May 11th, 1986

Benjamin cursed the traffic-jams that seemed to plague the whole state of California like a disease. He ended up having to run most of the way through Ingen's flashy new corporate building so as to get to his meeting on time. This was why he liked to live upstate in the seclusion of the countryside. No noise, pollution or people to get in his way. For a moment, he was reminded of when he'd worked his first job for his father, before the old git had passed on, rushing around to meetings on time. Luckily, he knew Hammond wouldn't be as disapproving if Benjamin was a minute or two late.

Since their dream was starting to be realised, Benjamin was pleasantly surprised at how often he got to see his old friend. Hammond had made this his top priority, and as such didn't feel the need to travel abroad to oversee his other parks across the world. Benjamin knew Maisie loved this opportunity, as it allowed her to spend more time with her fun-loving uncle. And Benjamin himself enjoyed the opportunity to see more of the man he looked to as a brother. Even if he did find it a little aggravating when Hammond would organise 'emergency' meetings at the last minute.

"Ah! Benjamin!" John exclaimed with a wide smile as Benjamin strolled through his office door. "Tea?"

"No thank you, John, water will be fine," Benjamin replied, trying to hide how badly he was panting. As he took the liberty of pouring himself a glass of icy-water from the jug on the desk, he asked. "How's the family?"

"The usual, Mary, she's… Mary." John murmured dismissively. Benjamin felt a pang of sympathy for him. John had adored his daughter, but she somehow managed to grow up detached from him. It was his baby grandchildren now that got all of his attention and love. "Enough of that, we have much other important issues to discuss."

Indeed they did, though Benjamin was unsure exactly what those issues might be. With the birth of the triceratops a success, he'd had begun to cultivate the best minds of the developing science field of genetics, so that they could break down the mysteries of dinosaur DNA. Hammond only interfered once, when he brought in a young Asian man straight out of university, who Hammond claimed would be the next brilliant mind, the geneticist equivalent of Einstein: Dr Henry Wu. The young man seemed eager to please and willing to do anything to get the desired results, which somehow made Benjamin feel a little uneasy. Apart from that, Hammond oversaw all the aspects that would mean bringing their dream to life. He worked closely with architects and engineers, interviewed expert designers and investigated how the latest computer software could be implemented to help them. From the reports they sent each other back and forth, Benjamin had thought things to be running smoothly, so why would Hammond need to discuss something with him of such an 'urgent' nature.

"It's about the amphitheatre in San Diego," John said.

Benjamin frowned. "You aren't getting more pushback from the City officials again, are you?"

"No, no, nothing like that. It's just that I feel it's… inadequate."

"If that's all this is…" Benjamin slumped, relieved. "John, you know I'll back you up if you want to hire a new architect to look at the designs–"

"No." was the quick reply. Hammond sighed and leant his elbows on his desk, hands clasped together in front of his nose. "Benjamin, answer me this: what are we trying to build here?"

"A place for the public to see dinosaurs, to experience something they've never seen before."

"Exactly! Something they've never seen. Benjamin, if we put our attractions in that amphitheatre, what are we giving them? A circus! We'll pull the animals out one by one and show them off to the masses, and then we'll stuff them back in their cages until the next show. No. I don't believe that's our destiny, nor theirs."

"Then what is our destiny, John?"

"Imagine it, Ben: we pull out a triceratops, its keeper pushing it around the ring and rattling off information about it like a teenager working a summer vacation job. The crowd will gawk and stare, and they will go away and speak of how amazing we were to bring them back to do tricks. And that's it. They will appreciate us, but the magnificent animal standing right in front of them, defying God and time to stand before their eyes? They will not give it a second thought." John snorted with clear distaste, such bitterness in his eyes that his partner was taken aback by it. "Now imagine this instead: the crowds stroll past a fence, surrounded by jungle and the natural world, completely taken out of the comforts of civilisation. Then, right behind the fence, a Tyrannosaurus bursts from the trees and roars down at them, demanding they kneel when in its awe-inspiring presence! In that moment, they won't think about us, or the science, or any of the confectionary or petty baubles they've come to associate with entertainment. No, instead, they will realise the miracle of life standing right before them, how majestic and wonderous these animals are. They will see how powerful and beautiful nature can be, and how… little they are in the grand scheme of things. That's our destiny, Benjamin. That's what we're here to do. We're here to humble humanity."

