Page 3 of The Right to Bear Claws
But that was the problem. Kaia remembered plenty, just nothing that made sense. Dreams of walking through mist-wrapped forests that hummed with magic. Visions of a town where impossible things were perfectly normal. And always, always, the sensation of being pulled toward something she couldn't name.
"Drink your tea," Miriam said gently. "Chamomile and a few other things to help settle your nerves. You've had quite the ordeal."
Kaia wrapped her hands around the mug, grateful for the warmth seeping through the ceramic. "Thank you. For everything. I know I must be imposing..."
"Nonsense." Miriam waved away her protests with the efficiency of someone who'd heard this particular worry before. "Hollow Oak takes care of its own, and anyone who needs help is welcome here. That's just how we do things."
Takes care of its own.The phrase hit something tender in Kaia's chest, a longing she'd carried for so long she'd forgotten it was there. What would it be like to belong somewhere like that? To have people who considered her worth protecting?
"I should probably get going," she said instead, because wanting things that seemed too good to be true was a luxury she'd learned not to indulge. "I don't want to be a burden."
"Where exactly are you planning to go?" Miriam's tone was kind but pointed. "Do you remember where you came from? Who to call?"
Kaia opened her mouth to answer and found nothing there. Not just about how she'd ended up in the lake, but about everything before. Her mind was a patchwork of scattered moments and dream-fragments, nothing solid enough to build a plan around.
"I..." She swallowed hard, the cheerful mask she wore slipping for a moment. "I'm sure it'll come back to me."
A soft knock interrupted them. "Miriam? Is she awake?"
The voice sent shivers racing down Kaia's spine. Deep and careful, like its owner was used to being heard without raising his volume. She knew that voice. From the lake, from the hazy moments between drowning and safety.
"Come in, Elias," Miriam called. "She's awake and doing much better."
The door opened to reveal the man from her fragmented memories, and Kaia's breath caught in her throat. He wasmassive, easily six and a half feet of solid muscle barely contained by a flannel shirt and worn jeans. Dark hair with silver at the temples, like he'd earned every strand through hard experience. But it was his eyes that made her pulse skip. Silver-gray and intense, studying her with the kind of focused attention that should have made her uncomfortable.
Instead, she felt safe.
"Hey there," he said softly, carrying a tray that looked absurdly small in his hands. "Thought you might be hungry."
"I'm Kaia," she blurted, then felt heat rise in her cheeks at how breathless she sounded. "Kaia Monroe. You saved me."
Something flickered across his features, too quick to interpret. "Elias Vane. Anyone would have done the same."
That was a lie. Kaia had been on her own long enough to know that most people looked the other way when someone else was drowning, literally or figuratively. But she didn't call him on it, just accepted the tray with hands that trembled slightly when their fingers brushed during the exchange.
The contact sent warmth racing up her arms, settling somewhere behind her ribs like a small sun. His skin was calloused from hard work, warm and steady, and she found herself wanting to hold on longer than propriety allowed.
"Thank you," she managed, setting the tray across her lap. Scrambled eggs, thick-cut bacon, and toast that smelled like heaven. Real food, not the vending machine dinners she'd been living on. "This looks amazing."
"Miriam's the one who cooked it," Elias said, settling into the chair beside her bed with careful movements. Like he was trying not to spook her. "I just carried it up."
"Still." Kaia took a bite of eggs and nearly moaned at the taste. Rich and creamy, with herbs she couldn't identify. "This is the best thing I've eaten in... well, longer than I can remember."
"Speaking of which," Miriam interjected, "do you remember anything about how you ended up in our lake? Any details might help us figure out where you came from."
Kaia chewed slowly, buying time while she sifted through the mess in her head. The dreams were so vivid, so real, but underneath them lurked something darker. Whispers that made her skin crawl. Shadows with eyes that watched her from the corners of her vision. A voice promising terrible things if she didn't stop running.
"I remember driving," she said finally, focusing on the few concrete details she could grasp. "My car broke down somewhere in the mountains. I was walking, looking for help, and then..." She gestured helplessly. "Nothing. Just waking up here."
It wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't entirely false either. The parts she wasn't sharing, the dreams and whispers and creeping sense of dread, felt too fragile to examine in the daylight. Too dangerous to voice aloud.
"Mountain roads can be tricky," Elias said, and there was something in his tone that made her think he understood about keeping secrets. "Easy to get turned around, especially if you're not familiar with the area."
"Where exactly is Hollow Oak?" Kaia asked. "I mean, what's the nearest big city?"
Miriam and Elias exchanged a look that lasted a beat too long. Something passed between them, some kind of silent communication that made Kaia feel like an outsider peering through a window.
"We're pretty remote," Miriam said carefully. "Tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains where most people don't think to look. It's a special place, our little town. Folks here tend to be... different. People who don't quite fit anywhere else."
