Page 33 of The Right to Bear Claws
By evening, he found himself gravitating toward the inn like iron drawn to a magnet. Through the warm-lit windows, he could see into the kitchen where Kaia stood beside Twyla, both women covered in flour as they worked over what looked like an industrial-scale baking operation.
"Come in already," Twyla called without looking up. "You're making the customers nervous with all that lurking."
Elias pushed through the kitchen door, immediately enveloped by the scent of cinnamon and sugart.
"Hey," Kaia said, looking up from the mixing bowl she'd been wrestling with. Her cheeks were flushed from the heat of the ovens, and she had a smudge of flour across her nose that made him want to kiss it away. "How was work?"
"Productive. What's all this?"
"Halloween cookies for the festival," Twyla explained, gesturing toward the dozens of sugar cookies cooling on racks around the kitchen. "Kaia volunteered to help with the decorating, and it turns out she has an artist's touch with royal icing."
"They're beautiful," Elias said, studying the intricate designs Kaia had piped onto the cookies. Delicate autumn leaves, perfect pumpkins, even tiny replicas of Hollow Oak's distinctive buildings.
"Twyla did most of the work," Kaia protested. "I just followed her instructions."
"Nonsense. You've got natural talent." Twyla beamed with maternal pride. "These are going to be the hit of the festival."
Watching them work together, Kaia fitting so naturally into the domestic rhythm of preparation and care, made Elias want her even more. This was what he wanted for their future—Kaia integrated into every aspect of Hollow Oak life, contributing her unique gifts to the community that had claimed her as one of their own.
"Can I help?" he asked.
"Can you pipe icing without making a mess?" Twyla asked skeptically.
"Probably not."
"Then you can be our official taste-tester," Kaia said with a smile that made his heart skip. "Quality control is very important."
"I take my duties seriously," he said solemnly, accepting the slightly lopsided cookie she offered him.
The sugar cookie was perfect—crisp edges, soft center, and the kind of homemade sweetness that spoke of care and attention to detail. But it was the hopeful way Kaia watched his face while he ate it that made the simple treat taste like heaven.
"Good?" she asked.
"Perfect," he said honestly. "Everything you make is perfect."
The soft smile she gave him in return was worth every moment of restraint his bear was demanding he abandon. This, the easy domesticity, the shared glances, the simple pleasure of being near each other, was what real relationships were built on.
"So," Twyla said with obvious satisfaction, "I'm thinking we need at least three more dozen for the children's booth. Kaia, you up for another round of decorating?"
"Absolutely. This is actually kind of relaxing."
"Good, because we've got pumpkin bread to tackle next, and after that?—"
"Twyla," Elias interrupted gently. "When's the last time either of you ate actual dinner?"
Both women paused, looking at each other with the guilty expressions of people who'd been too focused on their project to notice basic human needs.
"I may have lost track of time," Kaia admitted.
"Right then." Elias moved toward the stove with purpose. "Baking suspended until after you've both had real food. Twyla, you've got leftover beef stew in the freezer, don't you?"
"You don't have to cook for us," Kaia protested.
"I want to." He was already pulling ingredients from the refrigerator, muscle memory guiding him through the familiar motions of preparing a simple meal. "Besides, someone needs to make sure you don't survive on cookies and coffee until Halloween."
"He's got a point," Twyla said, settling onto a stool with obvious relief. "I may have gotten a little carried away with the baking timeline."
As Elias worked, he was hyperaware of Kaia moving around the kitchen behind him, cleaning up their baking supplies and setting the small table by the window. The easy way she anticipated what needed to be done, how she moved through the space like she belonged there, made his bear more and more at ease.
