The Stoneback Direwolf moved first.
One moment it stood between the trees, its massive body lowered and its amber eyes fixed on the hunting party.
The next, it was already charging.
Kael had watched combat demonstrations before.
He had seen recordings of Beast Masters fighting monster tides.
He had spent countless evenings watching guild hunters spar in Greenriver’s training grounds.
In every one of those situations, he’d thought he understood how fast monsters could move.
He didn’t.
The Direwolf crossed half the clearing before Kael’s mind caught up with his eyes.
“BACK!” Rowan’s shout broke through the shock.
One of the veteran hunters slammed his palm against the ground.
A contract mark flashed.
“Ironclaw!” Something enormous crashed into the Direwolf from the side.
The impact shook the clearing.
An Ironclaw Bear, nearly three meters tall when standing, wrapped its forelimbs around the wolf’s armored shoulders.
Its claws scraped across stone plates, throwing sparks.
The Direwolf twisted.
Its jaws closed around the bear’s shoulder.
CRUNCH.
The sound went through Kael.
That wasn’t like watching a recording.
The smell of blood hit him.
The Ironclaw Bear roared.
Its Beast Master didn’t stand safely behind it.
The man charged.
A heavy axe appeared in his hands.
He swung directly at the Direwolf’s exposed flank.
The wolf released the bear and jumped aside.
“Bind it!” Another hunter moved simultaneously.
His Vineback Lizard slammed its tail into the ground.
Thick vines erupted from the soil.
They wrapped around the Direwolf’s hind legs.
For half a heartbeat, Kael thought that was enough.
The Direwolf flexed.
The vines snapped.
“Kael!” Someone grabbed his shoulder.
Finn.
Kael blinked.
“What?” “You stopped breathing!” Kael hadn’t noticed.
Finn’s face was pale.
For once, there was no joke waiting behind his expression.
He was frightened too.
That helped.
Kael inhaled.
Then exhaled.
His heartbeat steadied.
“Stay close.” “That was already the plan.” Thunder stood in front of Finn.
The White Lightning Tiger cub’s fur had puffed outward until he looked twice his normal size.
Tiny arcs of electricity crackled across his body.
His legs were trembling.
He didn’t retreat.
Kael looked upward.
His own companion had vanished.
For one terrible second, panic struck him.
Then he felt it.
Calm.
Focused.
Above.
Kael raised his eyes.
The Facehugger was crawling upside down along a thick branch.
No sound.
No hesitation.
Its pale body almost disappeared among patches of gray bark.
It wasn’t afraid.
It was hunting.
The Stoneback Direwolf lunged again.
Rowan moved.
Kael had seen his father work.
He had seen him repair fences, carry grain, and occasionally spar with local hunters.
He had never seen this.
Rowan stepped directly toward the Direwolf.
A short spear slid from the weapon harness across his back.
The wolf’s claws came down.
Rowan wasn’t there anymore.
He twisted beneath the strike and drove the butt of his spear into the side of its front leg.
The Direwolf stumbled.
The Ironclaw Bear hit it again.
Kael stared.
His father hadn’t summoned a beast.
He was fighting personally.
And he wasn’t slowing the hunters down.
“Your father is terrifying,” Finn whispered.
Kael couldn’t disagree.
A screech erupted behind them.
Kael spun.
A small gray shape dropped from a nearby bush.
A Razor Mink.
The battle had probably driven it from hiding.
It didn’t attack Kael.
It went for Finn.
“Behind you!” Finn turned too slowly.
Thunder didn’t.
The tiger cub exploded forward.
Electricity flashed.
Thunder collided with the Razor Mink in midair.
Both beasts rolled across the ground.
“THUNDER!” Finn charged after them.
The mink slashed.
Thunder twisted away, but one claw grazed his shoulder.
Finn’s face changed.
Fear disappeared.
“You little—” He grabbed the training spear strapped to his pack.
The Razor Mink lunged again.
Finn thrust.
Missed completely.
His momentum carried him forward.
“Whoa—” Thunder released a burst of electricity.
Finn happened to be touching the spear.
The shock traveled straight into him.
“AAAAH!” Kael nearly forgot they were in danger.
Finn’s hair stood upright.
He stared at Thunder.
“I’m on your side!” Thunder snarled at the Razor Mink.
“Right.
Complaints later.” The mink attacked again.
This time Finn didn’t thrust.
He blocked.
Its claws struck the wooden shaft.
Thunder darted beneath Finn’s arm and bit into the creature’s hind leg.
The Razor Mink shrieked.
Finn shoved forward.
Thunder pulled.
Together, they threw it sideways.
