Page 16 of The Right to Bear Claws (Hollow Oak Mates #6)

KAIA

" Y ou look tired, dear," Miriam said, settling across from Kaia in the inn's cozy sitting room with her customary afternoon tea service. "When's the last time you had a proper rest?"

Kaia wrapped her hands around the delicate porcelain cup, grateful for its warmth. "I've been sleeping. Just not... well."

"The nightmares again?"

"They're still getting worse. More vivid, more urgent." She took a sip of tea, recognizing Miriam's special blend of chamomile and something else that helped settle frayed nerves. "And I've been sleepwalking. Elias keeps having to wake me up before I reach the lake."

"Every night?"

"The past three nights, yeah. It's like something's calling to me, pulling me toward the water." Kaia shivered despite the sitting room's warmth. "I'm starting to think it's not just random wandering."

Miriam's expression grew thoughtful behind her half-moon spectacles. "Tell me about these dreams. What exactly do you see?"

"Tobias, mostly. But not like before, when he was just a voice or a shadow.

Now he's almost solid, like he's gaining strength somehow.

" Kaia set down her teacup with unsteady hands.

"Last night, he showed me what he wants.

Not just to use me as an anchor to the physical world.

He wants to trap me in the dream realm permanently, keep me there as his. .. companion."

"His prisoner, you mean."

"Yeah." The word came out as barely more than a whisper. "He says I'll be safe there, that I won't have to worry about hurting anyone I care about. Just him and me, for eternity, in a world where he has complete control."

"And what did you tell him?"

"That I'd rather die than spend eternity as his captive." Kaia's voice grew stronger. "But he just laughed and said I wouldn't have a choice much longer. That Halloween night, the barriers between worlds will be thin enough for him to pull me across permanently."

Miriam leaned forward, her weathered face creased with concern. "Sweet girl, you can't face this alone. Have you told Elias about the sleepwalking?"

"Some of it. But I don't want him to feel like he has to babysit me every night. He's already doing so much, giving up sleep to watch over me."

"That's what people do when they love someone," Miriam said gently. "They sacrifice comfort for the other person's safety without keeping score."

"But how do you know when you're asking too much? When your problems become too big a burden for someone else to carry?"

"Oh, honey." Miriam's smile held decades of hard-won wisdom. "Love isn't about burden sharing. It's about problem solving together. When you truly care for someone, their struggles become your struggles, not because you have to but because you want to."

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"Forty-three years of marriage to a man who could shift into a seven-foot grizzly bear when he was cranky." Miriam's eyes sparkled with fond memory. "Henry had his own demons, believe me. PTSD from his military service, nightmares that would shake the whole house. But we figured it out together."

"I didn't know you were married to a shifter."

"Most folks around here don't advertise their supernatural connections to newcomers.

Takes time to build that kind of trust." Miriam refilled both their teacups with practiced grace.

"But Henry and I, we understood each other.

Both of us carrying scars from our past, both of us looking for a place to belong. "

"How did you know he was the one?"

"I didn't, at first. Scared me half to death, if I'm being honest. A man that big, that intense, with those protective instincts that could turn fierce in a heartbeat.

" Miriam's expression softened with memory.

"But then I saw how gentle he was with broken things.

Birds with damaged wings, stray cats, children who were afraid of their own shadows. That's when I knew his heart was safe."

"Elias is like that too," Kaia said quietly. "Gentle with things that have been hurt."

"Including you."

"Especially me." Heat spread through Kaia's face. "Sometimes I don't understand why he bothers. I'm such a mess, dragging danger into his life, keeping him awake with my problems."

"Now, you listen to me." Miriam's tone turned firm, taking on the maternal authority that had probably corralled decades of stubborn guests. "You are not a burden. You're a gift that life handed to a man who's been waiting his whole life to find someone worth protecting."

"But what if Tobias is too strong, and I end up trapped in the dream realm anyway?"

"Then we fight harder. All of us." Miriam reached across the small table to cover Kaia's hand with her own.

