Page 55 of The Right to Bear Claws
"No, you're not," Elias confirmed, his thrusts becoming more urgent as his own release approached. "You're gifted. You're powerful. You're exactly who Hollow Oak needs you to be."
"I'm exactly who you need me to be," she added, meeting his eyes in the moment before climax claimed them both.
The orgasm that crashed over her was unlike anything she'd ever experienced—not just physical pleasure, but a complete rewiring of her understanding of herself. She was light and power and love given form, connected to Elias in ways that transcended the physical realm entirely.
He came with a roar that echoed his bear, his cock pulsing inside her as he found his own release. The sound was wild and primal and absolutely perfect, a claiming that had nothing to do with dominance and everything to do with love freely given and received.
In the aftermath, the golden light around them had grown brighter, more stable, as if their union had strengthened the very fabric of their sanctuary.
"I understand now," Kaia said quietly, tracing patterns on Elias's chest with her fingertips. "Running away didn't protect anyone. It just gave Tobias more power over my fears."
"And now?"
"Now I know that my gift isn't a curse or a burden. It's meant to help people, to protect them from things like him." She lifted her head to meet his gaze. "I can't keep trying to hide from what I am."
"What are you?" he asked, though she could see in his eyes that he already knew.
"I'm a dreamwalker. A guardian of sleep and visions. Someone who stands between nightmares and the people I love." She smiled, feeling lighter than she had in years. "I'm someone who belongs in Hollow Oak, with you, using my abilities to help instead of running from them."
"There's my brave mate," he said with obvious pride, pulling her up for a kiss.
"I'm ready to face him," she said when they broke apart. "Not because I'm not afraid, but because some things are worth being afraid for."
Around them, the golden clearing pulsed with renewed strength, ready to carry them forward into whatever came next.
27
ELIAS
The transformation in Kaia was unmistakable. Where before she'd moved through the dream realm with careful uncertainty, now she walked with purpose, her dreamwalker abilities no longer something to fear but tools to be wielded with confidence. Elias could feel the change in her through their connection, a steady brightening that made his bear as satisfied as he could be.
"The source is deeper," she said, her violet eyes scanning the golden clearing with new understanding. "I can feel him pulling energy from something ancient, something that's been festering in the darkest part of this realm for a very long time."
"How deep are we talking?" Elias asked, already knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.
"To the foundation of his power. To whatever trauma first trapped him here." She turned to face him, her expression serious but no longer afraid. "It's going to be dangerous, Elias. The closer we get to his core, the more desperate he'll become."
"Then we face it together." He took her hand, feeling the warmth of her skin even in this place between worlds. "Lead the way."
The journey toward Tobias's source of power took them through landscapes that defied description. Forests where the trees were made of crystallized screams, rivers that flowed backward through time, mountains that shifted like living things in response to their presence. But with each step, Elias could sense they were getting closer to something fundamental, something that had been hidden for centuries beneath layers of corruption and fear.
"There," Kaia said, pointing toward what looked like a massive structure rising from the center of the realm. But as they approached, Elias realized it wasn't a building at all, it was a cocoon of sorts, woven from shadows and nightmares and held together by pure desperation.
"Jesus," he breathed. "What is that thing?"
"His prison," she said softly. "And his sanctuary. The place where he retreated when the world became too painful to bear."
Tobias's voice reached them from within the structure, but it sounded different now. Less controlled, more raw with old pain.
"You shouldn't have come this far," he called out, his words echoing strangely in the thick air. "This is not a place for the living, for those who still carry hope in their hearts."
"Maybe that's exactly why we needed to come," Kaia replied, stepping closer to the shadow-cocoon despite Elias's protective instincts urging caution. "You've been alone here for so long, feeding on fear because you forgot what anything else tasted like."
"I chose solitude over betrayal. I chose isolation over the risk of being destroyed again by those who claimed to love me."
"You chose survival," Elias said, understanding beginning to dawn. "But surviving isn't the same as living."
The cocoon pulsed with agitated energy. "What would you know about it, bear shifter? What would either of you knowabout being gifted in a world that sees difference as disease, power as threat?"
