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He knew Owen was crazy; you had to be crazy to do this job. He knew crazy when he saw it because he was crazy. That's the only reason he agreed to work with Raptors. Despite being crazy, he knew he’d never beat Owen Grady, a man who was currently cuddling with four of the most dangerous animals in the world.
When he approached the gate, they all looked over and relaxed slightly when they saw him. Echo never looked away, but she also didn’t growl or bark at him. He’d joined the project later, and by the time he arrived, the raptors were a little bigger than labradors. Owen had been there when they hatched and had cared for them since the beginning. Owen liked to think they saw him as a father, but he knew they considered him to be their mother.
The raptors loved him and would follow him everywhere, especially Blue. The two of them seemed to have some kind of bond and just knew what the other was thinking. Owen told him that he was the leader of the raptors' pack and that Blue was his beta. He wasn’t an official member, but the Raptors tolerated him. He was fine with that as long as they didn’t try and attack him.
“Owen, we have a meeting today.”
“Go without me?”
Owen pet his girls, looking about ready to fall asleep.
“I can’t do that. Claire is on the war path and has been breathing down my neck a lot more than usual. She wants both of us at this meeting and won’t stand for us skipping.”
“I’m surprised she wants to see me, especially after our date.”
“She knows you hate these meetings; she's doing it to punish you for the board shorts.”
Owen leaned back, his head hitting Charlie, who was being his pillow while they snuggled.
“It was hot. I don’t know why she had such a problem.”
He shrugged, not wanting to tell him that wearing board shorts was never going to end well, especially with Claire.
“Come on, I don’t want us to be late.”
“Fine.”
Owen got up, and his raptors made noises of protest.
“I’m sorry, girls, I have to go, but I’ll be back soon.”
None of them looked happy as they watched Owen leave. Especially Blue, who wanted to come with them. Owen gently stroked her snout, telling her to watch over her sisters while they were gone. That seemed to cheer her up, and the two of them could leave without upsetting the raptors anymore.
Claire was lucky the raptors didn’t know she was responsible for Owen having to leave. If the Raptors found out he was sure they would riot.
Despite their best efforts to get there on time, they both ended up being late. Claire, of course, noticed immediately and called them out on it. He made some excuse about the Raptors knowing most people didn’t ask second questions. Claire seemed to be the same way because she moved on.
The meeting was long, useless, and could have been an email. He had to nudge him multiple times to keep him awake. He knew if Owen fell asleep, Claire would notice, and this meeting would only drag on longer than it already was.
By the time it was over, he stretched his back and got up to leave. Owen looked just as eager, and he knew the man wanted to get back to his raptors. Of course, Hoskins decided to show up in that moment and annoy them both.
He asked about the Raptors and the training they’d been doing recently.
“Since you two have been too busy to turn in your reports. I’m going to have to swing by the raptor padlock and see how you’ve been training our assets.”
“Their not assets, their living beings.”
“I don’t care. InGen has spent a lot of money on them, and they want to know what kind of progress you two have been making.”
“Our work is very delicate, and the raptors won’t like you suddenly showing up.”
“I’m sure those wild animals will get over it.”
Hoskins walked away with a smug smile on his face.
“Sometimes I just want to let my girls have him. I know Delta will be happy since she hates that guy.”
“As much as we want to get rid of Hoskins, we can’t feed them to the Raptors; besides, I’m sure he would taste terrible.”
“Probably.”
Owen sighed, looking tired.
“You need to practice being on time more, Mr. Grady.”
“It's Owen, and the raptor padlock is far from here.”
“Then you should have come earlier.”
“I couldn’t just do that; my girls needed me.”
“This park needs you to do your job, and that means coming to these meetings.”
“Those girls are my job.”
“You should still learn how to be more punctual.”
“Is this about me being late for our date? Because that wasn’t our fault.”
“Of course not, I’m not petty like you.”
Owen looked like he was about to say something very stupid. He quickly stepped in before a fight could break out between the two of them.
“We were in the middle of training, we couldn’t just leave.”
Claire nodded, accepting his answer, and Owen pouted, wanting to know why she didn’t listen t him.
He didn’t respond, just pulled him towards the door and away from Claire.
“Come on, I’m sure your girls are waiting for you.”
This seemed to raise his spirits, and he became eager to get back. He followed him to the raptor padlock and watched as he opened the gate, letting himself inside.
The raptors immediately rushed towards him, and even though he knew they wouldn’t hurt him, he still felt a spike of fear. Blue got there first and pressed her snout against his chest. The others followed after her, wanting pets and snuggles. He watched as they led him to their bed, where all five of them snuggled together. He shook his head, trying to push back the smile attempting to creep up his face. Crazy that man was totally crazy.