Way Back into Love ↪ Owen Grady

twenty-one ↪ breeding lab

    The breeding lab was on the first floor of the research facility, the second door on the left. On another occasion, I would've jumped with excitement about being there, but my mind was on Owen. He had to make sure the T-Rex's enclosure was safe, easy, and quick, but who knows what Michael was up to. I had sent Lowery a hundred texts, asking him if he could make sure the T-Rex stayed locked in paddock nine.

    "Miss Jonas?" a quiet unfamiliar voice called out. I glanced up from my phone and nodded, waiting for her to give me instructions.

    "At the moment we're breeding triceratops' and parasaurolophus' eggs" the researcher, Freya, informed.

    "When are they due?" I curiously asked when we stepped inside the main room.

    "We can't tell for sure. Artificial breeding differs from natural breeding, of course, the eggs could hatch anytime now" she continued.

    In the middle of the room, there were three different containment sterilized cells, four eggs in each. I walked by those and peeked through the glass shield. I glanced up at Freya. — "Triceratops and parasaurolophus"

    The researcher nervously ran her fingers through her blonde hair, her eyes frantically looking around. I quirked an eyebrow at her behavior.

    "What are those?" I pointed at the third container, the one she hadn't mentioned.

    "Dinosaur's eggs" she had the audacity to say. No shit, Sherlock.

    "What dinosaur are we talking about?"

    It was awkwardly obvious how she was growing uneasy, struggling as she tried to come up with something. She eventually sighed and shut the door close behind us. "We don't know"

    I raised an eyebrow. "You don't know what specie you're breeding?"

    "Our job here is making sure the little ones hatch safely as we provide them the best health checks" Freya quietly spoke up. "We are not allowed to ask what species we're helping grow"

    "I've never seen such eggs"

    "Between you and me: me neither" Freya's tone lowered as she spoke.

    Right when I was about to ask her one more question, the door burst out open, causing the both of us to jump in fear. — "Sorry" Claire nervously laughed. "I really should learn how to knock"

    Noticing how neither of us reacted to it or even laughed at the scene, Claire grew worried. Her face features tensed up as she took steps in our direction. — "New eggs? I didn't know we were breeding new eggs."

    "Triceratops and parasaurolophus" Freya informed like it was some kind of script she was used to chanting.

    Claire stood beside me and carefully leaned against the third container's glass shield. "What about these ones?"

    Before Freya could answer, the lab's emergency land-line telephone rang. She quickly excused herself and picked up the call. I eyed Claire, who was still focused on the unknown eggs.

    "Claire" I quietly called out. "They don't know what those are"

    The redhead's eyes widened in fear. "What do you mean they don't know?"

    "Elle" Freya frantically called out, a flash of worry crossing her face. "It's for you"

    I stood up straight real quick and sprang towards the device, picking the handset up right away. — "Elle, it's Lowery" the tone he used was enough for me to feel my heart drop. Also, he was calling from an emergency phone. "I don't know how it's possible, I literally kept my eyes on it the whole time, she- God, she's not in the paddock"

    "What do you mean she's not in the paddock?!" I loudly ask, anxiety spreading over me real quick. Claire widened her eyes and sprang to my side.

    "The T-Rex. She's in with him."

    I dropped the handset and burst out the room as fast as I could. Mikey, you son of a bitch. I hopped on the first available four-wheeler on my way and turned on the engine. The vehicle roared under my feet, it shouldn't be that hard to drive, right? I genuinely didn't care. I had to get to Owen as soon as possible.

.

    The letters carved in the wooden sign spelled Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom. I felt a panic attack approaching and tried to fight it with all my strength. It wasn't the place and time, not that I could've controlled it in any way, but Owen was in danger. He was my priority.

    I sprang towards the backdoor and agitatedly slid my security ID on the device recognition system. The electronic door slid open, so I rushed to the security glass and peeked inside the exhibit. A couple of ACU men were trying to surround the dinosaur, while Owen was hiding behind a tree all covered in mud, a flash of horror crossing his gorgeous face. This guy never has a second to breathe, geez.

    The T-Rex swooshed her tail, the whole line of armed men flew and abruptly landed on their backs. Ouch. I groaned and impulsively opened the armored gate, stepping inside the exhibit myself. I've never seen Owen widen his eyes so big as when he spotted me. He looked genuinely scared for his life, and now he was scared for mine too.

    "Look out!" the head of the ACU team yelled in his teammates' direction.

    I used that time to sprint in Owen's direction, as the T-Rex was busy fighting the armed men. A massive adrenaline rush coursed in my veins as I ran, and I really hoped I wouldn't trip on my own feet or any dead branch. When I finally reached Owen, I threw myself at him, holding him as tight as I could. His scent mixed with sweat, mud, and dirt, traveled all the way to my nostrils but I genuinely didn't mind. I was happy he was okay.

    "You gotta stop doing that" Owen sighed desperately when he let go of me, his eyes boring into mine as he did so.

    "I was so worried" I blurted out breathlessly. "When it comes to you I just can't think straight"

    Owen flinched for a brief second, taken aback by such unexpected confession. I didn't have the time to process what I just said, the T-Rex's loud roar echoing in the whole exhibit. The dinosaur angrily stomped in our direction, causing us to bump into the wall's hard surface. We were stuck, no way out. I squeezed my eyes shut, tears coursing down my cheeks, waiting for the inevitable to happen.

    Owen's warm arms wrapped me up protectively as he held me tight against his chest. The T-Rex roar was getting close pretty fastly, causing me to grip into Owen even more. If I was going to die, I wanted it to be in the arms of the man that I loved.

    "Kiss me" Owen unexpected blurted out. I gazed up at him as my heart skipped an unhealthy amount of beats at those words. The way his green eyes bored into mine made me weak, causing me to grip his collar. "Just kiss me"

    My eyes flickered between his lips and his eyes but eventually noticed something happening behind him. I took a deep shaky breath and swung Owen around, so I was shielding him with my body. He widened his eyes in shock, not being able to react to such reckless action.

    "Here, big girl!" Claire's voice distracted the T-Rex right on time, or so we thought. I quickly pushed Owen on the ground, squeezed my eyes shut, and waited for the impact.

    As expected, the dinosaur's gigantic tail violently bumped into me, crushing me against the tree. I let out a throb and inevitably fell unconscious.