… what? Respond to Owen? No one could do that! You couldn't program an animal to a specific response, to a person. That was learning, training, imprinting!

"Good. You're a talented animal trainer, Mr. Grady. Dr. Wu and I agreed on that. It's why Masrani Global was given such a high review of your character and abilities. Why else would they have entrusted raptors with a trainer?"

Owen's hands clenched into fists. "What kind of experiment are you running, Keller?"

It got him a smile. "None at all. You do behavioral studies on raptors. A scientific analysis on a fast and untamable predator, so to speak. We give you a new breed to work with. That's all."

That was all? He hardly thought so.

"To what end? What else do you want to breed into them?"

"Nothing. But like guard dogs, raptors are useful. Not right now and probably not in the next years, maybe even decade. Their instincts are hard to control."

"You can't tame them!"

"Probably not. But the alpha can tell them what to do, can't you?"

"You're crazy, Keller!"

"Hardly. We already have results."

"Who knows?"

"This is Dr. Wu's personal matter. So aside from the three of us? No one else knows." Keller smiled coolly. "And we'll keep it this way. You're not the only talented trainer here, Mr. Grady, though the only one insane enough to take on a predator. Masrani Global wanted the best for Jurassic World. Why else do you think they chose you?"

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Owen felt like the floor had been pulled out from under him. Someone at Masrani Global had done their homework, had known who and what Owen Grady was, and they had gone out of their way to get him to sign on.

For the velociraptors.

He went back to the enclosure, numb, almost like on automatic, and Blue called urgently to him as he walked into the building, her voice guttural.

"Yeah," he murmured as he let her out of the cage she had to stay in while he was gone. "You felt that, right?"

She chirped.

Keller knew. So did Wu. They had been so incredible cooperative when it came to the raptors, he should have been suspicious.

There might be others like him here, at the park. Masrani wanted talents. In oh-so many ways, but no one had ever gotten this close to a predator as Owen Grady. Every other handler who was hands-on had a herbivore species to train or take care of.

"Why you?" Owen murmured, scratching Blue's head.

There was no answer.

Not yet.

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Owen continued to watch the baby raptor's development, made notes, recorded videos. He pushed the knowledge that some people knew about him out of his mind. He was good at compartmentalizing. Very good.

And this was his job. He wouldn't endanger his charge by threatening to quit.

Blue lost most of the feathers over the course of the next weeks until only a few quills remained on her head and even those looked like they would disappear.

By now Owen knew that his little charge was more than a steel ball of instinct. She was cool primality and still controlled. She was basic emotions and spikes of higher understanding. She learned fast and ceaselessly. She was like a sponge and every training session was remembered the next time.

And she was close to him. She sought out his presence. Blue's mind was rapidly forming connections to him and it was both scary and elating. Owen knew that raptors lived in family groups, in packs, and they shared a connection that was more than instinct. He had learned all he knew now from Dot and her pack. They had this silent understanding, this synchronized behavior, and they regarded everyone else as a danger to them. Outsiders were warned off. If they didn't listen, the pack attacked. It wasn't hunger or maliciousness of their part; raptors were extremely territorial and humans were intruders.

Animals are honest, someone had told him while he was training the military working dogs. They'll show you right and wrong, they'll let you know when you make a mistake. They don't lie. No animal does.

Velociraptors, for all their frightening intelligence compared to other dinosaurs, were still animals. And Owen always knew where he stood with them. He had to watch their body language, react to what he read, and he was fine.

Blue saw him as pack. She was fiercely loyal to him, protective, didn't act too kindly around others, and she warned off people, who quickly retreated when the young raptor was around. She might be no bigger than a house cat, but she had pointy teeth, sharp claws and she was very, very fast.

She never attacked. Owen felt her questions float through his mind: Prey? Enemy? Chase? Pounce? Warn off? Bite?

He couldn't really hear the words as such, but from what he received, from what he felt, it was rather clear. They weren't real words, just sensations. Like a foreign language he understood without really speaking it.

Blue didn't understand the concept of a friend or colleague, but she learned to listen to her alpha. She chattered when people she didn't know came by and she hissed angrily at those who watched her with a less than positive air.

