Ice opened her eyes, it was dark out, something moved past her, it stopped, it's eyes reflected the dim moonlight, they blinked, looking at her. Ice stared back, she yawned, showing her teeth, the dinosaur in front of her stepped back, it ran off, Ice didn't care, she hadn't been able to rest the entire day, her worst fear was coming true, the wound of Rex's neck had gotten infected, the T-rex couldn't even get a drink with out pain, luckily he was getting better, the other wounds where healed, he could move around with little pain, even though Rex kept insisting he was fine, Ice knew that he was hiding most of the pain. It was two weeks after the fight, and Ice could sense her small clutch of eggs was due to hatch any day, so the soon to be Tarbosaurus mother had taken on all the responsibilities that she would normally share with Rex, she keeped the clearing safe as well as hunting for the both of them. Something hit her in the side, if felt like dirt, she snarled, it stopped for a second, before she could get to sleep she felt more dirt pelt her, followed by raptor chirps, something inside told her her nest was in danger, Ice snapped awake, a pack of raptors were scratching at the nest, she swatted one away with her tail, it fell to the ground and scrambled away, standing up she attacked them, forcing to back away from the damaged nest, one of the raptors tried to get around her, she snatched it in her jaws, it's screech was cut short as she crushed it with a massive bite, she dropped the limp body. The sound of the raptors screeching woke up Rex, he staggered to his feet, he joined Ice in defending the nest, the raptors began to back away, they knew it was impossible to fight two powerful predators at once, hissing at the two Tyrannosaurids, a bold, or stupid, raptor darted behind Ice, before she could react it grabbed one of the eggs out of the destroyed nest, Rex was the closest to the thief, he lunged, grabbing the raptor in his jaws he kept it close to the ground , it kicked out, the killing claw re-opened the wound on Rex's neck, blood and pus trickled from the wound, the T-rex snarled, he crushed the raptor in his jaws, the egg fell from it's limp arms and was almost crushed by the raptor's body when Rex dropped it. For a minute Ice turned away from the raptors, she picked up the egg, her tongue rolled it around inside her mouth, the egg was intact, Ice sighed with relief and placed it back in the nest. With two members of their pack dead the raptors turned tail and ran back into the forest, Ice was about to make sure they were gone when Rex got in her way
"You need to rest, I'll go cheek" He nudged her back
"But you-" Ice tried to protest
"I know I'm hurt, but you need rest, it's not good for either of us if you wear yourself out, plus, it's time I stop sitting around" Rex licked her snout
"Fine, but please be carefull" Ice nuzzled him, he nodded and disappeared into the forest, Ice turned around, the raptors had made a huge mess in the clearing, dirt was scattered around the nest, the protective walls where completely destroyed, bits of twigs scattered around the clearing, the two dead raptors lay in blood Well it looks like I'm staying up also, at least until the nest is safe again She began to clear away the broken twigs and clumps of dirt I wonder why the raptors are coming after us so often, it's not like they are starving Ice growled, she remembered a few days ago, she had seen a pack of raptors stuffing their face with meat from one of her kills, she growled to herself, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, looking over she saw nothing Odd.. She shook her head and continued on cleaning up.