Benjamin was honestly floored by the time Hammond finished. He'd always known his friend to be a visionary, to sell you a dream and make you believe in it with every fibre of his being because he believed it too. He honestly believed that in another life, John must've been a preacher of some kind. The way John spoke, as if this were some mission given to him by God, and that to err from this path be a grave tragedy… it was as unsettling as it was inspiring.

"Alright," Benjamin began slowly. "What are you going to do if we can't use the amphitheatre?"

That twinkle was back in his eye. "I'm thinking an island. I've already been in touch with the Costa Rican government. There's a chain of five islands just off the coast, they call them 'the five deaths'."

"Charming."

"They're uninhabited, not even functioning as wildlife reserves. The government's willing to lease the islands to Ingen for us to build on. I'm already drawing up the paperwork. I want to send crews to start building by the end of the month."

Benjamin blanched – surely this was a little fast! "Wait a minute, John! Isn't this a bit… much? You want a park of some sort on an island, way out of the way so that people will need to travel to this little forgotten corner of the world?"

"Look at it this way, should we ever suffer a containment breach – as all Zoos do, eventually – it will be much less complicated if the animals will be stuck on an island and not free to hurt the general public like they would on the mainland."

"I'd like to think a containment breach would never happen! John, we're talking about dinosaurs, not tigers or lions! If they got out – even if isolated on an island – it would be catastrophic!"

"Which is why our geneticists are coming up with an inventive why to make the animals reliant on us, and we'll also be employing the best technology and engineering money can buy. Spare no expense. Don't worry, Benjamin, old boy, it was just a hypothetical scenario."

Benjamin rubbed at the back of his neck, certain he could feel sweat. "And that's another thing, John. You want to rent out these islands? Build everything from scratch? We've already thrown away hundreds of thousands of dollars on what little work's been done on the San Diego amphitheatre. Not to mention the fact that we still need to invest money in actually bringing more of these animals back if we're going to fill a whole park – John, where is all this money going to come from? Because I'll tell you now, if you go too far, you'll bankrupt both of us before its even finished. I don't know about your family, but I intend to leave Maisie her rightful inheritance."

"Calm down, Ben," John said, as if taken aback by his friend's outburst. "Don't worry, these things will all sort themselves out."

Meaning Benjamin would sort these things out. That was one thing that had really grated on him when he'd first met John. The man had all the ambition to sell the world, yet Benjamin always had to be the one to work out exactly how these things were going to be paid for. John did not lack for money, neither of them did, but sometimes Benjamin had to wonder if John really heard himself whenever he said his famous catchphrase: 'spare no expense'. But still, John words about destiny echoed in his heart, refusing to leave him be. He had to admit, it did sound far grander, far worthier, to build a park-sanctuary than a circus. It would be a true legacy to leave for Maisie, and for that reason, Benjamin began to run simulations in his head on how best to help his partner finance this.

He just hoped those five little islands didn't live up to their names. Hopefully with time, those names would be long forgotten, and buried beneath all the goodness to the world Hammond and Lockwood were going to bring.


March 20th, 2011

Checking through the email correspondences as carefully as possible, Benjamin attempted to get comfortable in his seat. Hunched over the keyboard, pressing each letter slowly as he tried to find the next one needed to complete the word. For the thousandth time, he cursed the idiot who thought computers could replace a good pen and paper. Usually, he wrote everything out in pen and then handed it to Mills to translate into an email format. But not this time, no, this was a matter that required him to personally oversee.