Owen felt his own mind expand with her eagerness to learn. It was like this was what his brain had been waiting for and Blue responded to him like… kin.

Again and again her presence approached him, coming to the forefront. He learned to push back.

"No," he told her firmly.

A feeling of cool reptilian disappointment washed through him, over him, and was gone. The presence was still there, but no longer oppressive.

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Blue learned to keep her distance over the connection, though she never left him completely alone. Physically she was always right there, next to him, following him wherever Owen went.

Keller and Wu left them alone, until the day Owen was presented with new eggs.

"New breed?" he asked coldly.

"No, the same. I think she will need a pack, don't you?" Wu asked calmly.

"You think I can raise four of them?"

"I think you can do a lot more. Mr. Grady. A whole lot more, if you set your mind to it."

He could read between the lines and he didn't like it. They were running their own experiment. Not on the raptors, but on him and the raptors. They wanted to know… what? If a talented person could tame or train or control a dinosaur? Sure, it was already working with some of the more even-tempered animals. You didn't need to have Owen's preternatural abilities to get a triceratops to respond to simple commands, gestures or noises.

They wanted to know about the predators, he thought, feeling apprehension at the very idea. They wanted to see if it could be done.

But to what end?

A raptor show? Letting them jump through hoops? No way. This wasn't a circus or Disneyland.

Shows where they fed the animals, sure. Making them do circus acts? Owen would draw a line there. Jurassic World was a unique, one of a kind zoo. Nothing else. Not to mention that the dinosaurs were way too big for such stupid ideas.

So why?

And what if he found out and didn't want to play along? Owen had already reached a point where he couldn't go back. Blue was his; he was her alpha. Refusing to continue the work meant she would probably be put down.

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So he took on the others three months after Blue's hatching. The eggs broke within minutes of each other, the tiny raptors tumbling out.

Blue watched it, fascinated, head cocked, making low, guttural noises as if to encourage her future pack. Owen just picked up one after the other, cleaning them off, setting them under the heat lamp, feeding them their first strips of meat.

Their minds quickly formed a circle around his, interweaving, creating family bonds, creating… something new.

Owen called them Charlie, Delta and Echo. Blue was in charge, but he was their alpha. She corrected the younger ones, hissed and snapped and barked at them, kept them in line and taught them correct behavior. It was amazing to watch her relay what she had learned to the others. They followed her lead, adopted her behavior, her response to his commands, and they eagerly followed the alpha.

Owen had the park vet check them regularly, though they didn't like it. Dr. Lewis Marcus didn't like them trying to bite him either.

"I thought you were training them," he groused.

"They're not machines you can program," was Owen's level reply. "You meet them with tension and fear. They react to that."

Energy. It was all about energy. Marcus was tense and that tension reflected how the raptors behaved.

The vet gave him a dark look, but he tried to relax a little more.

Blue behaved, though she looked annoyed, but Delta, Echo and Charlie were actively trying to bite the latex gloved fingers.

"Girls," Owen said and raised a hand, palm up. "Eyes on me."

They blinked and stopped struggling for a moment, chirruping softly. Their eyes were on him, waiting expectantly. He waited for a moment, then lowered his hand, sending out approval through the bond.

Well done.

Marcus raised his eyebrows. "Well," he only said.

The rest of the shots and brief exams were conducted in relative peace, though Charlie growled a few times. Each time, Owen noticed, had been triggered by Marcus tensing up again. Echo got her teeth on an old glove and kept chewing on it.

Babies.

They would grow out of it.

"You might want to think about collars," Marcus said when he packed up his kit. "They would be better to handle."

"No," Owen said coldly, scratching Echo's head. She had let go of the glove, surrendering it to her alpha.

"There'll come a time when they won't be small and easy to handle. The collar would give you a manner of control."

"We're done," Grady decided and picked up Echo to put her down on the floor with the others, who were milling around his feet, mock-fighting. "Let's go, girls."

They flocked after him, leaving Owen in the lead, and were perfectly well-behaved. He gathered several looks as he led the little gang outside, passing through corridors and past office doors. Delta curiously sniffed the air around the kitchen for the vet staff, but she didn't try to enter.