It hit a tree and didn’t rise.
Finn stood there breathing heavily.
His hands shook.
Thunder limped toward him.
Finn immediately dropped his spear.
“You’re hurt.” He knelt.
The wound wasn’t deep.
Thunder licked his face.
Finn wrapped both arms around him.
“We were incredible.” Thunder looked exhausted.
“Mostly incredible.” Despite himself, Kael smiled.
Then something slammed into the ground nearby.
The Direwolf.
The battle wasn’t over.
“Kael!” Rowan shouted.
“Stay focused!” “Right!” The Stoneback Direwolf threw the Ironclaw Bear away.
Its attention shifted toward one of the hunters.
The man had fallen.
The Direwolf lunged.
Kael felt his companion move.
The Facehugger dropped.
Not jumped.
Dropped.
Straight toward the Direwolf’s head.
Its limbs spread.
Kael’s stomach tightened.
He knew what it wanted.
Host.
“Not yet!” The command crossed their bond.
The Facehugger twisted in midair.
Instead of covering the wolf’s face, its tail snapped around one ear while four limbs caught the exposed fur beneath an armored plate.
The Direwolf went berserk.
It shook its head violently.
The Facehugger held on.
The fallen hunter rolled away.
Rowan attacked.
His spear struck the Direwolf’s rear leg.
The wolf twisted toward him.
The Facehugger released at exactly the right moment.
It flew away, caught a tree trunk, and disappeared upward.
One of the hunters stared.
“What kind of beast is that?” Kael didn’t answer.
He was wondering the same thing.
It had understood.
More than understood.
It had changed its own attack despite every instinct telling it to claim the Direwolf.
Kael felt pride through their bond.
Wild pride.
He smiled.
“Show-off.” A pulse came back.
Kael almost laughed.
Then he noticed something.
The Direwolf was favoring its rear leg.
Rowan’s strike had reopened an earlier wound.
Its front right leg was compensating.
And whenever it turned sharply…
There.
A narrow gap between two stone plates.
Kael looked around.
A short spear lay beside the fallen hunter.
He grabbed it.
Rowan saw him.
“Kael!” “I see an opening!” “Don’t—” The Direwolf turned.
Kael ran.
His heart hammered so hard it hurt.
The creature seemed enormous up close.
Too enormous.
Every sensible instinct told him to stop.
He didn’t.
The Ironclaw Bear attacked from the left.
The Direwolf twisted.
The gap opened.
Kael thrust.
The spearhead struck the exposed joint.
Not deep.
Not enough to seriously injure it.
Enough.
The Direwolf’s leg buckled.
Kael released the spear and threw himself backward.
A claw passed close enough that he felt the wind against his face.
Then Rowan was there.
His father struck the same joint.
The Direwolf crashed onto one knee.
“Move!” Kael scrambled away.
Rowan didn’t praise him.
There wasn’t time.
But as he passed…
He nodded once.
That was enough.
The hunters attacked together.
For several seconds, it seemed finished.
Then Finn shouted.
“Kael!” Kael looked.
The wound he’d made was closing.
Slowly.
But unmistakably.
Torn flesh knitted together.
Blood flow slowed.
Even the wound on its flank had begun shrinking.
“Regeneration,” one hunter cursed.
The Facehugger’s excitement surged.
Kael felt it.
Armor.
Strength.
Speed.
Senses.
And now regeneration.
Perfect.
The Direwolf rose.
Its stone plates began changing.
They thickened.
Spread.
Its breathing became harsher.
The hunter leading the party went pale.
“Berserk state!” The wolf roared.
Then charged.
Not at Rowan.
Not at the Ironclaw Bear.
Finn.
Perhaps it sensed the weakest target.
Perhaps Thunder’s lightning had drawn its attention.
It didn’t matter.
Finn froze.
Thunder stepped in front of him.
The tiger cub was tiny compared to the Direwolf.
Finn looked down.
Then did something Kael would remember for years.
He pushed Thunder behind him.
Finn raised his training spear.
His hands were shaking violently.
“Come on, then.” “FINN!” Kael ran.
He wasn’t fast enough.
Neither was Rowan.
But something else was.
The Facehugger launched from the canopy.
Kael hadn’t commanded it.
It simply moved.
Finn mattered to Kael.
Somewhere during the short time since its birth, the creature had understood that.
The Facehugger struck the Direwolf’s head.
Eight limbs spread.
Its body slammed over the wolf’s face.
The Direwolf stumbled.
Its jaws snapped wildly.
The Facehugger’s tail whipped around its throat.
Kael felt the instinct explode through their bond.
