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"I guess they're still home," she said as a few more sprinted out.

She chased the rest out and settled into the den for the night. In the morning, she'd have to do something about those rocks.

Soro rubbed his nose before following her inside, and the desert was consumed in darkness for the night.

Dawn came to the world some hours later. Rip woke up and looked around. Briefly, she wondered who Soro was and where Snap was before it all came back to her. She left the den to get a quick bite off the protoceratops.

Soro stayed asleep, scratching his nose absent-mindedly.

She went back to the den, and nudged Soro to wake him up. "Go on, this den needs to be fixed up so we don't have to sleep on rocks." She began cleaning it up immediately.

Soro mumbled something and walked out of the den, tail dragging, as soon as he was out of the entrance, he was on the ground and snoring. He was not one for mornings.

Eventually, the den was finished. She looked back at Soro, who was asleep again. Rip shrugged and went to wake him up again. They still had to patrol their new territory, or someone would just come and take it.

Soro shot up. "I'm up!" He said, getting up and shaking the sand and dirt from his feathers.

"Ok then. Come on, I want to check out where we saw those other raptors," she said, already heading off in that direction.

Soro nodded quickly and followed. He decided not to poke at the fact that the male was his new mate's previous mate. It was better left alone, and besides, he was an enemy now.

Halfway to their border, there was oviraptor scent. Rip was immediately alert, she has a bit of a past with these creatures. Out of the bushes stalked a trio, ignoring the smaller, and in their opinion, weaker raptors. Rip charged their leader, a tall male with a nasty scar down his back. She was flung off and caught in a swarm of snapping beaks and swiping claws.

Soro charged right after her and leaped at the oviraptor leader, his claw sinking into the oviraptor's heart. It screeched and fell dead, while the other two ran.

"Thanks for saving me back there," Rip said. She was acting anxious, and looking after the oviraptors. She sat down and tended to her wounds.

"No problem, but can I ask why you seem nervous?" Soro asked.