Good girl, Owen thought. She probably heard it because she gurgled softly, head held high as she stayed with the group.

There was a murmur of apprehension from two keepers, but Owen ignored them.

He just smiled, no humor in his eyes, and gave them a nod.

One of the security guys scowled, hand resting on the gun on his belt. Owen dared him to so much as pull it, let alone point it at his pack. Blue followed his line of sight, visibly displeased, but she didn't even bare her teeth. Her intent was clear, though. She was bigger than the others, retriever-sized, and she was the leader. She wouldn't tolerate aggression in the pack, so she wouldn't tolerate it from the humans who didn't trust them.

"They need a muzzle," the security man, Johnson his tag said, told him evenly.

"Take it up with Masrani," Owen replied.

And walked on.

A collar, a muzzle, maybe even remove their claws… Owen knew there had been talk about securing the raptors, mostly because of Hoskins' opposition when it came to them roaming around freely, but he wouldn't do that to them.

Owen had no idea what he would do if it came as an order from higher above, but he would think of something.

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The order never came.

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People say you haven't seen a rainstorm until you've seen a tropical rainstorm.

Owen had seen his share while working for the park, but this was the first time he had four baby raptors who sought hiding places inside the house. Delta and Echo were crammed under the bed. Charlie had buried in Owen's pile of laundry. Blue was trying to be brave, but she had squeezed herself under Owen's desk. He felt her small body pressed against his lower legs and sighed.

Rain beat down on the roof, loud and still somewhat comforting, though his little pack might disagree. Blue did. Not really vocally, but her distress was clear.

"Okay, girls," he murmured and pushed back from the desk.

Blue whuffled a little, eyes big and scared.

"This'll go on for hours. You guys have to get used to it. You won't always be inside."

He walked over to where Charlie was watching him, a sock on her head, her body almost hidden by his shirts, socks and pants. Owen plucked her out of her hiding place and walked over to the bed. The blinds were open and he had a good view of the fat drops coming down around them. Blue had followed, body low, almost crawling over the floor, and she quickly jumped into the bed next to him and Charlie, snuggling into a corner. Delta and Echo quickly followed.

"It's weather, ladies. Just weather."

The flash of lightning and low grumble of thunder had them squeal and swarm toward him, trying to seek safety with their alpha. The bond was a jumble of emotions he couldn't decipher.

He had long since accepted that he wouldn't be able to stay outside this. He was grounded within them, their alpha, part of the pack, and distance didn't work.

Owen chuckled and stroked over the small bodies. He was projecting calm energy, relaxed and not the least bit alarmed by the weather.

"We have to work on that," he said to himself.

After a while all four started to relax.

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The rain lasted through the night and only stopped early in the morning. For Owen it was a relaxing sound, the drum of fat drops on the roof, water sliding down outside the windows like a waterfall.

The pack finally fell asleep at some time and so did their handler. Owen woke to Blue on his chest, Delta snuggled to his left, Charlie to his right, and Echo curled up on his pillow, against his head.

The bond was a calm, warm something between them and he smiled involuntarily.

Don't open up.

Don't get too close.

Too late, Owen knew. Way too late.

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The four raptors found the muddy ground and huge puddles endlessly fascinating.

Somehow it was like watching toddlers play in mud.

The result was similar. He had very dirty raptors, who were also very hungry.

"Breakfast, hm?"

With that he walked over to the building that housed the pens for the grown raptors to live in. Owen had lived in a trailer when he had come to the park. Outside Jurassic World, behind the scenes in the restricted area, with nothing but open plains around him and the jungle not far away. He had moved into his current lodgings when the house had been finished, and he had kept the trailer just in case he wanted to tow it somewhere into the vast enclosures to study dinosaurs not in the theme park on display.

The velociraptor pen had been there already. It had been used for the first packs, but since the enclosures had been moved to a more secure spot, the old building hadn't been used.

Owen had drawn up plans to rebuild it all and a swarm of workers had made it reality.

Chirping and chittering amongst themselves, the raptors followed him.

tbc...