JURASSIC WORLD:TAINTED

Chapter 15

Claire Dearing came back to the park a few days after Alan Grant's arrival, once more in charge of Jurassic World, and Owen found himself relax a little more. After everything they had gone through together he knew he could trust her.

"Good to have you back," he told her.

Claire, standing in front of the bottom to ceiling window of her new old office, dressed once again in white, turned her head and smiled at him. She had the same haircut, the same discrete make-up, the same pale skin.

What had changed was the expression in her blue eyes. There was something there, a knowledge, a memory, and a new kind of understanding.

"I have to thank you for that."

"Me? How come?"

"I think Mr. Masrani was quite impressed with you. He said that one of your conditions for working at the park as you have was that I would come back."

Owen frowned. "I recommended that he reinstate you as park manager. I never pushed or put a gun to his head with my conditions. He knows that I'd stay here no matter what."

"Because of the pack, yes, but Simon wants your cooperation, not your opposition. You have a very unique position, Owen, never forget that."

"Alpha raptor?"

She nodded with a fine smile. "You're a very strong preternatural and Masrani has no idea how far your reach goes."

His frown deepened, then he shrugged. "I'm glad you're back."

"As am I, believe it or not."

"How are Zach and Gray?"

"Better than many adults. They know it wasn't a gas attack or terrorists, but they also know they can't talk about it. We talked a lot. I spent a lot of time with my sister and brother-in-law, with Zach and Gray." Her expression was wistful. "Now I'm back."

He nodded.

She was back and it felt like normalcy.

x XX JW XX x

Everyone had come together to welcome their park manager and Claire had been visibly touched. The cake was delicious, the muffins and cookies from the bakery didn't last long, and by the end of the day everyone was full and almost in a sugar coma.

Alan was there, keeping to sodas and other non-alcoholic drinks, just like Owen. Grady had no idea what would happen to the pack bond should he get drunk.

He met Claire's eyes and raised his glass. "Welcome home."

x XX JW XX xx XX JW XX xx XX JW XX xx XX JW XX xx XX JW XX xx XX JW XX xx XX JW XX xx XX JW XX x

Alan stood outside the raptor enclosure, trying to fight against the tension in his whole body as he watched Owen work with his pack. All four raptors were without their muzzles, standing around Owen, watching him curiously as he was strapping something to Delta's back.

He had been on Isla Nublar for ten days now and he had gotten to know the pack a little better. Alan had learned to tell apart the individual raptors, though it wasn't too complicated because of the different color markings. Still, they also had different personalities.

Owen's place in the pack was undisputed and unchallenged. Grant would have thought that Blue might want to take over from a human alpha, but she kept the other three in line and stood solidly next to Owen. The alpha could touch them all without a problem and even with his back turned to the lethal predators there was never any danger.