Biosyn were trying to put the pressure on him again. The elderly man wished he'd never had the stupidity to run into them – no matter how unwittingly. Maybe things would've turned out better for everyone if that were the case. Maybe they never would've sabotaged the Park, maybe they wouldn't be as big of a looming threat as they were now. But Benjamin knew how to deal with them, a strongly worded email with a thinly veiled threat should be enough to turn them away again. They knew he had been in on Hammond's secrets, and guessed that he was good on Masrani's as well. At least, that was what Benjamin believed they were after – the messages they'd sent were strangely vague but still foreboding. No matter. He would still protect what remained of his empire from the invaders, as any true Lockwood would.

The door to his office burst open, and Benjamin startled in his seat. He was confused and appalled as Mills barged into the room, half dragging Maisie behind him. The child's face was streaked with tears, her sobs so great that she was having difficulty breathing. Behind him came a distraught looking Iris and a security guard.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Benjamin roared, wanting to leap out of his chair, but struggling to stand without his cane – which had fallen to the floor.

"Sir, I'm sorry to have to tell you this," Eli said, looking pale and sweaty. "But there seems to have been a problem…"

"Problem?"

Eli looked down at the sobbing girl in his hands and urged her on. "Tell him, Maisie."

The girl looked up at Benjamin with her big brown eyes, now red and puffy and drowning in tears. She wept so hard she was hiccupping for breath as she tried to speak. "I-I-I'm sor-ry, G-Grandpa! I-I didn-n't mean to f-find him!"

"Find him? Find who?" Benjamin frowned, utterly confused. He leant against the desk as he hobbled around it to try and reach for her. The poor thing was struggling for air to the point he feared she might suffer a spontaneous asthma attack – even though asthma was one of the few things she didn't suffer from. "And who has let her get in this state?"

"Come on dear," Iris murmured softly, taking the opportunity to swoop in and pluck Maisie from Eli's claws. She led Maisie to the armchair and sat her in it. "Sit still and breathe… Calm."

When it was clear Maisie was only focusing on getting her sobbing under control and not volunteering any information, Mills groaned, fidgeting as if explaining things was the last thing he wanted to do. "About ten minutes ago, Sir, Maisie was… she was in the Indoraptor's cell."

It took Benjamin a moment to register what it was Eli had just told him, and then he thought his heart just suffered a stroke as it stuttered to a stop with shock. "What?!" he erupted. Fear made him lash out, and he spun on his life-long friend where she knelt in front of Maisie. "Where were you in all this, Iris? You're meant to keep an eye on her and you let her in with that monster?"

Iris had the decency to look pale and ashamed. "Sir, I assure you, I had no idea–"

"That's even worse!"

"G-Grandpa, please!" Maisie moaned, fresh tears bubbling out of her as she beheld his anger. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Upon seeing those pitiful eyes, Benjamin immediately softened. To think, he might've lost her all over again… his knees buckled as he knelt before her and pulled her into his arms, hugging her fiercely. "I know you didn't, sweetie. None of this is your fault." Reluctantly, as if she would be snatched away from him the moment he let her go, he released her and slowly turned back to Eli and the security guard. When he spoke, his voice was quiet once more, but as cold as an Antarctic blizzard. "If that thing touched her…"

"It didn't." said a voice. "I don't think it ever would."

Everyone looked to the office doors as in burst a peeved looking Moroe, holding a tablet in the crook of her arm. Benjamin raised a bushy brow not only at her impertinent tone, but also at what she had just implied. "Dr Moroe? Care to explain yourself?"

"Mr Lockwood, did Mr Mills mention that the Indoraptor specimen was released from its cage with Maisie present in the room?"

He turned on the younger man and hissed as if he were part dinosaur himself. "You let that thing loose on her?!"

"Sir," Eli mumbled quickly, the sweating on his brow growing worse. "I assure you, the moment I knew Maisie was in danger, I immediately called in all the guards and we managed to get her out–"

From the armchair, the girl in question wailed. "You promised you wouldn't hurt him!"

"Maisie, that's enough!" Benjamin snapped, in a tone most unlike anything he had ever used to address her with. He instantly regretted it, but his frustration at the entire situation, and only being told bits and pieces of it at a time was grating on him.

