The Lycan Queen

Chapter 8

Daichii held a fairly contented smile as she clutched the small ceramic jar and a paper bag of coffee powder in her little old lycan paws, until she came withing earshot of the snarling, roaring and basically all hell breaking loose outside her den once more. She hissed and hobbled her way there as quickly as possible only to find Mortem and Khufu clawing, biting and bitching at each other like two male lemmings during breeding season. The friction and heat cause by the constant movement had melted the snow in front of the den, leaving the cold soil beneath it exposed and disheveled.

"Knock it off you two!" She hissed hitting both of them over the head with her cane this time.

Khufu whined and shook his head. "He started it!" He said pointing at Mortem, who sat poking at the sore spot on the top of his head from the first blow of the cane, now compounded with this one.

"I don't care who started it, I'll finish it!" Daichii snarled. "Both of you get out of here. You're disturbing Lunar and she needs all the rest she can get right now."

"But.." Khufu objected.

"Now!" She hissed, raising the fur on her back to make her seem larger than she really was.

Mortem huffed at Khufu in an aggressive manner, causing the male to snap back at him as he limped away. "Stay away from her." He scowled in a manner neither Daichii or Mortem had ever seen from him before.

Daichii looked back to the lycan king. "That goes for you too." She snarled. "I don't know what's been going on with you for the last few hours but.."

"How long.."

"What?"

"How long?" Mortem repeated. "How long will she take to heal?" He asked peering over Daichii's small frame to see if Lunar had moved since he left the den.

"Longer than a day." She growled at the male in an unimpressed manner. "Her body's struggling to replace the blood she lost. Once she's stable enough, I'll see if I can remove the bullet in her chest cavity."

"Daichii.." Mortem began as he suddenly became anxious, and in a matter of seconds anxiety turned to anger. "Daichii what do you mean you'll see if you can remove it?" He snarled, baring his teeth at the medic as he stalked toward her on all fours. "You're the medic. Of course you can remove it, why is it still there!?"

"Watch your tone, boy." Was Daichii's hissed reply, her fangs also bared, even if they were smaller than Mortem's as she stared at him, almost daring him to try something. Eventually, Mortem broke the stare with a sigh. Diachii eased her stare, as she could sense the anxiety and frustration radiating off of this lycan. "Why are you so concerned about her anyway?" She added in a softer tone, so as not to anger him although she was eager to hear his response.

"That doesn't matter." He said trying his best to hold back a growl. "Answer my question."

Daichii narrowed her eyes at him. "Not until you answer mine."

There was a long awkward silence for about one minute afterward, before Mortem huffed, massaging his temples with his thumb and index digit. "She's our leading huntress Daichii." He said with a scowl. "The longer she stays in there lying on her ass, the less I eat." He said maliciously. The elder female softened her gaze. This very well could be the reason. Shit, the answer sounded exactly like something he'd say. However, Daichii didn't feel as if he said it with enough.. malice. She glared at him without speaking, instead walking into the medical den, with Mortem in tow.

"It should take a week or two for her blood cell count to return to normal. If I tried to remove the bullet as soon as she'd gotten in here she'd have died." Daichii said pouring the coffee powder into the ceramic jar and resting the little lid on the top of it, as she watched Mortem's expressions as he kept his eyes fixed on Lunar.