Chapter 7: The Beast That Would Not Stop
The boar-beast thundered toward Aiden like a living battering ram.
Its hooves hammered the flooded earth, each impact sending up sprays of mud and marsh water. Its tusks—jagged crescents of bone—crackled with remnants of the lightning storm it must have fed on earlier in the day. Static pulsed along its armored hide, making its bristles stand out like metal needles.
Aiden scrambled to his feet, slipping once before catching himself on a protruding root.
He had no weapon.
No cover.
No time.
The boar-beast lowered its head.
Its tiny, furious eyes locked on him.
The ground trembled.
Move—
You HAVE to move—
Aiden dove left.
The beast tore past him, tusks skimming his cloak so closely they sliced through fabric. He hit the ground, rolled, and scrambled upright as the monster skidded, pivoted, and wheeled back around with horrifying speed.
It wasn't like the Fangback.
Wasn't slow.
Wasn't predictable.
This thing hunted by charging until everything stopped moving.
Behind the fog, Aiden heard Myra scream.
"AIDEN—!"
And Nellie—
"NO, PLEASE—!"
The sounds stabbed through him, but he couldn't look back.
The boar-beast dug its hooves into the mud and charged again.
Aiden ran.
He sprinted across the clearing toward the thicker roots and reeds, lungs burning, breath tearing through his throat. Mud sucked at his boots with every step, slowing him just enough to matter.
The beast closed the distance.
Too fast.
Too strong.
Aiden cut between two thick trees—
—and misjudged the spacing by an inch.
His shoulder slammed into the bark. Pain exploded down his arm. He stumbled—
—and the boar-beast crashed into one tree with enough force to make the trunk shudder.
Aiden rolled into the mud as bark splintered above him.
The beast shook its head, furious, sparks snapping across its tusks.
If that hit me—
I'm dead.
Instantly dead.
The creature's hooves dug into the ground, preparing its third charge.
Aiden pushed to his feet again, chest heaving, vision swimming.
He heard something else behind him—
High-pitched.
Desperate.
The pup.
It limped out of the fog, fur bristling, sparks flickering unsteadily across its small body.
"No—" Aiden gasped. "Not you—get back!"
But the wolf cub snarled at the boar-beast, electricity building faintly around its paws.
The beast turned toward it, nostrils flaring as it sensed the scent of lightning.
"Don't—!" Aiden choked out.
The boar-beast charged the pup.
The tiny creature stood its ground.
Aiden moved without thinking.
He sprinted toward the pup, grabbed it mid-lunge, and rolled behind a thick root as the boar-beast thundered past, tusks slicing the air where the pup had just been.
The wolf yelped in Aiden's arms, sparks snapping uselessly. Its injured leg shook violently.
"Idiot," Aiden muttered, voice breaking as he lowered it carefully. "Brave idiot."
The pup pressed its head weakly against his hand.
Aiden didn't understand why.
He didn't have time to.
The boar-beast circled back.
Aiden rose, placing himself between the monster and the wounded pup.
He had no weapon.
No shield.
No strength left.
His lungs burned.
His legs shook.
His heart pounded like a war drum that was about to split.
The beast stomped the ground, mud splashing high.
It lowered its tusks.
Aiden stared at the charging mass of muscle and bone and lightning.
Move.
Dodge.
Survive.
His body didn't respond.
His legs were too slow.
His breath too short.
His exhaustion too deep.
He knew, with terrible clarity—
I'm not fast enough.
The beast closed the last thirty feet.
Twenty.
Ten.
Its tusks angled straight for his chest.
This is how I die—
Again—
Aiden's mind flashed back to the subway platform.
The screaming brakes.
The boy's wrist in his hands.
The weightless second before death.
And then—
A sound ripped through the air.
A sound like thunder hitting stone.
A sound like a strike aimed not at the body—but at the soul.
Aiden felt it before he heard it.
Something burst inside him—
A pulse.
A shock.
A violent ignition of instinct he'd never felt before.
A blue-white light flared across his vision.
The System ROARED.
[CRITICAL STATE DETECTED]
[SOUL-BINDER TRAIT AWAKENING…]
[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: FORCED SYNCHRONIZATION]
[BEAST LINK: INITIATING]
Aiden gasped as lightning—not from the pup, but from HIM—crackled along his arms.
His muscles tightened.
His senses sharpened.
The world slowed.
The boar-beast's charge dropped into near-silence—its hooves pounding in drawn-out echoes, its tusks glinting in suspended motion.
