We’ve talked about the Wildwalkers.
You’ve met their beasts.

Today’s 20 Days of Darkborn goody is a sneak peek from Soulbound, featuring Arless and Kael, the Barrow Wolf.

And because Ari is Ari, simply seeing a Wildwalker isn’t enough.
She wants to fight one.

___

We reach the shelf of stone, where the mountain opens into a jagged stretch of solid ground. Thorne, Sylas, Lucian, and I spent many days up here when we first turned, separating ourselves from the lure of heartbeats in Rockhavn.
"It's been a while since I came up here," I tell Kael and take in the broken agate jutting from the snow like shattered bones.
He peers over the cliff, what lies below lost to storm and shadow.
"Scared yet?" I ask.
He lifts his brow. "I admit, if you do mean to kill me, this would be the place."
My grin widens as I tug my fitted vest down and flex my hands. Snowflakes land in my lashes and I blink them away, drawing both of my short blades. "I only mean to see what Lucian's new vessel, and Loki's champion, is made of." I can't help the acidic tinge in my tone.
Kael's dark eyes brighten with a realization of some kind. "I see." He unsheathes his sword from his back.
"Sylas and Lucian know you well," I explain. "I thought, after today, I might know you better, too."
He discards his cloak with a nod, though I barely give him time to breathe before I strike.
Kael moves faster than I expect, twisting out of reach as one of my blades slices the air. He doesn't have Lucian's bulk or Thorne's brutal mass. He is something wilder, and he moves like his wolf even in human skin.
I keep my full power reined in, but I admit I am not gentle when I attack again, harder this time. He blocks, then ducks beneath my second blade. He rolls as I spin around and comes up in a crouch with his sword aimed at me. It slashes toward my thigh, but I twist away, feeling his sword score the leather.
My nostrils flare, and I drive him back over uneven stone, forcing him toward the ravine. Kael's not stronger than I am, but he reads the terrain like his wolf is ingrained in him, the way the Darkborn is ingrained in me.
I feint left, then slam my shoulder into his chest. He skids back, his boots carving through the snow, and for the first time, breath bursts from him.
"Show me," I tell him, and it sounds like an impatient command. "Show me what you really are."
Even the wind seems to draw back as everything falls silent. Kael watches me for a long moment, and then he drops his sword to the ground with a muffled thud. "As you wish, Warden." With the ease and swiftness of a man who has done this a hundred times, he undresses. And I admit, I admire his chiseled form. He is lean—built for speed and endurance rather than brute force, and every muscle is earned rather than gifted, unlike the Darkborn. Scarification marks his forearms, torso, and chest, pale brands cutting through tanned skin. A serpentine dragon climbs up his ribs. Remnants of his life and his village long since burned to ash, that Sylas told us about, I presume.
The instant his clothes are off, his bones begin to break. He makes no sounds of pain as his legs buckle beneath him and his fingers claw against the frozen stone.
I have watched the Darkborn tear through battlefields with blood on their fangs and blue fire in their eyes. I've watched people be burned alive, seen throats and spines torn from flesh, and lived through the turmoil of Hel's remaking. But I have never seen this.
Kael's shoulders wrench wider, and his spine lengthens with a crack that should make him scream, but he makes no sound. Fur ripples over his body, bone-white with a dark line down his spine, and his eyes burn luminous green. The air fills with the familiar scent of otherness. Of gods' magic.
The barrow wolf rises from the snow, almost as large as a war horse, and his head lowers, eyes leveled on me.
"That's a proper wolf," I breathe out. For the first time since my transformation, my grip tightens with a smidgen of apprehension, and it's thrilling.
The barrow wolf circles me, his breath steaming in the bitter cold, and then he lunges.

____

Of course that's Ari's reaction. 😂

🐺 THE BARROW WOLF
Wildwalker: Kael
Created by: Loki
Bone-pale fur. Luminous green eyes in battle. Nearly the size of a war horse.
And apparently an excellent sparring partner for one slightly unhinged Darkborn Warden.

🔥 QUESTION: If you could shift into one of the four Wildwalkers, which would you choose?
🐺 Barrow Wolf
🐻 War Bear
🐈‍⬛ Shadow Saber
🐦‍⬛ Storm Raven

Soulbound releases October 20, but if you're ready to keep reading, the ebook is available EARLY in my bookshop right now.

👉 READ SOULBOUND EARLY https://harleyblackwell.com/products/soulbound-the-darkborn-2-early-release-copy