Not a suggestion.
Not hunger.
Purpose.
HOST.
Its limbs began tightening.
Kael understood what was about to happen.
This was what it had wanted from the beginning.
The perfect host.
Right there.
One command from him.
And yet the Direwolf was still thrashing.
Still dangerous.
One wrong movement could crush his companion.
“WAIT!” The Facehugger froze.
Everyone saw it.
The Direwolf continued shaking its head.
The creature clinging to its face didn’t move.
Every biological instinct screamed through Kael’s mind.
Need.
Complete.
Implant.
Yet…
It waited.
For him.
Kael’s fear vanished.
He looked at the blinded Direwolf.
Then at the hunters.
“Don’t kill it!” The guild leader stared at him.
“What?” “Take it alive!” “Have you lost your mind?” Rowan looked at Kael.
Their eyes met.
Kael didn’t explain.
He couldn’t.
Not here.
“Please.” Rowan hesitated only a moment.
Then turned.
“Bind the rear legs!” The hunters responded.
The Vineback Lizard slammed both forelegs down.
Vines erupted.
The Ironclaw Bear threw its weight against the Direwolf.
Thunder recovered and released a crackling bolt into its injured leg.
Finn, still pale, grabbed his spear.
Kael recovered the fallen weapon.
Father and son moved together.
One strike.
Then another.
Not killing blows.
Joints.
Legs.
Balance.
The Direwolf fought.
Roared.
Bit through vines.
Tore apart roots.
But it couldn’t see.
The Facehugger never released its head.
Finally, the Ironclaw Bear slammed both paws into its shoulders.
The Direwolf collapsed.
Reinforced vines wrapped around every leg.
More restraints followed.
The beast struggled once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
Silence returned.
Finn sat down.
Not gracefully.
He simply dropped onto his backside.
Thunder collapsed beside him.
Finn stared at the sky.
“I have reconsidered my career.” Kael laughed breathlessly.
“Already?” “I think accounting sounds wonderful.” Thunder licked his hand.
Finn looked at him.
“Fine.
Beast Master first.
Accounting as backup.” Kael approached the Direwolf.
The Facehugger released it.
The pale creature crawled across the stone armor and onto Kael’s waiting arm.
It was trembling.
Kael could feel why.
The Direwolf lay before them.
Alive.
Strong.
Regenerating even now.
He remembered Rowan’s answer.
Adaptability.
Kael looked at the Facehugger.
Then at the Direwolf.
Strength.
Speed.
Armor.
Endurance.
Predatory senses.
Regeneration.
Whatever his companion needed a host for…
If the host truly mattered…
Kael had made his choice.
He placed his hand against the Facehugger.
“This one.” The reaction was immediate.
Joy wasn’t the right word.
Triumph came closer.
The Facehugger’s tail curled tightly around his wrist.
Then it tried to move toward the Direwolf.
Kael caught it.
“Not here.” Confusion.
“We don’t know what happens afterward.” The creature resisted slightly.
Kael shook his head.
“Tonight.” Reluctantly, it settled.
Transporting the Stoneback Direwolf required an argument.
The guild hunters wanted to kill it and harvest the valuable materials.
Kael wanted it alive.
Eventually Rowan negotiated an agreement.
The Direwolf had been captured partly because of Kael’s beast, and the Ashborne family would compensate the hunters for their share of its materials.
Finn heard the amount.
He nearly fainted a second time.
“You could buy so much food with that.” Kael looked at him.
“That’s your concern?” “It’s always my concern.” By sunset, the Direwolf was inside a reinforced transport cage.
The wagon rolled toward Greenriver.
Finn sat beside Kael.
Thunder slept in his lap.
Kael’s Facehugger wasn’t with him.
It sat on top of the cage.
Watching.
It had been watching for almost an hour.
Finn finally leaned closer.
“Kael.” “Hm?” “Your beast is doing that thing again.” “What thing?” “The terrifying thing.” Kael looked toward the cage.
The Facehugger’s tail slowly slipped between the bars.
The Stoneback Direwolf growled weakly.
The tail withdrew.
Finn swallowed.
“It has been staring at that wolf for an hour.” “I know.” “Do I want to know why?” Kael didn’t answer.
Because now…
He knew.
Not everything.
Not what would happen afterward.
But enough.
The host had been chosen.
The Facehugger knew it.
Kael knew it.
And as Greenriver’s walls appeared beneath the evening sky, anticipation flowed through their Soul Pact like a second heartbeat.
Tonight…
Kael Ashborne would finally give his first companion permission.
And he would discover what kind of creature he had truly brought into this world.