seth4bucks
Maybe you can do a Point of View shift and interlude of how the bond formed from the Dire Wolf's point of view to explain the process better? The wolf has a bad dream about Callum dying, and in the dream, he remembers the bonding process from his point of view.
The issue is that there seems to be a big drop off in comments after the quest, bonding, and castle. One issue that's been brought up is the 'brainwashing', so I need to clear that up in order to help retain readers past that point. I also probably rushed to the castle after his huge level ups a little too fast as well, but that's harder to fix. So I'll just work on the addressing the perceived brainwashing.