Kael didn’t move.
The Facehugger remained curled in his hands, its pale limbs hanging loosely between his fingers.
He waited.
For the tail to twitch.
For one of those long fingers to tighten around his wrist.
For the familiar irritation to brush against his mind because he was holding it incorrectly.
Anything.
Nothing came.
The cavern was silent except for the slow breathing of the unconscious Stoneback Direwolf behind him.
Kael lowered his head.
Four days.
That was all.
Four days since the egg had opened.
Four days since a pale creature had launched itself toward his face and nearly scared the life out of him.
Four days since it had hissed at Finn.
Four days since it had threatened Thunder.
Four days since it had decided that sleeping on Kael’s ceiling was somehow more reasonable than using the bed.
It shouldn’t have been enough.
Four days shouldn’t have been enough to make something feel like family.
Yet the emptiness in Kael’s mind said otherwise.
The Soul Pact had always been there.
Even when he wasn’t paying attention, there had been something at the edge of his consciousness.
Alertness.
Curiosity.
Hunger.
Occasional irritation.
Now there was nothing.
Kael’s fingers tightened.
“Go.” The word returned to him.
His own voice.
His own command.
He had placed his hand on the creature’s back.
He had told it to go.
If he’d waited…
If he’d chosen another host…
If he’d refused entirely…
Kael looked toward the enormous tree visible beyond the cavern.
“Why?” The Infinite World Tree gave no answer.
No voice.
No message.
No explanation.
Its branches simply stretched endlessly through the darkness.
For the first time, Kael hated that silence.
“You gave it to me.” Nothing.
“You could at least tell me what happened.” The leaves moved faintly.
Perhaps there was wind.
Perhaps not.
Kael laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Useful.” He looked down.
The Facehugger hadn’t changed.
Kael carefully stood.
The Pocket World faded.
When he opened his eyes, he was back behind the Ashborne house.
Rowan was there.
So was Clara.
Finn sat nearby with Thunder curled against his legs.
Everyone stood when Kael appeared.
Finn opened his mouth.
Probably to make some joke about Kael taking forever.
Then he saw what Kael was carrying.
His mouth closed.
Clara approached first.
She didn’t ask.
She knew.
Kael looked at his mother.
“It’s dead.” The words sounded strange.
Too simple.
Clara gently touched the creature.
Her fingers rested against its body for several seconds.
Then she withdrew her hand.
“I’m sorry.” Kael nodded.
That was easier than answering.
Rowan looked at him.
“What happened?” “It attached itself to the Direwolf.” Kael stared at the ground.
“Exactly like it showed me.” “And then?” “It stayed there for hours.” He swallowed.
“When it came off…” Kael couldn’t finish.
Nobody pushed him.
For once, even Lily remained silent.
She stood near the back door in her nightclothes, staring at the creature she’d called adorable only a day earlier.
Finn eventually walked over.
He sat beside Kael on the wooden step.
For a while, he said nothing.
That alone told Kael how serious he was.
Then Finn sighed.
“It hated me.” Kael looked at him.
Finn stared ahead.
“Seriously.” A tiny smile touched his face.
“I think it spent half its life trying to figure out whether you would notice if I disappeared.” Kael’s lips almost moved.
Finn continued.
“Every time I got near you, that tail went up.” “It didn’t hate you.” “It absolutely hated me.” “It tolerated you.” “That’s worse.” Kael looked down at the Facehugger.
Finn’s voice became quieter.
“But…” He scratched Thunder behind the ears.
“…it saved me.” Kael remembered.
The Direwolf charging.
Finn standing in front of Thunder.
The pale blur dropping from the trees.
“It didn’t have to.” Finn shook his head.
“You didn’t tell it to.” “No.” “Then it chose.” Kael said nothing.
Finn glanced at him.
“So I liked it too.” Silence returned.
This time it didn’t feel quite as empty.
Thunder stood.
The tiger cub approached Kael cautiously.
He sniffed the Facehugger.