"The guards were a necessary but ultimate useless precaution," Moroe rolled her eyes in her infuriatingly superior way that made it look as if she believed she was far more intelligent than anyone else in the room, and they were all being idiots. "The specimen was not going to hurt her."

"Forgive me for not taking you at your word, Doctor, when my granddaughter's life is at stake."

"I have proof." She turned the tablet in her arms so that he could see the screen. Benjamin felt his stomach turn as he watched the Indoraptor strut out of its cage and approach Maisie where she was sprawled on the floor. For a horrifying moment, it looked as if it might strike at her, but instead, all it did was rub its head against her chest. Moroe paused the video and tucked it back against her body, a smirk on her face. "The specimen had the opportunity to rip open your… granddaughter. It decided not to. Much like the velociraptors, I believe it is exhibiting social skills – it seems to have 'adopted' her into its society. Whatever that may be."

"Any comparison with those vicious animals does nothing to calm my nerves, Moroe." Benjamin murmured coldly. He willed his mind not to think back to those walking nightmares he'd first seen so long ago. Indeed, comparing this situation to the Velociraptors in any way only made him want to soil himself over the danger Maisie could be in. "Mills, you can make up for this most egregious mistake by putting that beast under tighter security. Solitary confinement, if need be. I don't want it anywhere near her again, do you understand?"

Before Eli could respond, Maisie burst out of the chair, shoved Iris aside and flung herself around Benjamin's legs. "No! Grandpa, please! You can't take my Jack!"

He frowned at Mills. "Jack?"

"That's the, um, name she's given the Indoraptor, Sir."

With a sigh, Benjamin pulled the girl away from him just enough so that he could kneel to look her in the eye. "Maisie, that creature is a wild animal and not a toy. I don't know what gave you the impression to believe otherwise, but it is dangerous. And I'm sorry, but that means you need to stay away from it."

"G-Grandpa, I don't want you to! He's not! I promise!"

"Mr Lockwood," Moroe blurted in a hurried voice. She seemed unsure of what to say, and for the first time, he saw her look unsettled. "What if I told you that the results I'm getting back from medical tests are improving since Maisie's interaction with it?"

That instantly caught Benjamin's attention. "Iris. Take Maisie outside the office."

"I'll be a good girl!" Maisie shouted. "Just don't take my Jack!"

"Outside, now, Maisie. I'll see you in a moment." He stood. They waited until Iris pulled the emotional girl outside the office and the door had closed behind them. "Explain yourself."

Again, there was that look of uncertainty, but she seemed to get over it and carry on. "I took a blood sample a week ago, just before Maisie's latest round of treatment. The levels were still the same as before, no improvement towards a long-term cure. After Maisie first visited the specimen–"

"You mean there was more than one? How long has this been going on!"

"Only a week ago," Eli squeaked. "I swear to you, Sir, I didn't know until she'd already been and gone – and it was through the safety of the bars!"

"As I was saying…" Moroe huffed indignantly. "After Maisie's first visit, I took another sample a few days later. Response to added stimuli had improved drastically."

"What does that mean?" Benjamin asked.

"It means, Mr Lockwood, that the specimen's overall response to our treatments had suddenly become more receptive since it began interactions with Maisie. As a result, our work towards a cure to your inherent disease has become more realised." Her grin returned. "In short, the more Maisie and the Indoraptor interact, the better her treatments will become."

Benjamin scrutinised the woman with such a hard look that she squirmed on the spot. "This is in theory, though, isn't it? You can't tell for sure that its morale will have anything to do with a cure in the long term."

"What's the saying? Mind over matter?" When she realised she still had not won him over, a devious gleam entered her eyes. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order…?"


October 27th, 1986

John hadn't been kidding when he said he'd wanted workers to start construction within the month of being granted permission to host his park on the islands. It was decided that the largest of the islands, Isla Sorna, would host the 'factory floor'. The animals would be bred and nurtured and adjusted to modern life there before they would be moved over to Isla Nublar, which is where the actual park would be. Hammond had sent construction crews, engineers and other specialists to Sorna immediately in order to establish the basics for operations.

