Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland novel Chapter 156

Chapter 156 A Mother’s Work

Chapter 156 A Mother’s Work

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Gillian noticed how cold Elara’s hand felt as she took it. “Elara, you rushed all the way here because you know what this thing is, don’t you?”

Elara nodded, then shook her head.

“I don’t know exactly what it is, but I do know more than one major faction has been hunting for it.”

“Who’s been looking for it?”

“Besides the 8th Legion, there’s the Grayson family out of Goldspine City, and a handful of top households on Capital Planet. Looks like they’re all tied into this somehow.”

“Elara, who gave it to you?”

Gillian and Elara walked over to the medical counter together.

Both of their gazes settled on the cryogold box.

“It was Mom. Mom made it with her own two hands.”

Elara’s voice shook. “Gillian, when Mom and Dad died, I was actually inside that research lab.”

“You were there?”

Gillian hadn’t imagined Elara had been on site.

“Yeah, I was there. Mom and Dad and a lot of their colleagues were all working to refine this substance.”

Were they really refining the purge?

Gillian’s whole body went numb. Why would Mom and Dad have been refining the purge of all things?

Elara cast her mind back to that day.

“Twenty-five years ago, Mom took on a really unusual experiment just to keep food on the table for the two of us.

“She was so busy with it that I followed her around constantly, tucked away in the underground levels of the wastelands.

“Then, in the year I turned five, the 8th Legion came through Wasteland City with a supply run.

“Mom and Dad recognized each other on sight. They picked up the pieces between them, fell in love all over again, and then they had you. Dad stayed with us from that point on.”

“Why didn’t Grandma know about you?”

And why hadn’t Dad ever told Grandma that Elara existed?

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Chapter 156 A Mother’s Work

Merrick’s hand settled on Gillian’s shoulder.

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“Twenty-one years ago, deep in the wastelands, the taint blocked every form of communication. No message could be sent out to the Elemental Cities at all.

“The only way through was carrying word out in person.

“Six years ago, I used the White Griffin System and spent over two years building one single planet comm link, and even that one’s only strong enough for legion warships.”

“Dad said once Mom finished her experiment, he’d bring us home to meet Grandma.”

Elara’s expression softened too.

So Grandma had never known Elara existed because no word could make it out of the wastelands.

“What happened after that?”

“After that, the experiment ran into a major problem.”

Elara’s face fell into deep sadness. “I’d never seen Mom that broken down before. She wanted to stop the experiment. She put in a formal request, but her supervisor refused to sign off. Dad’s plan was to use your birth as the excuse, to get the research base to release Mom from her duties and take all of us out of there.

“But the request never came through. Someone in the lab took Mom’s failed data and pushed the experiment across the finish line without her.”

“They finished it?”

Gillian’s chest seized up.

“Yeah. The failed experiment got pulled across the finish line. After that, every person on staff was locked down. No one was allowed to leave. That’s when Mom gave birth to you.”

Gillian understood now. The catastrophe had struck not long after she’d been born.

“On a perfectly ordinary morning, Dad got up first. He stirred a bowl of low-grade nutrient blend together, with this look of utter disgust on his face. He said the supply ship had gone off course, and once the lockdown lifted, he’d take me and Mom out to Gourmaw Road for a proper meal.”

Elara’s expression turned murderous in an instant, and her voice dropped low. Time hadn’t washed her hatred out. The years had only thickened it into something darker.

“Dad never got to finish his sentence. The metal door of our quarters started corroding from the outside, and a pitch-black, fully scaled lizard came smashing through.

“Its tail drove straight through Mom and Dad’s chests. I barely managed to throw up a small ice shield around the two of us.

“The shield shattered fast under its strikes. Its tongue wrapped around my leg and pulled me into its mouth. The pain hit hard, so I shaped my ice into a blade and stabbed at the flesh inside its mouth over

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11:25 Wed, Jun 3 A.

Chapter 156 A Mother’s Work

and over. The lizard reeled in pain, went berserk, and dragged me right out of the room.”

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