Page 22 of The Right to Bear Claws (Hollow Oak Mates #6)

KAIA

T he nightmare version of Hollow Oak was perfect in all the worst ways.

Every building stood exactly where it should, every street curved with familiar precision, but the warm golden light that usually bathed the town had been replaced by something cold and harsh. The cheerful Halloween decorations hung like accusatory fingers, pointing at her with silent condemnation.

"Welcome home," Tobias said, his voice echoing from everywhere and nowhere as Kaia stood in the center of the town square. "Though I suppose it was never really your home, was it? Just another place where you pretended to belong."

"This isn't real," she said, but her voice sounded small and uncertain even to her own ears. "This is just another dream."

"Is it? Look around, little dreamwalker. See how accurately I've recreated your precious sanctuary."

The door to the Griddle & Grind opened, and Twyla emerged with her usual graceful step. But when she looked at Kaia, her wheat-colored hair seemed duller, her dancing eyes flat with disappointment.

"I should have known," Twyla said, her musical voice carrying an edge of hurt. "The moment you walked into my café, I felt the darkness clinging to you. But I ignored my instincts, thought maybe this time would be different."

"Twyla, please?—"

"Please what? Please forgive me for bringing a nightmare creature to our doorstep?

Please understand that my selfishness might destroy everyone I care about?

" Twyla's expression turned cold. "I welcomed you with open arms, gave you my best tea, treated you like family.

And this is how you repay that kindness? "

"I left to protect you! I left because I love you all too much to?—"

"You left because you're a coward," Maeve's voice cut through her protests.

The lioness shifter stepped out of the Silver Fang Tavern, her short black hair gleaming under the nightmare light.

"Too scared to fight for what you claimed to want, too weak to trust the people who offered to stand with you. "

"That's not true."

"Isn't it?" Miriam appeared from the inn, her silver hair no longer neat but wild with distress.

Behind her half-moon spectacles, her kind eyes were red with tears.

"I opened my home to you, treated you like the daughter I never had.

And you repaid me by running away in the middle of the night like a common thief. "

"I left a note?—"

"You left a lie." The Tansley brothers emerged from the Hollow Mercantile, their weathered faces hard with betrayal. "Pretty words about protection and sacrifice, when what you really did was abandon us to clean up the mess you made."

"Stop," Kaia whispered, backing away from the circle of disappointed faces. "This isn't real. You wouldn't say these things. You cared about me."

"We pitied you," Lucien said, stepping out of the Book Nook with his usual feline grace twisted into something predatory. "There's a difference. You were so desperate for acceptance, so pathetically grateful for scraps of attention, that we felt sorry for you."

"Lucien, please?—"

"Please what? Please pretend we enjoyed your company?

Please act like your presence didn't drain the joy from every room you entered?

" His green eyes were cold, calculating.

"You brought nothing but trouble, Kaia. Nothing but fear and sleepless nights and the constant worry that your problems would destroy everything we'd built here. "

The words echoed every doubt she'd ever harbored about herself, every fear that she was too damaged to deserve love. Tobias's presence grew stronger around her, feeding on her anguish like a parasite that thrived on emotional pain.

"You see?" his voice whispered from the shadows. "I told you the truth would hurt. But at least now you know where you really stand."

"Where's Elias?" she asked, dreading the answer but needing to know. "If you're going to torment me with everyone's disappointment, where is he?"

"Ah, yes. Your precious bear shifter." Tobias's laughter was the sound of breaking glass. "Shall we see how he truly feels about his so-called mate?"

The inn's door opened one final time, and Elias stepped out. But this version of him was wrong in ways that made her heart break—his silver eyes dull with exhaustion, his powerful frame bent with weariness, his face etched with lines of stress and regret.

"Elias," she breathed, taking a step toward him only to freeze when he looked at her with disgust.

"Two weeks," he said, his voice flat and emotionless. "Two weeks since I pulled you from that lake, and look what it's cost me. My sleep, my peace, my family's safety. All for someone who couldn't even trust me enough to stay and fight."

"I was trying to protect you?—"

"You were trying to protect yourself. From the hard work of building something real, from the responsibility of caring about people who might actually need you.

" He shook his head with bitter disappointment.

"I thought you were my mate, my other half.

But you're just another broken thing that I tried to fix out of misplaced nobility. "

"That's not true," she whispered, but the words felt hollow in her own mouth.

"Name one thing you've contributed to this town besides fear and chaos. One way you've made anyone's life better instead of worse."

Kaia opened her mouth to argue, but no words came. In the harsh light of the nightmare realm, every kindness felt like pity, every moment of acceptance like charity she didn't deserve.

