Enjoy the Chapter!

Chapter 10: Paddock Mishap

Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm sounded disturbing the peaceful silence in the room.

"Mmmhhhh," Claire groaned as she hit the snooze button before rolling over and snuggling in closer to Owen.

"Good morning," Owen grinned as he sat up and watched Claire curl up closer to his body.

"Time to get up sweetheart," he smiled as he leaned down to press a kiss to her temple.

"I don't want to get up, you kept me up too late last night," Claire mumbled into her pillow.

"I wouldn't exactly call going to bed at seven keeping you up late. You realize you slept for twelve hours," he replied.

"Well I still don't want to get up, it's warm in here," she murmured as she curled into his side.

"Well it will be that warm again tonight," Owen replied as he got out of bed, bent down, and tore the covers off her body.

"Noooooo! Owen! I-"

"Hush you'll thank me later," he cut her off.

"You know you're going to have to make this up to me with a lot of sex," Claire smirked up at him.

"Yes dear," Owen grinned before kissing the top of her head and heading into the bathroom for a shower.

"Are you still wearing the black dress to the gala tonight?" Owen asked as Claire was finishing straightening her hair.

"Yes, and don't worry I'll be home in time to tie your bow tie," she winked at him.

"Are you trying to seduce me right now Miss Dearing," he grinned leaned down to kiss the nape of her neck.

"No not at all, I actually have to observe you and Barry at the paddock today, so I'll be all yours for the second half of the day," Claire smiled at him.

At noon Owen watched Claire's car pull up outside the paddock.

"I hope you sent in all the reports," Barry laughed as he watched Claire climb the stairs up to the catwalk.

"Good afternoon boys," Claire greeted them.

"Just in time for lunch," Owen snickered at at her.

"Oh I can't wait," Claire replied as she grinned back at him.

"Neither can I," Conner Meyers replied as he walked towards them.

Claire turned back to Owen,rolled her eyes, and mouthed the word great to him just as Conner reached them.

"Owen, I need you to authorize a field test," Conner stated while he watched the raptors enter the enclosure.

"Absolutely not," Owen replied looking him dead in the eyes.

"You understand I'm your boss and you have to do what I order you to do, I thought they would have taught you that in the Navy," Conner fired back.

"Actually with all the new protocols in place, you would have to get my authorization first before going to Mr. Grady," Claire interjected in a clipped tone .

"Oh, well then in that case why don't we consult in my office Miss Dearing," Conner replied taking a step closer to her.

"I don't think so," Claire replied cooly. " under no circumstances are you to-"

Suddenly Conner was gripping Claire's forearms and dragging her backwards.

"Take your hands off her," Owen stated while approaching them.

Barry had moved to block Conner's exit and Claire began to try to jerk her arms free. When that didn't work she jabbed her heel into his foot.

"Ahhhh!" Conner yelled as the pointed tip of her shoe made contact with one of his bones.

Conner still hadn't released Claire from his hold as he stumbled backwards into the railing, his waist hit the edge of the railing hard and suddenly he was falling over it, dragging Claire with him into the paddock below. Claire's head and shoulder hit the ground with a loud smack that knocked the wind out of her.

"Claire! Claire Stay down, if you try to get up they'll think you're challenging them!" Owen yelled to her as he and Barry sprinted towards the stairs.

Claire could feel blood running down the side of her face as she struggled to regain her breath. After a second she lifted her head and found herself gazing into the eyes of four hungry raptors.

Blue started making clicking noises to her sisters as she moved closer to Claire.

"Blue No!" Owen yelled as he scrambled down the last few steps to the cage door.

Blue tilted her head to the side as she met Claire's gaze.

"Blue please," Claire whispered as her eyes began to well up with tears.

Blue kept moving towards Claire's frozen form, before stopping and doing something that took everyone by surprise. Once Blue was in front of Claire she leaned down so her head was brushing Claire's and purred. But she didn't stop there, she moved her head so that she was nuzzling Claire's abdomen. After a minute Blue straightened and turfed to face the other raptors, and hissed. Claire had been so preoccupied wording about what Blue would do she hadn't noticed Owen running to her side. Blue turned her head to make a clicking noise at Owen before turning back to the other raptors. Blue hissed again and the three raptors sprinted into the trees with Blue following. Once the raptors has disappear Owen picked Claire up and carried her out of the enclosure.

"Are you alright," Owen asked as he rapidly looked over her for any other other major injuries.

"Owen!" Claire sobbed as she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest.

"Shhhhh, I've got you you're safe; you're safe,"Owen whispered in her ear as he rocked her back and forth and stroked her hair.

He glanced up to see Barry drag Conner out of the pin before shutting the gate. Barry had ruffed him up enough, but no where near the amount Owen was dying to inflict.

"I thought-"

"Shhhhh, it's ok, you're ok." Owen interrupted her as he continued rock her and kiss her head.

"I love you," Claire whispered into the crook of his neck.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

Well I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Thank you all again so much for all the reviews, follows and favorites!

P.S. Blue nuzzling Claire is really important (Hint! Hint!)