You're Part of the Pack Now (English rewrite version)

Owen Grady

Hi guys... hehe, I'm still alive and trying to get out of hiatus. And some of you had asked me if I could post a translated version of this same fic and guess what? Here it is. A little too late and with some little changes here and there.

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Owen has always had a talent with animals, just like his grandfather George, a well-known veterinarian from Missouri. It was a gift that ran in his family, he had said, but sometimes skipped generations. His mother didn't have it, neither his brothers nor uncles and cousins.

They were oblivious to his little world.

He preferred to keep it that way because they would never understand.

And while growing up, his gift regularly got him into trouble with the other kids in school— even though he was a boy with charisma and humor, his behavior with animals, and them with him, didn't win him many friends. For them, he was a freak, a loser, and they didn't understand why Miss Frist's cat, who growled and scratched anyone who approached her, liked to lay on his lap at recess. More than once he returned home with bruises and scrapes, and unshed tears, a product of his fights with the older kids, because they were crushing some frogs with wooden sticks.

With his teachers, it wasn't different. From their point of view, he was a problematic brat, lazy, and disinterested in learning. He was always sent to the principal office for not paying attention or not working in class. But it wasn't his fault that they were teaching boring things instead of more cool stuff like animals or dinosaurs.

It was the same with his parents, who were two of the most famous neurosurgeons in the country, and having a kid like him was unacceptable. Almost all his childhood and teenage years, he was compared to his older sister, Jadie. Their pride and joy, the perfect gifted girl— They haven't said it out loud, but Owen knew his parents preferred Jadie than him and his little brother, Michael. The spoiled baby of the family.

"Stop wasting your time with those stupid animals, Owen!" His father often yelled at him every time he came back home with a wounded animal.

So yeah, that caused him a lot of trouble growing up. To the point of almost hating his ability.

But not everything was black and white.

"Oh, ignore them, my boy. They don't know what they're talking about." Since a tender age, he learned that his grandpa George was the only person he could count with, and he understands him better than his stupid family. Basically, he could say they were the ones that raised him.

He was basically his hero and mentor.

But then, three days after his sixteenth birthday, his grandpa died of a heart attack. And to make things worse, his relationship with his parents got worse.

One day, after he graduated high school, they had a fight, one of the worst and that was the last thing that spilled the glass. Hurt and betrayed, he ran away and disappeared. It wasn't worth staying in a place where no one trusted him. Leaving only a note to his grandma explaining everything.

Later, for some reason, Owen enlisted in the Navy— maybe because he still wanted to prove that he wasn't a lazy and irresponsible brat— and applied to become part of DEVGRU after his superiors noticed he was a good tactician and shooter. There, he was offered the option of studying at the university, fully paid by the government and decided to take a career in psychology and animal behavior. Graduating with honors and as the best in its class. And with a well-written thesis about pack behavior in wolves and hyenas.

Back in the Navy, he trained attack dogs and dolphins, including sharks. He traveled the world, earning the recognition of several trainers and a few more doctorates. On one occasion, he had the opportunity to train a pack of hyenas and that caught the attention of many. Including the famous Sarah Harding, who developed a close friendship with him.

Sixteen years later, with more than seven deployments in the middle east, three Ph.D. in Zoology, Animal Behavior and Animal Handling, and with the rank of Colonel, he was honorably discharged.

"Oh, Lieutenant Grady, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Colonel, actually, but you can call me Owen." Of the many people Owen expected to meet in his life, Simon Masrani was not on his list. Much less listen to a job proposal that would change his life forever.

"You want me to do what?!"

"Train a pack of velociraptors."

Yep, definitely, his life would be fascinating.