"Exactly," nightmare-Elias continued. "You're nothing, Kaia. A burden we tolerated out of misplaced kindness, a problem that finally solved itself by walking away."

"He's right, you know," Tobias's voice grew stronger, more solid. "They're all right. You've spent your entire life pretending to be something you're not—worthy of love, capable of belonging, strong enough to fight for what you want. But the truth is, you're exactly what you've always been: alone."

The circle of disappointed faces closed in around her, their accusations blending together into a cacophony of judgment that made her want to curl up and disappear.

This was what she'd always feared, wasn't it?

That someday, everyone would see through her masks and realize she wasn't worth the effort.

"Come with me willingly," Tobias whispered. "Stop fighting a battle you can never win. Accept that my realm is where you belong—not because you're special, but because you're broken. And broken things belong in the dark."

For a moment, Kaia almost gave in. The weight of their disappointment, the evidence of her own inadequacy, the crushing loneliness that had followed her everywhere—it would be so easy to stop fighting.

To let Tobias drag her deeper into his realm where she'd never have to face another person's disgust or pity.

But then, like a candle flickering in the darkness, a memory surfaced.

"You're not crazy," Elias's real voice whispered across time. "What you're dealing with is real, and it's dangerous. But you're not dealing with it alone anymore."

"That's a lie," she said quietly. "That's not what he said to me."

"What?"

"Elias never said I was broken. He said I was brave.

He said I was stronger than I thought I was.

" She straightened, facing the circle of false faces with growing determination.

"And none of you would abandon me for fighting battles I didn't choose.

You'd stand with me, help me carry the load, because that's what family does. "

"Pretty fantasy," nightmare-Twyla sneered. "But reality has teeth."

"So does truth." Kaia closed her eyes, reaching deep into her memory for moments of genuine warmth.

Miriam teaching her to knit while sharing stories about her late husband.

Twyla's delighted laughter when Kaia successfully decorated her first batch of cookies.

The way Maeve had looked at her with protective approval after their lunch conversation.

"You're remembering wrong," Tobias hissed, his presence pressing against her consciousness like a physical weight. "They tolerated you. They pitied you. They?—"

"They loved me." The words rang out clear and strong, and with them came a wave of true memories that pushed back the nightmare projections.

"Miriam called me the daughter she never had.

Twyla said I had natural talent for bringing people together.

Maeve told me I was brave enough to listen to my heart. "

"Lies," nightmare-Elias snarled. "Pretty lies to make you feel better about?—"

"And you," Kaia continued, turning to face the twisted version of her mate, "you never once made me feel like a burden.

You carved wind chimes to help me sleep.

You brought me coffee exactly the way I liked it.

You held me through nightmares and promised I'd never have to face anything alone again. "

The false Elias flickered, his form becoming less solid as her conviction grew stronger.

"That's not real," Tobias said, desperation creeping into his voice. "You're romanticizing what was always just pity?—"

"You want to know what's real?" Kaia opened her eyes, meeting the gaze of each nightmare projection in turn.

"Real is Elias telling me I was worth everything.

Real is a whole town rallying to protect someone they'd known for two weeks.

Real is feeling like I belonged somewhere, not because I was perfect, but because I was me. "

The nightmare town began to flicker around the edges, Tobias's careful construction wavering under the assault of genuine memory.

"Real is love that doesn't give up," she continued. "Love that sees potential instead of problems, strength instead of weakness. And real is the choice I'm making right now to stop listening to lies and start fighting for the truth."

"You can't win," Tobias snarled, his form becoming more solid as he poured power into maintaining his illusions. "I am ancient, powerful, fed by centuries of fear and despair. You are one small, broken woman?—"

"I'm a dreamwalker," Kaia interrupted, feeling her power stir for the first time since arriving in his realm. "I'm part of a family that chooses to love fiercely. I'm the mate of a bear shifter who'd move mountains to keep me safe. And I'm done running from fights I can win."

The nightmare version of Hollow Oak began to crack like glass, fractures spreading through the false buildings as Kaia's determination grew. The projection faces flickered and dissolved, replaced by swirling darkness that couldn't quite hide Tobias's growing panic.

"You will serve me," he roared, dropping all pretense of seduction. "You promised?—"

"I was a child who didn't understand what she was agreeing to," Kaia said firmly. "But I'm not a child anymore. I'm a woman who knows the difference between truth and manipulation. And I choose truth."

The realm shuddered around them, Tobias's carefully constructed prison beginning to collapse under the weight of her refusal to surrender.

But even as hope flared in her chest, Kaia could feel how much power he'd drawn from her pain, how strong he'd grown during their battle. The fight was far from over.

And she still had to find a way home.