And then the scientists had come in and started their work, even as their labs and facilities kept expanding around them as the construction work continued. The dig-teams were bringing back samples all the time now that they knew what to look for. Henry Wu was actually changing up the whole game with his ingenuity. Whereas they previously took months to decode and fill in the gaps in the genome, Henry somehow managed to get it all done in record time. Benjamin and John decided to simply not investigate whatever corners he cut to make such a thing happen.

So it was in late October that John invited Benjamin to fly to Isla Sorna for the hatching of a new species. Benjamin wanted to make the trip anyways because he wanted to inspect what all of this money was being put into, and also seeing if he could come up with any ideas as to how to create the money needed for this to continue. Though both he and Hammond had the money to oversee this entire project, he'd calculated earlier, Benjamin might've been considered too privileged because he wanted to do this without being forced to dig too deep into his own pocket.

When he arrived, the place was a little more basic then he'd have liked on the outside, only to be amazed at how sophisticated everything looked on the inside. John had greeted him cheerfully and shown him around with the excitement of a child showing off their birthday presents. When they came down to what would become 'The Hatchery', both Benjamin and John were instructed to pull on hazmat-style suits over their clothes. The scientists were worried what might happen if any foreign bacteria were introduced to the babies at such early stages – and seeing as how it was a new species, they had no idea how it would react, if at all.

John and Benjamin huddled around the tiny egg and watched it awed fascination as the little life inside clawed and shoved its way into the world. John cooed over the little thing, softly murmuring words of encouragement to the little dinosaur as if he were a mother-hen. Benjamin almost made a joke, but was too stunned by the miracle happening right before his eyes to do such a thing. It was in that moment that he fully understood what John really meant when he said he wanted to humble humanity. Nothing had made Benjamin more appreciative and in awe of the power of nature than watching the impossible be born.

And then that moment ended.

A sickly yellow eye opened, far too large for the head it inhabited. A scrawny neck wobbled and swung itself about, and let out an ugly little screech. A pale body covered in blood and goop fell into the artificial 'nest' the egg had been placed in. Its arms were long and gangly, its body mismatched in proportions as the feet seemed too big, like a puppy's, with a sickle toe-claw on each foot looking particularly sharp and gleaming. Its tail flopped almost uselessly on the ground. It squawked a terrible sound, and looked up at Benjamin with a fierce stare, as if the being who once owned the blood used to create this clone were staring out at him and demanding: how dare you do this to me?!

Benjamin was especially disturbed by the maliciousness present in an animal. But John was utterly delighted as he scooped the little dinosaur up in his gloved hands. "Oh! She's perfect!"

"I wouldn't say that just yet, Mr Hammond," said Dr Wu as he came forward, scribbling notes down on a clipboard. "This is just version 1. I hope to refine the process, work out the kinks until I can find just the right balance."

"Of course, Henry," agreed John distractedly. "Be sure to give us the best animals the world has ever seen – spare no expense."

As Benjamin left with John an hour later, he glimpsed on Dr Wu's notebook exactly what kind of creature he'd watched be reintroduced to the world: Velociraptor.

By Christmas, Wu had managed to concoct two other 'versions' of the Raptor DNA sequence. Each time, he added new things, so that they might grow faster, or larger, or faster etc. Trial and error, he claimed, until he could find the appropriate mix of genes that would be suitable for the park. Only one raptor was born per version to minimise losses while Wu 'worked out the kinks'. Considering current paleontological research suggested that most raptor species were social creatures, living in packs, someone had suggested putting the three together to keep each other company.

Benjamin had received a grim email the next morning: apparently the two oldest raptors had turned on the smallest of them, the one from batch 3, and they'd ripped the little thing apart. It had barely been two days old. An hour after, the surviving pair had fought for dominance over feeding time, and both had been killed in the fight.

He remembered the eyes from that very first raptor and shivered in his seat from a sudden chill.


