Page 27 of The Right to Bear Claws (Hollow Oak Mates #6)

ELIAS

T he transformation in Kaia was unmistakable.

Where before she'd moved through the dream realm with careful uncertainty, now she walked with purpose, her dreamwalker abilities no longer something to fear but tools to be wielded with confidence.

Elias could feel the change in her through their connection, a steady brightening that made his bear as satisfied as he could be.

"The source is deeper," she said, her violet eyes scanning the golden clearing with new understanding. "I can feel him pulling energy from something ancient, something that's been festering in the darkest part of this realm for a very long time."

"How deep are we talking?" Elias asked, already knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

"To the foundation of his power. To whatever trauma first trapped him here." She turned to face him, her expression serious but no longer afraid. "It's going to be dangerous, Elias. The closer we get to his core, the more desperate he'll become."

"Then we face it together." He took her hand, feeling the warmth of her skin even in this place between worlds. "Lead the way."

The journey toward Tobias's source of power took them through landscapes that defied description.

Forests where the trees were made of crystallized screams, rivers that flowed backward through time, mountains that shifted like living things in response to their presence.

But with each step, Elias could sense they were getting closer to something fundamental, something that had been hidden for centuries beneath layers of corruption and fear.

"There," Kaia said, pointing toward what looked like a massive structure rising from the center of the realm. But as they approached, Elias realized it wasn't a building at all, it was a cocoon of sorts, woven from shadows and nightmares and held together by pure desperation.

"Jesus," he breathed. "What is that thing?"

"His prison," she said softly. "And his sanctuary. The place where he retreated when the world became too painful to bear."

Tobias's voice reached them from within the structure, but it sounded different now. Less controlled, more raw with old pain.

"You shouldn't have come this far," he called out, his words echoing strangely in the thick air. "This is not a place for the living, for those who still carry hope in their hearts."

"Maybe that's exactly why we needed to come," Kaia replied, stepping closer to the shadow-cocoon despite Elias's protective instincts urging caution. "You've been alone here for so long, feeding on fear because you forgot what anything else tasted like."

"I chose solitude over betrayal. I chose isolation over the risk of being destroyed again by those who claimed to love me."

"You chose survival," Elias said, understanding beginning to dawn. "But surviving isn't the same as living."

The cocoon pulsed with agitated energy. "What would you know about it, bear shifter? What would either of you know about being gifted in a world that sees difference as disease, power as threat?"

"More than you think," Kaia said gently. "I’ve spent years hiding who I am, pretending to be normal when normal was never an option. Alone with abilities that make other people afraid."

"Pretty words from someone who found acceptance in a town full of supernatural beings. Try being gifted in a time when such things meant death."

"Tell us about that time," she said, and Elias heard the subtle shift in her voice that meant she was accessing her dreamwalker abilities more fully. "Show us what happened to you."

"You don't want to see what I've seen. What was done to me, what I became in response."

"Maybe we don't want to," Elias said, "but maybe we need to. Maybe you need us to."

The cocoon shuddered, and suddenly they weren't standing outside it anymore.

The shadows had parted, drawn them into the center where Tobias waited.

But this version of him was different from the shifting nightmare creature they'd encountered before.

Here, in the heart of his domain, he looked almost human.

Tall, dark-haired, with eyes that held centuries of loneliness.

"You want to understand?" he asked, his voice carrying the weight of old grief. "You want to see what love becomes when it's betrayed, what hope becomes when it's crushed beyond repair?"

"Yes," Kaia said simply.

"I was like you once," Tobias continued, his form flickering between human and shadow. "A dreamwalker born with gifts that set me apart from ordinary people. But I was also a warlock, trained in the old ways, respected by those who understood the arts I practiced."

"What changed?" Elias asked.

"I fell in love with a woman who claimed to understand my nature.

Who swore she wasn't afraid of what I could do in the realm of dreams." His laugh was bitter, hollow.

"Elara. She was beautiful, intelligent, and for a brief, shining moment, I thought she might be the one person who could love me for what I truly was. "

Kaia moved closer, her dreamwalker senses obviously picking up on the emotional resonance of his memories. "She betrayed you."

"She discovered the true extent of my abilities and decided I was too dangerous to live.

Convinced the local authorities that I was corrupting dreams, stealing souls, practicing dark magic.

" The pain in his voice was raw, immediate despite the centuries that had passed.

"The woman who shared my bed became my executioner. "

"So you fled to the dream realm," Elias said.

"I thought it would be temporary. A place to hide until the persecution passed. But the longer I stayed, the more the isolation ate at me. The more convinced I became that everyone who claimed to care would eventually try to destroy me."

"And you've been here ever since," Kaia whispered. "Alone, feeding on nightmares because you forgot what love felt like."

"Love is a lie people tell themselves to justify proximity. It always ends in betrayal or abandonment." His form solidified further, showing them glimpses of what he'd been before corruption took hold. "Better to take what sustenance I can from fear, which at least is honest in its intentions."

"That's where you're wrong," Kais said, stepping forward. "Love isn't always perfect, and people aren't always trustworthy. But that doesn't mean connection itself is worthless."

"Easy words from someone whose mate followed her into hell."

"Exactly." Kaia's voice carried new strength, new understanding. "He followed me because that's what love does. It shows up, even when showing up is terrifying. Even when it means facing the worst parts of someone else's pain."

"Your Elara was afraid," Elias continued, his bear lending weight to his words. "Maybe she was even cruel. But she was one person, Tobias. One person who couldn't handle the depth of what you offered her. That doesn't mean everyone will make the same choice."

"Let me show you," Kaia said suddenly, her dreamwalker abilities flaring with purpose. "Let me enter your memories, see what really happened. Not the version you've been telling yourself for centuries, but the truth of it."

"No." The refusal was immediate, panicked. "Those memories are mine. My pain, my shame?—"

"Your prison," she corrected gently. "You've been trapped in them for so long that you can't see past them anymore. But I can. I can walk through your memories and show you what you've forgotten—that you were worthy of love then, and you're worthy of healing now."

"It's too dangerous. If you see what I've done, what I've become?—"

"We won't leave you alone with it anymore."

The cocoon around them pulsed, Tobias's centuries of isolation warring with a desperate, buried need for connection.

"I don't remember how to hope," he whispered.

"You don't have to remember," Kaia said, her hand extended toward him like an offer of peace. "You just have to let me help you find it again."

For a long moment, the ancient warlock stared at her outstretched hand. Elias could feel the weight of his decision, the magnitude of trust she was asking from someone who'd been betrayed at his most vulnerable.

Finally, slowly, Tobias reached out and touched her fingers with his own.

"Show me," he said, his voice breaking with centuries of suppressed longing. "Show me what I've forgotten."

Kaia's eyes closed, her dreamwalker abilities reaching out to embrace memories that had been locked away in shadow for longer than most civilizations had existed.

And Elias, anchored to her through their bond, prepared to witness the birth of a nightmare and, hopefully, its transformation back into something resembling hope.