"Let me go!" Ice looked up, Rex walked into the clearing, a raptor struggled in his jaws "I'm not afraid of you, carcass-breath" It hissed glaring at Rex
"Why did you bring a raptor here?" Ice chirped, her head to one side, Rex dropped the raptor onto the ground, it landed with a thud, he stood on it's tail so it couldn't escape
"The stupid thing ran into a tree, and I thought it would be a good idea to set an example to it's pack" Rex glared at the raptor "They should know not to mess with us" Ice nodded, she liked the idea
"Ha! My pack will not care!" The raptor squaked, it tried to twist around and bite Rex in the foot, the T-rex smirked, an evil gleam shown in his eyes, the raptor snarled at him "Just you wait! My pack will destroy you!" The raptor hollered. Rex put all his weight on the foot that the raptor's tail was under, the raptor squeaked in pain as the it's small tail bones were crushed, Ice noticed shadows slinking around the clearing, the disgusting scent of raptors hung in the air
"Looks like the pack is here" She hissed to Rex
"Show time" He smirked, he took his foot of the raptor's tail, he watched the raptor almost reach the forest before grabbing it by it's wounded tail, he threw the raptor into the air, it flailed around, it looked like it was trying to fly
"AAAAAAAA!" The raptor screamed as it plummeted towards Rex's open jaws, the T-rex snapped his jaws down on the raptor's leg, the force of the bite splintered it's leg, the raptor thrashed about, trying to claw at the wound on Rex's neck, the T-rex shook his head from side to side, the raptor was snapped back and forth, it's cries echoed through the forest, Ice grabbed it by it's arm, it's claws scraped her chin and tongue but it's attacks were weak and didn't break the skin. Rex nodded, the Tyrannosauridae took a step away from each other, the raptor screamed, it was slowly being pulled apart, the skin below it's ribcage began to tear, blood dripped to the ground, with a flick of her head Ice tore the raptor in half, blood splattered on the ground, she dropped the top half of the raptor, it's dead eyes open wide, it's face permanently frozen in a screem, Rex dropped the lower half, the tail twitched then was still, Rex snorted, shaking his head, he lifted his head, smelling for the other raptors. Ice looked at the forest, the shadows were gone, the raptor sent wasn't as strong as the scent of fear.
"They will not be back soon" Rex purred, he nuzzled Ice
"Lets hope so" Ice nuzzled him back, together they went over to their usual sleeping place, Ice heard something that sounded like it was coming from the nest, she looked into the nest, she heard a tiny squeak inside. "Rex" She raised her head, the T-rex was laying down, when Ice called his name he looked up "Come here" Rex got up and walked to Ice
"Is there something wrong?" Rex tipped his head to one side
"I'm not sure" Ice started to uncover the nest, exposing the three eggs, she sniffed them, noticing a small crack on the side of one the eggs shell, she leaned in closer, the egg didn't smell dead, nor did it look like it was damaged by raptors, the squeak came again, Ice brought her head up, she let Rex inspect the nest as well, he raised his head and nuzzled Ice. The egg began to shake, more pieces of egg began to fall off, the other two eggs also began to show cracks, Ice layed down next to the nest, her eyes trained on the three eggs, Rex laid behind her, resting his head on her back.
The shell of the eggs fell away, the first hatchling was dusty brown, his tail tip was red, Ice looked down at him, something about the newborn stirred memories she had tried to forget, the hatchlings looked up at his mother, he squeaked, and Ice shook her head No, I'm not going to think about it She nudged her son, he squeaked again, he rolled onto his back and Ice nuzzled him, the other two eggs started to break as well, the hatchling rolled over, he seemed to know what to do and stood up without help, unsteadily walked over to one of the other eggs he sniffed it, when his sibling poked her head out he jumped back, falling over his tail. His two sisters broke free, they were the same blue with tan stripes, all three hatchlings looked like Tarbosaurus hatchlings, with a round head and small, chubby body, none of them had the sleek head and body of a T-rex hatchling. Rex sniffed the hatchlings, the oldest stared up at Rex, the tiny hatchling squeaked, he tried to jump at Rex, his sisters joined him, Rex drew back, he seemed unsure what they wanted. Ice stood up, she walked over to one of the raptors that had been killed in the initial attack, she picked up the limp body, bringing it back to the nest she dropped it by them, the hatchlings jumped back, they slowly approached the corps, they looked up at their parents, Ice purred and nodded, the adult Tarbosaurus laid down next to her mate, Rex nuzzled her jaw. The oldest was the first to figure it out, he let his instinct guide him, he jumped onto the raptor, he tore into its underside, were the flesh was softer, his sisters joined him, the three hatchlings filled their bellies with the flesh of the raptor that almost killed one of them. Once they had their share they curled up together, the stars shined down on them. Ice nuzzled all three, one of the females looked up and yawned, she sleepily rubbed her small head against her mother's muzzle. For that night the family slept under the starry sky, now that the hatchlings were born the family would return to the cave behind the waterfall to keep the little theropod babies safe.