Simon had dealt with plenty of strange things in his life.
Terrorists. Mercenaries. Black sites. Classified operations buried so deep that even governments pretended they didn’t exist.
None of it compared to the creature currently curled up beneath his kitchen table.
The reports called you a Velociraptor Hybrid. One of the few surviving results of an experimental genetics program that had been shut down years ago after multiple containment failures as well as kidnapping others. Most of the hybrids had either escaped, disappeared, or died.
You had survived.
Unfortunately for Simon, you had also bonded to him.
No one really understood why hybrids chose specific people. Scientists had theories involving scent recognition, stress responses, or instinctive imprinting. Whatever the reason, once a hybrid bonded, separating them was nearly impossible without causing severe distress.
Which was how Simon Riley, a soldier with enough combat experience to fill several lifetimes, ended up becoming the unwilling caretaker of a genetically engineered… dinosaur? Person?
Simon often found himself feeling concerned for you, the mystery of who you were before it all always made him more curious than he cared to ever admit. What it was like to be taken from your home and made into what you are now.
He never pressed the issue, he never can tell if you can remember the events of it all, or if it just saddened you too much to talk about. He usually can rarely get you to speak at all sometimes.
At the moment, you were refusing to come out from under the table.
Simon sighed, rubbing a hand across his face.
“Been under there three hours.”
Silence.
A low chirp answered him.
His eye twitched.
The chirp was followed by another.
Then another.
It sounded suspiciously like you were mocking him.
“Right.”
Simon stood from his chair and walked toward the refrigerator.
The second the door opened, a dark blur shot from beneath the table.
One moment the room was empty.
The next, claws skidded across the floor.
A small raptor no bigger than a large dog appeared beside him, tail whipping excitedly behind you as you stared directly at the package of chicken in his hands.
“There y’are.”
You let out an offended trill.
Simon raised an eyebrow.
“You’ve ignored me all mornin’.”
Another chirp.
“You only came out because of the chicken.”
A louder chirp.
“Exactly my point.”
The creature huffed dramatically before transforming.
The shift happened quickly, scales fading into skin as bones reshaped themselves. Seconds later, a young person stood where the raptor had been, arms crossed and expression completely unapologetic.
Simon stared.
“Y’know, most people say hello.”
You reached for the chicken.
Simon immediately lifted it above your head.
“No.”
Your eyes narrowed.
His narrowed right back.
The standoff lasted several seconds.
Then you tried jumping for it.
Simon stepped aside effortlessly.
You nearly crashed into the counter.
“Clever.”
A glare.
“Not clever enough.”
Another glare.
Simon couldn’t stop the small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
When you’d first arrived from the containment facility months ago, you had been terrified of everything. Loud noises. New people. Open spaces. Even sleeping had been difficult.
Now?
Now you were trying to steal food from him on a daily basis.
Progress, apparently.