He awoke suddenly, a brush of cool air sweeping over him. Bringing with it the reminder of pain. Feeling the sting of cuts along his legs. His head pounded and ached. The feeling of unease found him. He bolted to his feet, stumbled, and found his balance. His eye went to the door, the coat that hung in the doorframe drifted in a cool wind, unsecured.

Where was he? What was this place? He moved uneasily forward, looking about the well organized den, dug for a frame as large as own. The clutter of coats and half-made weapons lay in a tidy pile in one corner, a few herbs and bits and bobs in another. The scent of wolves bung in the air. It was soaked in the coat he had stepped on, and lingered in every corner of the den. It smelled like a female wolf, and as if brought to life by the memory, a figure moved through the door. Staggered, would be more accurate. The strong scent of fermented goods on her breath. A strong rack of antlers adorned her head /what in all the world's.../

Her scent came to him, stronger then ever, and with it, a name. Zee. Zee Fatalis. His Zee. She was drunk, and the reason why brought him regret. Why, what did he regret? Who was he... who was he to her?
"Zee..." he whispered softly. "Where am I"

No true outlet had been given to her for her anger, and as she was assured her husband would recover Zee found the emotions overtaking her once more. She'd wanted to fight him, to spill blood and let out the hurt that had been consuming her. It wasn't her fault the bridge broke, or that Sirius chose to save himself before her. It was all a conveniently timed excuse as far as she was concerned - after all, she knew how to swim.

However with Sirius unconscious, Zee had had the opportunity to confront Deathbelle without his meddling. Her intention was to fight the Empress as planned and should she lose, she could simply disappear before the warlord awoke from his trauma and could come stop her. He had told her it wasn't an option for him to lose her, and so she planned not to give him one. It only infuriated the horned queen further when Deathbelle did not appear to her summons. Zee assumed the cowardly Empress was hiding in her palace, probably brainstorming more ways to steal Sirius from her. Rather then seek her out, she'd stumbled upon Resin. Drank with Resin. Spent time with someone she could call a mother for the first time in years.

She had not planned on returning to the den, she'd allow Deathbelle to be the one at his side when he woke. Her toucan sent for her, instructed to explain how Sirius had been injured and needed her. That surely would bring the bitch out of hiding, Zee had thought. When she still did not show, Zee knew she had no choice but to return.

He was awake when she pushed past the door and Zee greeted him with a wrinkling of her muzzle. The drink had made sympathizing for his situation much harder - besides, Sirius had been hurt worse before. Her anger would not wane simply because he had the misfortune of a near-drowning.

His question and the confusion behind it barely drew her notice as she stumbled past him to the far corner of the den. Once upon a time the pair had not been allowed to sleep together, not after his night terrors proved potentially fatal. He'd dug for her a safe hole in the wall where his fangs could not reach her when he was lost in those memories. It was there that the drunken queen stumbled to now. "Your Empress has abandoned you." She remarked coldly as she pushed past him, moving to lay upon the dusty hide with her rump towards him and her head towards the wall.

He blinked in confusion as the beautiful queen pushed past him, uttering something about an Empress, and curling into an alcove. Was she… drunk? He raised his head, and sniffed the air as he tried to sort out his emotions and memories. Everything felt a bit difficult, and hard to reach up there. Some memories floating away just before he could sink his teeth in them. Tantalising him for a moment, and then gone.

“...Who?” he asked softly looking at the back of the small queen with a frown. This place reeked of familiarity, but he could not place a single part of it. He knew, without looking, of the whelping den dug into the back, but he could not place having ever entered, or dug the space. He knew Zee’s name, and felt the subtle stirrings of possession. Everything else was slipping away before he could grasp it. His own name, gone. His breathing quickened with the fear and agitation of the unknown.

Sirius did not give her much to work with, not anger nor passion nor any other emotion that she could turn upon him to make herself feel better. Instead he gave more questions, and some small faint sober part of her felt concern. The rest of her did not, and she gave the wall a frustrated groan before turning from it. She crawled from the small space, rose to her full - and unimpressive height - and showed her husband her teeth. "No, Sirius. You don't get to play the victim here I won't let you. Have your memory loss elsewhere, or I'll remind you what happened the last time we fought." It was unfair, she knew that somewhere inside but the alcohol had made it blissfully easy to pretend otherwise.