"You think you're the first person to bring supernatural trouble to Hollow Oak?

Honey, this town was built on second chances and impossible fights.

We don't abandon family just because the odds are bad. "

"Family." The word made Kaia's throat tight with emotion. "I've never really had that before."

"Well, you do now. Whether you asked for it or not, you've got a whole town full of people who consider you worth fighting for."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the afternoon light slanting through the lace curtains and painting everything in warm gold. Kaia felt some of the tension ease from her shoulders, the constant knot of anxiety in her stomach loosening slightly.

"Can I ask you something?" she said finally.

"Of course, dear."

"How do you know when it's okay to stop running? When you've found a place worth staying for?"

Miriam's smile was gentle and knowing. "When the thought of leaving hurts more than the fear of staying. When you realize that the people around you see your value even when you can't see it yourself."

"And if staying puts those people in danger?"

"Then you trust them to make their own choices about what risks they're willing to take. You don't get to decide what's best for everyone else, Kaia. That's not love, it's control dressed up as protection."

The words hit a truth she'd been avoiding. "I've been thinking about leaving again. Running before Halloween night, before Tobias can use me to hurt anyone."

"I figured as much. You've got that same look Henry used to get when his nightmares were bad. Like you were calculating escape routes even while sitting still."

"Maybe I should go. Find somewhere isolated where?—"

"Where you'll face this monster alone and probably lose?" Miriam's interruption was sharp. "Where you'll spend whatever time you have left wondering if the people you left behind are safe, or if Tobias found ways to hurt them anyway?"

"At least they'd have a chance."

"Sweet girl, running away doesn't solve problems. It just makes you tired and alone when the real fight comes. And love isn't about being perfect, Kaia. It's about being willing to try, even when you're scared."

That night, the dreams came hungrier than any other night.

Kaia found herself standing knee-deep in Moonmirror Lake, the water around her glowing with an eerie silver light that had nothing to do with moonbeams. The surface rippled with movement from something large circling beneath, and she could feel Tobias's presence like ice against her skin.

"You're learning to resist my pull," his voice echoed from the depths. "Impressive. But ultimately futile."

"I won't go with you willingly," she said, surprised by the steadiness of her own voice.

"Willingly, unwillingly—the distinction matters less each night. Your dreamwalking has always led you here, to this lake, to this gateway between worlds. Soon, you won't be able to resist the call at all."

The water began to rise around her, creeping up her legs with unnatural warmth. "What do you mean?"

"The lake is my conduit, little dreamwalker. Every time you approach it in sleep, every nightmare that draws you to its shores, strengthens my connection to your consciousness. Four more nights of this, and the barrier will be thin enough for me to pull you through permanently."

"The anchor stone will protect me."

"Will it? Even now, you're walking toward the water while your body sleeps. How long before that trinket fails and you slip beneath the surface where no one can follow?"

The dream shattered as strong hands shook her awake, Elias's voice cutting through the nightmare haze like a lifeline.

"Kaia, wake up. You're at the lake again."

She gasped, finding herself standing in her nightgown at the water's edge, bare feet numb from the cold. Elias stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder while the other held a flashlight that cut through the pre-dawn darkness.

"How did I get here?" she whispered.

"You were sleepwalking. I've been following you for the past ten minutes." His voice was tight with concern. "Kaia, this is the fourth night in a row. We need to figure out how to break this pattern before?—"

"Before he pulls me through permanently," she finished, turning to face him. "Four nights, Elias. That's what he told me. And I won't be coming back."

The protective growl that rumbled from his chest was pure bear, and she could see his eyes flash amber in the flashlight's glow.

"Whatever this thing thinks it can do, it's wrong. You're not going anywhere, Kaia. Not without me."

As they walked back toward the inn, her hand safe in his, Kaia tried to believe he was right. But she could still feel the lake's pull behind them, and she knew with sick certainty that each night would be harder to resist than the last.