Indebted

30

Esti awoke, a sharp, burning pain that felt like it was in every joint and bone in her body. She had been sleeping so soundly, the break from her comfortable dreams was a razors edge. Cutting as shattered crystal upon the floor. Esti realized she was out of time on waiting for her beast to arrive. Tonight was the night. Esti looked around, her heart racing. Her bond to Atticus already let her mind know he wasn't nearby. He had left her alone.

The wind was picking up, a storm had come together in the cloudy night. Hiding how close the sunrise was. She had no idea what the hour could be. Esti stumbled to her feet, naked. All the better, she knew what was coming, had heard more than enough people try and describe these exact feelings. How her body felt right now.

Esti didn't have time to wonder where Atticus was. She didn't have a phone or means to reach out to him. Esti honestly wasn't certain how much time she had, or how large she would be afterwards. Esti scrabbled up the wall of the tower, feeling her bones already start to shift, trying to just catch herself on the uneven stones of the ancient tower as she more or less tumbled down the wall. Bones shifting, breaking, and healing the entire time she fell towards the earth. 

Landing on the ground just in front of Quwent, emerging from the forest as his dun brown wolf. Esti heard the trumpet of her dragon as the shift finished. Saw Quent's face as he looked at her. Then, the dragon took hold, Esti's memories stopped as the dragon raised its head from the ground, meeting Quwent eye to eye.

Nearly on the other side of the entire castle, unaware of what was about to happen. Atticus was thrilled, his investments had done better than expected. He had enough of a nest egg built to live comfortably anywhere Esti could want. Enough to continue to reinvest, and hoard and build. All of it was Atticus's, under his own name. Built by him, his choices with what little fortunes his mother had left to him. A home for all his valuables which were currently sitting, unappreciated in a costly but worth it monitored storage facility.

Atticus was searching for examples of homes they could have, opening window after window of real estate so he could show Esti. Nothing mattered at court. It was a twisted swamp of deceitful serpents. A world far too small and constricted. He dreamed of a beach front cottage on the east coast. Quaint hand crafted wood work details built into every corner of the home. Old, classic and worth appreciating like the castle Esti had grown up in, but with all the modern appointments to make the home luxurious. But there were mountain properties, a lake if the ocean was too vast. Maybe the painted desert.

A beautiful home for his beautiful mate, dreams filling his mind. Realizing he had spent too much time away from Esti. Atticus started to move quickly back towards her. He felt her jolt awake. Her body was in pain, and Atticus was not there. He didn't know if she was being attacked, or had been injured in an accident. The old tower could have collapsed underneath her as she slept. Atticus pocketed his phone and took off at a run. Feeling for Esti at every turn. Atticus ran as fast as he could.

Atticus's dragon was happy. Meaning this wasn't an attack, She was not in danger. Esti was shifting. Esti had been so calm, that when the bond switched cold. A hint of a glee, and it was like a blindfold was put over the link Atticus had to Esti. The dragon had taken control from Esti. 

His speed increased double time. It had only been twenty-two minutes since he felt her wake. Racing up the steps of the tower. No scents but his own and Esti's in the hallway. Atticus followed his senses. Esti had climbed the wall, gone over the edge of the Queen's Garden. To the ground. Following suit, Atticus jumped the wall. Landing on one knee, the dragon using air magic to ensure no bones broke on impact. They did not have time to waste on stairs. Esti had only been dark for a handful of minutes before she returned, surely the dragon could not have caused too much trouble out in the forest. No one came out this way.

Atticus followed the trail Esti had left for him She had landed on the ground safely. He would have known if she had been injured. Atticus drew in a deep breath. Another scent in the air. Atticus sought out the interloper. A scent he was regrettably already familiar with in the air, next to Esti's. Stronger, bolder now. She had certainly shifted this evening. Atticus and his dragon could not wait to see her other form.

Atticus was following Esti, when the bond indicated that she suddenly took off, in a car. Was moving, far, far away from him. Atticus choked as the scent of blood and viscera filled his nostrils. Fresh, the iron in the blood had barely begun to oxidize yet. There was a lot of it in the air. Atticus felt his nose burn with acrid, metal scent overwhelming everything.

Atticus looked around the clearing he found himself in. Quwent had been torn apart and left for the scavengers. The only other scent in the area, was Esti. A scent no one but him would find. Before Atticus and his dragon could even make sense of what they were seeing. What they knew to be true. An entire battalion of castle guards arrived, and arrested Atticus on the spot. Charging him with murder.

Atticus was the only scent the trackers could pick up at the scene of the latest crime. Esti remained elusive to everyone save Atticus himself. He himself would never give her up, and allowed himself to be taken into custody. Nearly amused when he had to have been placed into the same cell Esti had prepared herself for death in. Her scent the most recent in the room.

Atticus knew he had not killed Quwent. But was certain Esti's dragon had. He would do anything to protect Esti. He had already wasted decades of his life, Esti wasn't even past her second. Atticus had fallen in love with his mate, deeply and irrevocably. Magnus was known for many things, but after what had happened to his own mother and siblings along with countless others in the succession fight; Magnus would not order the death of any of his blood. Bastard or not. Atticus's life was most likely safe.

Exile and imprisonment were certainly still on the table. Atticus was willing to do almost anything for Esti. He allowed the indignity of an imprisonment, only because his actual innocence this time, would give Esti more time to get, far, far away from court. As long a she was safe, Atticus would endure until he could make his way to find her once more.

Atticus could feel her. She was in a plane, perhaps Helicopter now based on her speed of gaining distance from him, Atticus imagined he could sense the direction over the distance between them. Turning his face towards where he thought she was. Glad and enraged at the distance between them in equal measure. Willing her to just be safe, and know that he would find her again. Alone, in the deep underbelly of the castle, alone in a cell, Atticus broke out into a near crazed laugh at his current situation.