Aiden didn't think.
He moved.
His body flipped left—clean, sharp, faster than he'd ever moved in either of his lives. Lightning danced across his fingers, trailing behind him like streaks of pale fire.
The boar-beast's tusks missed by inches.
But Aiden wasn't done.
The System pulsed again:
[LINK STABILIZING]
[SHARED INSTINCT CHANNEL OPEN]
And suddenly—
He felt the pup.
Not touching him.
Not speaking.
But sharing instinct.
A direction.
A weak, flickering signal.
Behind the tusk plate.
Aiden followed it.
He dove under the boar-beast's neck as it charged past, slid on his knees across the mud, grabbed a broken spear shaft from the ground, and stabbed upward with everything the surge gave him.
The jagged wood punched into the beast's unarmored throat.
The creature screamed—a horrible, gurgling roar—and stumbled forward, skidding and crashing into a tree with enough force to shake leaves loose in a shower.
For a moment—
Just a moment—
It went still.
Aiden couldn't breathe.
His hands shook violently.
Lightning flickered off his skin, fading as quickly as it came.
The System calmed:
[BEAST LINK: FRAGILE]
[INSTINCT CHANNEL: SEVERED]
[SURGE EXHAUSTION IMMINENT]
Aiden collapsed to his hands, gasping.
He had no idea what he'd just done.
Only that he was alive.
He turned, looking for the pup—
But the pup was already dragging itself toward him, limping heavily, sparks falling off its fur like dying embers.
It nudged his hand weakly.
Aiden swallowed hard. "You saved me."
The pup gave a soft, quivering yip.
Aiden reached out and stroked its head.
But behind him—
Branches cracked.
Aiden froze.
Slowly turned.
The boar-beast was rising.
Blood streamed from its throat.
But its eyes burned with a deeper, angrier light now—
a rage-fueled frenzy.
Garrik's distant voice cut through the fog—
"AIDEN, MOVE!"
He couldn't.
He was too tired.
The surge was gone.
His legs wobbled.
His hands shook.
The beast's hooves scraped mud as it staggered back into a charging stance.
"No…" Aiden whispered. "No, no—"
The boar-beast charged again.
Aiden grabbed the pup and shielded it with his body.
"Please—"
Myra's scream ripped across the marsh—
"AIDEN!"
And Nellie—
"HELP HIM!"
Aiden raised one arm, uselessly.
The beast's tusks filled his vision.
The ground shook.
A flash of silver-blue light tore down from the foggy treeline—
Something hit the boar-beast from the side.
Something fast.
Something powerful.
Something made of storm and teeth and fury.
The boar-beast flew sideways with a bone-crunching crack, slamming into a submerged stone with a spray of mud.
A shape landed between Aiden and the monster.
Not the pup.
Something bigger.
Something fully grown.
A lightning wolf.
Its fur burned silver-blue.
Its shoulders stood almost to Aiden's waist.
Its eyes pulsed with thunder.
The adult wolf snarled—
a sound so deep the fog itself shivered.
The pup staggered forward, crying softly.
The adult wolf lowered its head, nudging the pup gently before turning its gaze on the boar-beast again.
Aiden's blood ran cold.
It wasn't here to attack him.
It was here for—
The boar-beast roared and charged again.
The wolf met it head-on.
The impact shook the entire clearing.
Aiden shielded the pup as mud sprayed everywhere. Myra and Nellie broke through the fog behind him, collapsing to their knees beside him.
"Aiden!" Myra grabbed his face, checking for injuries. "You're bleeding—oh gods, you're bleeding—"
But Aiden's eyes stayed locked on the titanic struggle ahead.
Lightning arced off the wolf's fur.
Thunder cracked against the boar-beast's tusks.
The marsh shook with every impact.
Nellie whimpered. "It's… it's fighting for us."
"No," Aiden said softly.
Myra looked at him. "Then for what?"
Aiden swallowed as the System flickered one last time:
[BEAST LINK: RESONANCE DETECTED]
[UNKNOWN ENTITY: SEEKING THE CUB]
His voice trembled.
"For the pup."
The boar-beast staggered.
The lightning wolf's jaws locked around its neck.
Electricity surged in a blinding burst.
The boar-beast collapsed.
The wolf released it, panting, sparks dancing off its fur.
It turned toward Aiden.
Toward the pup.
Toward the three humans kneeling in the mud.
Its eyes locked on Aiden.
Lightning crackled.
And it stepped forward.