veltara corp was the quieter rival of inGen—smarter, colder, richer. its reach touched everything from genetics to global policy. and she, its youngest legacy, had always known her life wasn’t going to be normal. daughter of the most controlling hand in the company, she was practically raised in labs, briefings, and behind glass where nothing was ever truly safe.

at 19, she was meant to spend the summer finally free—at isla calvera, a research facility turned private retreat for board families. but everything fell. the park collapsed, the animals got out, and the company’s silence was louder than the screams.

now, tucked in the remains of the last off-record project, she’s assigned to the ib.r.i.s. initiative—a classified program studying velociraptor intelligence. there, she meets him—a man who doesn’t talk much, but whose connection to the raptors is almost unnatural. his job is to measure them. train them. survive them. hers is to observe. but as instincts blur between prey and predator, she begins to question who’s really in control: them, the raptors, or him.

“they learn fast,” he says, not looking at her, eyes locked on the cage. “but so do i.”