Page 46 of The Right to Bear Claws
"It's too risky," Lucien finished. "A forced claiming could shatter what's left of her consciousness completely."
Elias looked down at Kaia's peaceful face, noting the way her breathing remained steady even though her eyes showed no sign of awareness behind their closed lids. She looked like she was sleeping, except for the complete absence of the dreams that usually flickered across her features.
"She's fighting," he said quietly. "Whatever's happening in the dream realm, she's not giving up. I can feel it."
"Then we don't give up either," Magnus said firmly. "We set up proper protection around this area, establish shifts so someone's always watching over her, and we research every possible solution until we find one that works."
"I'll take first watch," Elias said, already settling more comfortably beside Kaia's still form. "And second watch, and third watch, and however many it takes until she comes home."
"You can't stay awake indefinitely," Miriam pointed out.
"Watch me."
The older woman studied his face, reading the stubborn determination written in every line of his body. "All right. But you eat the food I bring you, you accept help when it's offered, and you remember that she's going to need you strong when she wakes up."
"When she wakes up," Elias repeated. "Not if. When."
As the sun climbed higher over Moonmirror Lake, Hollow Oak's supernatural community rallied around their newest member with the kind of fierce loyalty that had protected the town for generations. Ward stones were placed in protective circles, medical equipment was set up in a nearby tent, and a rotation of guards was established to ensure Kaia's physical form would never be left unprotected.
But in the middle of it all sat Elias, holding his mate's hand and willing her to find her way back to him across whatever dark realms she was fighting through.
"Come back to me," he whispered against her cold fingers. "Whatever you're facing in there, you don't have to face it alone. Come back to me, and we'll figure out the rest together."
The wind chimes in town sang their protective melodies, but here by the lake, the only sound was Elias's steady heartbeat and his quiet, desperate prayers that love would be strong enough to guide her home.
22
KAIA
The nightmare version of Hollow Oak was perfect in all the worst ways.
Every building stood exactly where it should, every street curved with familiar precision, but the warm golden light that usually bathed the town had been replaced by something cold and harsh. The cheerful Halloween decorations hung like accusatory fingers, pointing at her with silent condemnation.
"Welcome home," Tobias said, his voice echoing from everywhere and nowhere as Kaia stood in the center of the town square. "Though I suppose it was never really your home, was it? Just another place where you pretended to belong."
"This isn't real," she said, but her voice sounded small and uncertain even to her own ears. "This is just another dream."
"Is it? Look around, little dreamwalker. See how accurately I've recreated your precious sanctuary."
The door to the Griddle & Grind opened, and Twyla emerged with her usual graceful step. But when she looked at Kaia, her wheat-colored hair seemed duller, her dancing eyes flat with disappointment.
"I should have known," Twyla said, her musical voice carrying an edge of hurt. "The moment you walked into my café, I felt the darkness clinging to you. But I ignored my instincts, thought maybe this time would be different."
"Twyla, please?—"
"Please what? Please forgive me for bringing a nightmare creature to our doorstep? Please understand that my selfishness might destroy everyone I care about?" Twyla's expression turned cold. "I welcomed you with open arms, gave you my best tea, treated you like family. And this is how you repay that kindness?"
"I left to protect you! I left because I love you all too much to?—"
"You left because you're a coward," Maeve's voice cut through her protests. The lioness shifter stepped out of the Silver Fang Tavern, her short black hair gleaming under the nightmare light. "Too scared to fight for what you claimed to want, too weak to trust the people who offered to stand with you."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?" Miriam appeared from the inn, her silver hair no longer neat but wild with distress. Behind her half-moon spectacles, her kind eyes were red with tears. "I opened my home to you, treated you like the daughter I never had. And you repaid me by running away in the middle of the night like a common thief."
"I left a note?—"
"You left a lie." The Tansley brothers emerged from the Hollow Mercantile, their weathered faces hard with betrayal. "Pretty words about protection and sacrifice, when what you really did was abandon us to clean up the mess you made."
