Page 34 of The Right to Bear Claws
This is what we want,his animal consciousness whispered.Her, here, part of our life.
"I know," he murmured quietly. "Soon."
"Did you say something?" Kaia asked, appearing at his elbow with perfect timing.
"Just talking to myself," he said, ladling steaming stew into bowls. "Occupational hazard of spending too much time alone."
"Well, you're not alone anymore," she said softly, her hand brushing his arm in a contact that sent warmth racing through his system.
No,he thought, watching her settle at the table with Twyla, both women chatting easily about festival preparations and cookie decorating techniques.I'm definitely not alone anymore.
16
KAIA
"You look tired, dear," Miriam said, settling across from Kaia in the inn's cozy sitting room with her customary afternoon tea service. "When's the last time you had a proper rest?"
Kaia wrapped her hands around the delicate porcelain cup, grateful for its warmth. "I've been sleeping. Just not... well."
"The nightmares again?"
"They're still getting worse. More vivid, more urgent." She took a sip of tea, recognizing Miriam's special blend of chamomile and something else that helped settle frayed nerves. "And I've been sleepwalking. Elias keeps having to wake me up before I reach the lake."
"Every night?"
"The past three nights, yeah. It's like something's calling to me, pulling me toward the water." Kaia shivered despite the sitting room's warmth. "I'm starting to think it's not just random wandering."
Miriam's expression grew thoughtful behind her half-moon spectacles. "Tell me about these dreams. What exactly do you see?"
"Tobias, mostly. But not like before, when he was just a voice or a shadow. Now he's almost solid, like he's gaining strength somehow." Kaia set down her teacup with unsteady hands. "Last night, he showed me what he wants. Not just to use me as an anchor to the physical world. He wants to trap me in the dream realm permanently, keep me there as his... companion."
"His prisoner, you mean."
"Yeah." The word came out as barely more than a whisper. "He says I'll be safe there, that I won't have to worry about hurting anyone I care about. Just him and me, for eternity, in a world where he has complete control."
"And what did you tell him?"
"That I'd rather die than spend eternity as his captive." Kaia's voice grew stronger. "But he just laughed and said I wouldn't have a choice much longer. That Halloween night, the barriers between worlds will be thin enough for him to pull me across permanently."
Miriam leaned forward, her weathered face creased with concern. "Sweet girl, you can't face this alone. Have you told Elias about the sleepwalking?"
"Some of it. But I don't want him to feel like he has to babysit me every night. He's already doing so much, giving up sleep to watch over me."
"That's what people do when they love someone," Miriam said gently. "They sacrifice comfort for the other person's safety without keeping score."
"But how do you know when you're asking too much? When your problems become too big a burden for someone else to carry?"
"Oh, honey." Miriam's smile held decades of hard-won wisdom. "Love isn't about burden sharing. It's about problem solving together. When you truly care for someone, theirstruggles become your struggles, not because you have to but because you want to."
"You sound like you speak from experience."
"Forty-three years of marriage to a man who could shift into a seven-foot grizzly bear when he was cranky." Miriam's eyes sparkled with fond memory. "Henry had his own demons, believe me. PTSD from his military service, nightmares that would shake the whole house. But we figured it out together."
"I didn't know you were married to a shifter."
"Most folks around here don't advertise their supernatural connections to newcomers. Takes time to build that kind of trust." Miriam refilled both their teacups with practiced grace. "But Henry and I, we understood each other. Both of us carrying scars from our past, both of us looking for a place to belong."
"How did you know he was the one?"
