Wild beast follows party to nerve centre (8)
I believe the answer is:
ganglion
'nerve centre' is the definition.
(a group of nerve cells)
'wild beast follows party' is the wordplay.
'wild beast' becomes 'lion' (type of animal. I am not sure about the 'wild' bit.).
'follows' says to put letters next to each other.
'party' becomes 'gang' (both can mean a group of people).
'lion' after 'gang' is 'GANGLION'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ganglion that I've seen before include "A longing for group of nerve cells" , "that shows a bit of nerve" , "Collection of nerve cells" , "a group of nerve cells radiating fibres" , "Nerve centre" .)