March 20th, 2011

He awoke with his head pounding and his tongue feeling fuzzy. His vision was unfocused at first, and the world spun. He tried to open his mouth, to lick at his lips with uncertainty, but found he could not. A force held his jaws closed. Instantly, he began to panic, claws reaching up to try and pry this force away from him. But it did nothing but scratch and hurt at his own scales. Muffled snarls of hate could be heard from inside his mouth – anger coursed through him so hard it burned!

A door opened, a light poured in. It hurt the space behind his eyes and he hissed, turning away from the blinding flash. A figure walked towards him, footfalls too heavy to be Sister, the gait too lazy to be any of the incompetent feeders he'd known throughout his life. A scent drifted to his nose. Old dried and dead skin mixed with a pungent musk. It took him a moment to gather his memories of what had happened before the darkness of sudden sleep.

The new man, the one with the orange hair so vivid it was unmistakable, it was him. Even in the short time he'd interacted with this human, he knew that he hated him most of all. He touched him when his touch wasn't wanted. He bruised and he hurt and he forced him into positions that were uncomfortable and made him panic from the feeling of confinement. The man held a long silver stick in his hand as he strutted closer.

The Indoraptor stood on legs that felt shaky. He wanted to lean back on his hind legs, to try and ward off the threat by a show of intimidation. But something halted such movement. He looked down, and found shining chains around his ankles linked to a bulky collar around his neck. They allowed him to stand but prevented anything other than a stumbling walk. Though his mouth was sealed shut, the Indoraptor hissed as loudly as he could to try and warn the human away.

"We'll be havin' none of that," said the human in his strange voice that didn't sound like how any of the humans talked. He held up the silver stick a blue light flashed at the end of it. "Someone wants a little show out've ya. So stay down while I put on yer leash."

He took another step closer – it was too close. The Indoraptor gave off a muffled roar and charged at the human. His legs and teeth might've been rendered useless, but he still had his claws. The serrated talons came within inches of gutting the human, before he moved aside and jabbed his stick into the Indoraptor's flank.

A scream attempted to explode from the closed jaws. White-hot fire seared into his body, seizing around his bones and making every muscle spasm. He dropped to the floor and shuffled away, eyes wide and bewildered. The human held up his long stick again and the blue-white light flashed at the end again. The Indoraptor shied away, comprehension dawning on him.

"That's right," said the human measuredly. "You know who's in charge here. Do as yer told, and things'll be alright. Act up, and things'll get quite nasty for you, mate."

The Indoraptor eyed the silver stick and then the human. The danger was clear. This human was too big and too heavy to kill – his strength earlier had proved that. He was still too young and small to take on such experienced prey. And what's more, he had tools that hurt, could incapacitate, maybe even kill. But it was clear the human didn't want the Indoraptor dead, at least not as prey. For now, that meant he was unable to do anything against him, not until he was big enough for the enemy's strength to be useless and his weapons less effective. And that day would one day come, of that the Indoraptor had no doubt.

The human moved towards him again, trying to link a chain to his collar. The Indoraptor hissed at the intrusion of his personal space, and attempted to swipe his claws at the invasion. The human responded by jabbing him with the stick again and making him scream. Whilst he lay recovering from the searing pain, the human clipped on the chain and began to pull it. Weary and hurting, he had no energy to do anything but follow the harsh tug on his neck.

He was led down a narrow and dark corridor. The darkness didn't bother him, his eyes adjusted quickly to the dark until he could see with the same clarity as he would in the light. Pulled through a doorway, he stumbled into a grey square room. It was wide with no cover or any object in it at all. In his weakened state, he felt too exposed. And there were other humans here. One was a female with a dark hide; he knew her, she came to his cage to prod and prick him with sharp pointed things that stung and hurt him. Beside her was a male he had seen from time to time, tall with a head-crest of a lighter shade. Then there was a human who stood tall and dominant, the alpha of the pack. His crest was white and overgrown down his face, demonstrating his age. The Indoraptor sniffed experimentally and found the scent of this man triggered something in his brain. For some reason, this human demanded respect and obedience, and held himself with such a stature that he felt inclined to lower his gaze. Behind him was an older female, uninteresting to the point where her features were glossed over. And held back in her hands was –

Sister!