She had been wronged and now what, she needed to nurse her poor hurt warlord back to health and forget her own suffering? Pretending that it hadn't happened at all would hurt too much, but so would explaining to him why she was in pain if he was unable to remember. Lost in the warmth of the drink, Zee was not grown up enough to put her own problems aside for his sake. A nagging feeling of responsibility tugged at the back of her mind but she shoved that away too, along with memories of her son who had also suffered his own loss of memories. Mortis hadn't ever seemed to regain them, there was the possibility that Sirius might not either. No. Selfishness was easier, responsibility was hard. Duty was hard. She could not be his loving patient wife right now.

He flinched at her words, and then the weakness was gone. Buried beneath a facade of strength. Show no weakness when you did not know the stakes. That felt right, though he could not place why.

She crawled from the alcove and faced him, showing her teeth. He took it for the challenge it was. He did not know what or why he felt possession over her, or attraction at the sight of her form, but he would not let the insult stand.

He lashed out, grabbing her by her scruff, and threw his weight into the momentum, throwing her to the floor. He was not gentle with the motions, either. Whatever inhibitions had kept gentle seem to have vanished. “Silence, woman, your bickering agitates me. Answer my questions only, direct. None of your yabbering. Where am I? Who is Sirius.” He had gone from zero to a hundred in a moment, giving her no indication that he had intended her harm, before throwing her to the floor. Now he looked down at her calmly, detached. The fear of the unknown driving him, and ensuring he kept his emotions in check.

Her warlord showed his fury, catching her hard and slamming her to the ground with little effort. Her head spun, the den a blur as she fell first to her elbows and knees, then willingly onto her side with her horned head laid lightly upon the dirt. "No." It was a painful reminder of his strength and how swiftly defeat seemed always to come. Tears filled her eyes and she shut them hard, feeling some nausea subside as the world darkened behind her eyelids. If she remained this way, Zee knew she risked falling asleep. Her eyes reopened and bore firmly into his own.

"You'll get no answers from me, vessel. If that angers you then feel free to scar me a second time." She would not and could not entertain him, not now. Her neck stretched out along the ground, the fur parting to expose the long healed slice in her flesh. Perhaps she should have feared him, though the drink had made her brave. While she displayed to him her throat as a submissive wolf might, the way she showed her teeth and the whites of her eyes to him dared him to strike her.

Her defiance prominently brought out his anger, and then… something else. A part of him crowed as she refused to bow. Still. “I am nobody's Vessel.” he snarled, and the scent of salty tears caught his attention. And then the still way she lay there, exposing her neck to him, as through tantalising him for a taste. A shiver ran up his spine, and the blacks of his eyes deepend with desire.

Who was this wrench that she could bring out such a chorus from his emotions?
Zee.
Zee.

Her teeth remained open in a snarl, and he staggered forward, falling to his knees beside her. A part of him driven, desperate, for a taste of her skin. He let his elongated fangs graze gently across her exposed skin. Running them along the length of the scar. Flashes of memory overtook him, as he remembered another den, another night. Of waking to her blood, and thinking her dead. He trembled, the emotion stronger than the memory. “Shit.” He whispered, knowing he was a goner. He loved this idiot stranger. He staggered back to his feet, and away from her, more memories assaulting him. Of more times that he had hurt her, physically, emotionally, or otherwise. “Shit.” he swore again. The uncomfortable feeling of guilt and regret tasted foul on his tongue.

With a more sober mindset perhaps Zee might have softened at the stench of his fear, of his knees hitting the ground beside her and the obvious way she'd overwhelmed the man she loved. However, Zee was not sober and tonight she knew not how to be gentle. She rolled off of her side, trying hard to make the motion fluid but stumbling as her head spun once more. The anger within her bloomed as his retreated. Nobody would fight her, why wouldn't anyone fucking fight her?

Ignoring the fact that he was multiple times her size, Zee moved to slam down her paws upon him as he stumbled to stand. She wanted him on the ground, yearned for the power that she'd felt she'd lost. Deathbelle had taken that strength from her and was too cowardly to show her face and allow Zee to regain it. Through Sirius as her Vessel, the drunken queen was determined to grasp that strength back. Time and time again she told herself - and others - that it was not Sirius she was angry at, though he was the only one around to suffer through her pain. "Do you remember yet?" She aimed to beat upon him again and again with her uncoordinated paws, her voice breaking. "You can't forget her, Sirius, because it makes it that much worse!" If Deathbelle had been so easy to forget, why did she find her lips against hers so fucking easily.