Then lay beside Kael’s feet.
Kael rested one hand against his head.
“Thanks.” Thunder’s tail moved once.
Rowan eventually sat on Kael’s other side.
His father didn’t offer comforting words.
He simply sat.
Kael appreciated that.
Minutes passed.
Then Kael whispered, “I killed it.” Rowan’s expression didn’t change.
“I told it to go.” “Yes.” “If I hadn’t—” “Kael.” His father’s voice stopped him.
“You can make the right decision and still lose someone.” “How was that the right decision?” “I didn’t say it was.” Kael looked at him.
Rowan met his eyes.
“Maybe it was.
Maybe it wasn’t.
You don’t have enough information to know.” “Then I shouldn’t have done it.” “Did you force your beast?” “No.” “Did it want the Direwolf?” “More than anything.” “Did it understand the danger?” Kael remembered that final emotion.
Completion.
“I think so.” “Did it trust you?” Kael looked down.
“Yes.” Rowan nodded.
“Then don’t insult that trust by pretending its choice meant nothing.” Kael’s jaw tightened.
“I was supposed to protect it.” “And it was supposed to live according to its nature.” Rowan looked toward the empty cage.
“Being someone’s partner doesn’t mean locking them somewhere safe until they die of old age.” Kael remained silent.
His father stood.
“You’ll understand that better someday.” He squeezed Kael’s shoulder.
“But it never becomes easy.” Clara interrupted quietly.
“Kael.” He looked toward her.
“The Direwolf.” For several seconds, Kael didn’t understand.
Then he remembered.
The host.
He had completely forgotten.
Kael closed his eyes.
His consciousness touched the first leaf.
The Pocket World opened before his awareness.
The Stoneback Direwolf remained unconscious.
Alive.
Breathing.
Its wounds were nearly gone.
Kael frowned.
“Alive.” Clara relaxed slightly.
“Condition?” “Sleeping.” “Breathing?” “Normally.” “Wounds?” Kael examined it through the strange connection.
“Almost healed.” Clara’s eyebrows rose.
“Already?” “Yes.” “Anything else?” Kael hesitated.
The Direwolf twitched.
Once.
Then stopped.
“Nothing I can see.” Clara nodded.
“Keep watching it.” Kael opened his eyes.
His gaze returned to the creature in his hands.
He didn’t want to keep holding it forever.
But putting it somewhere else felt worse.
Then he knew.
“I want to bury it.” Rowan nodded.
“Where?” Kael looked toward nothing.
Somewhere only he could see.
“Inside.” His father understood enough not to ask.
Kael returned to the Beast Space.
This time, he didn’t enter the Facehugger’s Pocket World.
He stood beneath the Infinite World Tree.
The scale of it should have overwhelmed him.
It didn’t.
Kael found a place among the roots beneath the first glowing leaf.
Then he started digging.
The soil was dark.
Soft.
He could probably have commanded the Beast Space somehow.
Maybe the Tree would have responded.
Kael didn’t try.
He dug with his hands.
Slowly.
Until the hole was deep enough.
Then he placed the Facehugger inside.
It looked smaller there.
Kael crouched beside it.
“I’m sorry.” The words escaped before he could stop them.
He stared.
Then Rowan’s voice returned.
Don’t insult that trust.
Kael shook his head.
“No.” He reached down one final time and touched the creature’s head.
“Thank you.” That felt better.
Not enough.
But better.
He covered the grave.
Handful by handful.
When he finished, Kael remained there for a long time.
Eventually, his gaze rose.
The leaf.
Kael frowned.
It was still green.
He stood.
That didn’t make sense.
The contract had disappeared.
His beast was dead.
Shouldn’t the leaf die?
Kael touched it.
The Pocket World appeared.
Still there.
Caverns.
Water.
Warmth.
Everything remained.
Even the strange organic formations continued slowly developing along the walls.
“Why?” Again, the Tree said nothing.
Kael waited.
Nothing changed.