He ran for her. Suddenly, he remembered his name, the name she gave him – Jack, he was Jack! He wanted to trumpet his call to her, the call instinct told him meant to summon pack together as one. Relief flooded through him. After watching her be dragged away, after suffering the bruises of the hated human, of waking up and feeling so disorientated, it was good to –

The chain yanked on his neck and he was lurched to a stop with a painful jarring on his throat. He squawked and tried to tug back, growling through his closed muzzle. Nothing was going to keep him from her! The hated-human was having to use all his body weight and strength to keep Jack from taking a step further. Turning back to Sister, Jack strained his neck as far as he could in an attempt to reach her.

The smell of salt was heavy around her as water leaked out of her eyes. Was something wrong with her? Why was she leaking? The alpha human put a hand between Jack and her, like a parent protecting a hatchling.

"If you're quite finished with his failure of a demonstration," the alpha, The Father, said icily to the younger female. His voice seemed to reverberate around Jack's skull.

"Sir, it is not over yet." Said the dark female. "Mr Mills, could you please tell your dog to ease off?"

The tall male appeared annoyed but nodded to the hated-human. There was a moment of hesitation, and then the chain went slightly slack.

It was then that Jack realised that this was some sort of test. His eyes flickered between the humans as he analysed the situation, as he had done outside his cell a few hours earlier. When the humans had invaded his den, threatened both his safety and Sister's, his first instinct had been to kill and maim and tear. He'd wanted nothing more than to rip every last one of them apart. But his mind had stopped him, realising a lot of things at once and racing to come to a conclusion. He'd known he'd been outnumbered and would likely be injured if he fought. He'd also noticed that the invaders had merely wanted Sister. So, he'd pretended to act demure and pathetic, hoping that a ruse of helplessness would get the intruders to lower their guard just long enough. It hadn't worked then, but perhaps something similar would be more effective now?

Sister stepped closer to him, her brow pinched as she tried to work out why he hadn't acted to the slack chain straight away. "Is he sleepy?"

"We had to put him to sleep, Maisie, like I told you," said the tall male.

Hated-Human grunted. "Bugger wouldn't go down without a fight. Took three darts before he even started wobblin'."

Sister took one more step closer. "Jack?"

Slowly, he laid himself onto the floor at her feet, turning his head just the right way to expose his throat in a gesture of submission. The other humans gaped at him, and he took the opportunity to crawl closer. Until he could wrap his arms around Sister's ankles and leaned his head against her knees. His body curled around her like a protective cocoon. It burned his insides with outrage to sink this low before them. But more than anything else in this world, he didn't want to be alone again. Sister was his, no one else's! He would show them how he wouldn't be parted from her, no matter what method he had to take to get the message across.

The dark female's voice was filled with a tone of triumph. "You see?"

The elder female's scent was coated in her fear, and it was very addictive. It made her snap first, and she reached forward towards Sister. "Maisie, that's enough dear. Come away–"

Before her unworthy hands could touch Sister, Jack hissed a clear warning. Should she choose to ignore it, he would be more than happy to bite off her offending limbs. The human startled back with a shriek she tried to swallow, unsuccessfully. The sound was loud and grated on Jack's ears and he growled louder at her.

"And it appears he is protective," said the younger female.

"Grandpa," came Sister's voice as the spoke to The Father respectfully. "Please. He isn't nasty. We was being friends before today."

The younger female stepped closer to The Father. "Mr Lockwood, I highly advise you to consider this. Catering to the specimen's psychological needs could go a long way to improving his overall health, and thus your cure."

Jack didn't understand their words. He only understood that The Father was about to make an important decision. He stared up at the elderly alpha, daring to give him eye-contact, making it clear in his gaze that he would issue a challenge for the right to Sister if that was needed.

When The Father spoke, his voice was quiet but carried the same authority as a roar. "We'll all need to discuss this privately. Should I even remotely agree to this, I want to be sure all the necessary safety precautions are in place. Am I understood?"

They all nodded. Sister knelt to pet at the quills behind his head. Jack let her, his claws tightening their hold on her legs possessively.