Sirius grunted in pain as her paw slammed down against him, trapping him in place. He could have pulled free, but the memories were coming back more freeling now. Lashing his mind with the onslaught. Of thunderstorms spend holding her close. Of the day she had tried to make it to his den, only to fail, and him to find her cowering and alone beneath the rain. Of a journey to find pillows, and all the trouble that came with. Of training her in the ravine, of claiming her as his. Of mounting her, and making love to her. Of holding her tight. Of her beating him in battle, and the delight that rushed through him when he had lost. The first time he had ever felt joy for losing.

Her paws were beating against his body, but it was his mind that truly felt pain. He raised his untrapped paw to his head with a pained yip. “Make it stop!” he yanked free of her paw. Remembering now who she was, and what she meant to him. Of how he had betrayed her, time and time again. By driving her into the dirt the day they met, of threatening to kill her when he had thought he was drowning. Of loving Deathbelle, and not making his choice whole and absolute. He snarled, rising up to his full height, ignoring her efforts to wail upon him.

He caught her next paw, using the momentum of her punch to drag him into his arms and hold her tight. His heart was hammering hard in his chest, and there were dots in his eyes. The onslaught of memories was finally slowing, through his head hurt like a motherfucker. “MINE.” He snarled. Pulling and holding her against him. Rocking his body slightly as he did so. His voice vibrating through his chest in a snarl. “Mine.” my precious.

His pain and frustration was palpable, though so too was her own. Zee did not slow her paws upon him as he cried out, though the rapid movements did dizzy her head and make more klutzy her drunken paws. It wasn't until his own paws grasped onto her own that Zee's attack was forced to die out, though she did her best to continue to beat weakly upon him as he held her so tight.

"Let go!" She complained weakly, though her nose fell naturally into the spot beneath his chin regardless of her will to fight. The drink was beginning to wear on her and sleep was threatening it's way through. "I don't want a damn hug." Working against her words, her body began to relax against him. It was becoming harder and harder to keep her eyes open, though she blamed it internally upon his fluffy fur poking insistently into her face.

He continued to hold her close, cradling her, and rocking her gently. She was small enough to fit fully in his arms, and he leaned back slowly, gently. Tumbling to the floor, and pulling her on top of him. She rested fully on his warm belly and off the floor. Her breathing was already sounding more even and soft, as through sleepiness was taking her.

He still felt out of whack, confused by the onslaught of emotions that had violently attacked him with the memories. Him and Zee’s relationship had been sleepy since he had become leader. Lacking in the fire and passion they had found before. He knew that it was wrong, and terrible, but some part of him was almost glad for the drama. The chance to feel her fire and energy against him again. He tucked his head gently over hers, holding her tight. “God, I love you Zee. I love you to the end of the world and back. You are mine. Mine, mine, mine. “ he whispered, almost like a lullaby, rocking her to sleep.

The Warlord's movement only caused her dizziness to intensify and she managed a soft growl into his fur as she was brought back horizontal upon him. Her forehead pressed into his fur, her eyes shutting for a longer period of time this time. Sirius' gentle words did little to soften her temper, though her tiredness was enough that all the intention in the world wasn't enough for her to properly express it.

"I will bite you." Zee threatened quietly as his song-like whisper ended. She wanted so desperately to follow through with the threat, though Zee got as far as a wrinkled muzzle before she'd decided the effort was just too much. "Tomorrow. I'll bite you tomorrow." Each word grew softer, until rather abruptly the world fell away and the drunken queen slipped into a deep sleep.

He laughed huskily at his mate. At her attempt at fierceness when sleep was clearly claiming her. Her wrinkled, angry nose was so incredibly hot that he had to fight the urge to take her then and there. If he wasn't more concerned with being gentle and letting her sleep, he would have as it was, he waited until her breathing had fully earned out and kissed her little angry nose which had begun to relax at last.

"I'll do much more then bite you tomorrow, Lady Love" he promised her softly. And, despite his lust, he really was exhausted. His aching head wouldn't let him forget his injury any time soon. His head throbbed both from that and his mind reorganizing itself. Holding her tight, he eventually drifted off to sleep.