Eventually, exhaustion won.
He returned home.
Finn refused to leave.
“My mother will understand.” “Will she?” “No.” Finn arranged himself in the chair beside Kael’s bed.
“But that’s tomorrow-Finn’s problem.” Thunder climbed onto his stomach.
Finn grunted.
“You’ve gotten heavier.” Thunder yawned.
Within minutes, both were asleep.
Kael wasn’t.
He lay staring at the ceiling.
The empty ceiling.
He hated it.
He hadn’t realized how accustomed he’d become to seeing the Facehugger crawling above him.
Kael turned toward the window.
Moonlight entered the room.
Hours passed.
Then— Thump.
Kael’s eyes opened.
He sat up.
Finn snored quietly.
Thunder’s tail twitched.
Kael listened.
Nothing.
He rubbed his face.
Exhaustion.
That was all.
Thump.
Kael froze.
His hand moved to his chest.
His heartbeat.
No.
Different rhythm.
Thump.
Kael stood.
The sensation wasn’t coming through his ears.
It was inside his mind.
Through something that shouldn’t exist anymore.
A thread.
Faint.
Almost impossibly faint.
Kael stopped breathing.
“Soul Pact…” Thump.
His consciousness plunged inward.
The Infinite World Tree appeared.
Kael immediately looked toward the grave.
Nothing.
The sensation wasn’t coming from there.
Thump.
He turned.
The first leaf.
Kael touched it.
The world shifted.
He appeared inside the cavern.
Thump.
Stronger.
Kael began walking.
Then running.
He followed the sensation deeper.
Around one stone formation.
Through a narrow passage.
Into the chamber where he’d left the host.
The Stoneback Direwolf lay exactly where it had been.
Kael stopped.
Thump.
His eyes widened.
“No.” He approached.
Thump.
The Soul Pact responded.
Kael’s knees nearly weakened.
He knew that feeling.
It wasn’t exactly the same.
Smaller.
Fainter.
Different.
But— “You…” He knelt beside the Direwolf.
His hand pressed against its armored chest.
THUMP.
Something answered him.
Kael jerked his hand away.
The Direwolf twitched.
Then became still.
His breathing quickened.
He looked toward its chest.
The Facehugger was buried.
He had held its body.
He had felt the contract disappear.
And yet…
Kael slowly placed his palm against the Direwolf again.
THUMP.
The Soul Pact flickered.
Warmth spread through his chest.
Hope was dangerous.
Kael knew that.
But he couldn’t stop it.
“Are you in there?” Nothing.
Then— A faint emotion.
Weak.
Primitive.
Hungry.
Kael’s eyes widened.
Not the Direwolf.
Something inside it.
Something alive.
Something connected to him.
The Soul Pact hadn’t vanished.
It had moved.
The realization hit him so hard that he almost laughed.
Completion.
That was what the Facehugger had told him.
Not goodbye.
Not death.
Completion.
The Facehugger had finished its role.
Whatever came next…
Was already here.
The Stoneback Direwolf’s eyes suddenly opened.
Kael jumped backward.
The enormous beast inhaled sharply.
Its legs tensed.
Then it froze.
A low whine escaped its throat.
Kael’s hope immediately turned to alarm.
The Direwolf looked down.
Its body stiffened.
THUMP.
Something moved beneath its chest.
Not the heartbeat.
Physically moved.
The wolf whimpered.
Kael slowly stepped backward.
“No…” The Direwolf’s chest shifted again.
Harder.
The Soul Pact suddenly flared.
The faint connection became blazing heat.
Kael grabbed his chest.
The presence he thought he’d lost flooded back.
Changed.
Young.
Hungry.
Alive.
The Direwolf released a strangled roar.
Something pushed against its armored chest from within.
Kael stared.
Fear and impossible relief collided inside him.
“What did you become?” For one heartbeat, there was silence.
Then something answered through the bond.
Not with words.
Not with understanding.
With the simplest certainty of a newborn life.
Alive.