Page 16 of The Right to Bear Claws
"He's been sleeping in the chair again, hasn't he?" Miriam asked, following her gaze toward the common room where Elias had taken up his unofficial post.
Heat crept up Kaia's neck. "I told him he doesn't have to do that. The inn has perfectly good guest rooms."
"And what did he say?"
"That he sleeps better knowing I'm safe." The memory of his quiet confession sent warmth spreading through her. "I don't understand why he cares so much. We barely know each other."
Miriam's smile held secrets. "Sometimes the heart knows things the mind hasn't figured out yet. And sometimes, when you've been waiting for something without realizing it, recognition comes fast."
Curious that Miriam had almost repeated Maeve, Kaia went to ask what that meant, but then heavy footsteps announced Elias's arrival in the kitchen. He looked tired, silver eyes shadowed with the same exhaustion that had been following her around. Guilt twisted in her stomach at the realization that her problems were costing him sleep too.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, settling into the chair beside her with the careful movements of someone who'd been sleeping in furniture not designed for six-foot-six frames.
"Guilty," she said honestly. "You can't keep sleeping in that chair, Elias. You'll wreck your back."
"My back's fine." He accepted the mug of tea Miriam offered with a grateful nod. "Besides, I sleep better knowing you're close by."
She forced herself not to blush. "Still," she said, fighting the urge to reach for his hand. "It's not fair to you."
"Kaia." His voice carried gentle firmness. "Nothing about this situation is fair. But that doesn't mean we stop looking out for each other."
The way he said 'each other' made her stomach flutter with dangerous hope. Like they were a team, partners facing something together instead of her being a burden he'd chosen to shoulder.
"The dreams are getting more vivid," she said quietly. "More detailed. I think... I think something's going to happen on Halloween night."
Elias's jaw tightened. "What kind of something?"
"I don't know exactly. But it's bad. Really bad." She closed her eyes, trying to organize the fragments of prophetic vision that had been haunting her sleep. "There's panic in the streets, people running from something I can't quite see. And there's this voice that keeps calling to me, trying to convince me to stop fighting whatever's coming."
"Over my dead body," Elias said with quiet ferocity.
The protective growl in his voice sent a thrill through her. God, when had she started finding his intensity so attractive? When had the way he looked at her like she was precious and worth defending become something she craved?
"I should probably try to get some sleep," she said, standing before her thoughts could wander into dangerous territory. "Maybe tonight will be better."
But even as she said it, Kaia could feel the familiar tug of approaching dreams, darker and more insistent than usual. The anchor stone pulsed against her throat, a warm reminder of the protection surrounding her, but she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was hunting her was getting stronger.
Sleep brought no peace.
The dream started normally enough—wandering through a version of Hollow Oak that was both familiar and wrong, where the streets stretched longer than they should and shadows fell at impossible angles. But instead of the usual random nightmare imagery, Kaia found herself walking with purpose toward the town square, drawn by a compulsion she couldn't resist.
The square was empty except for a single figure standing beneath the old oak tree that gave the town its name. Male, tall, but his features shifted and blurred whenever she tried to focus on them directly. When he spoke, his voice carried the hollow quality she'd been hearing in her dreams for days.
"Kaia Monroe." The sound of her name on his lips made her skin crawl. "You've been running from me for so long. Aren't you tired of fighting the inevitable?"
"Who are you?" she asked, surprised to find her voice steady in the dream. "What do you want from me?"
"I want what I've always wanted. What you promised me, before you chose to forget." The figure stepped closer, and she caught glimpses of burning eyes in a face made of shifting shadows. "You were supposed to come willingly. Instead, you ran to this sanctuary, surrounded yourself with protectors who can't help you where it matters."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you?" The thing that called itself by a name she couldn't quite remember tilted its head. "Sweet Kaia, wandering the world alone, convinced she didn't belong anywhere. I offered you purpose, power, a place where your gifts would be appreciated instead of feared. And you agreed."
"I would never?—"
"Wouldn't you?" The voice turned mocking. "A frightened girl, desperate to understand why she was different, why she could walk through dreams when others could only sleep through them. I gave you knowledge, showed you how to use your abilities. In exchange, you promised to serve as my anchor to the waking world."
The words triggered flashes of memory she'd thought were dreams—a younger version of herself, desperate and alone, making bargains she didn't understand with a voice that promised answers to all her questions.
