Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland novel Chapter 158

Chapter 158 Blood on His Hands

Chapter 158 Blood on His Hands

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“Goes without saying. The protective dome over my territory is probably the thickest one anywhere on the

Outer Planet.”

“Is the whole dome built out of cryogold?”

“Not entirely.”

Merrick didn’t have that kind of money lying around. “I’ve got two mithril mines under my command right? To stretch the dome’s lifespan, I bought up cryogold and folded it into the mithril alloy.”

Merrick’s trillion-coin debt was nowhere close to being paid off.

Maybe the moonlight was too beautiful, because Gillian found herself wanting to open up to him.

Back in the med room earlier, when she’d asked Elara how she’d escaped as a child, Elara had pivoted the conversation and gone straight for Merrick’s past.

Elara had clearly picked the fight on purpose to steer away from her own topic.

And Merrick’s past seemed to carry its own heavy weight.

“Merrick, they said you can’t go back to Capital Planet anymore. Why is that?”

Gillian turned around to face Merrick. The tips of his hair still held a trace of damp, and his eyes, brimming with affection, registered a flicker of surprise.

“Gillian, you really want to know?”

The Griffinkin was no minor clan. On Capital Planet they counted as one of the top households. How had he ended up sentenced to the Outer Planet, stuck managing the mess that was Wasteland City? Worse than that, he’d been banned from setting foot on Capital Planet for the rest of his life. Just how big of a crime would land someone in that kind of trouble?

“In the White Griffin Arena, were those azure griffins who tried to take me down members of your clan?”

Merrick stroked the top of Gillian’s head, his voice cooling. “They’re azure griffins. I’m a black grittin. How would we share kin?”

“Wait, griffins discriminate by color too?”

Were griffins really divided up by color? Gillian had never heard that particular wrinkle before.

“Gillian.”

Merrick hadn’t expected Gillian to be this entertaining. He tucked her head into the crook of his arm and kissed her senseless.

Merrick seemed to be carrying a real hurt underneath all of it.

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Chapter 158 Blood on His Hands

Gillian’s hand fluttered up against his chest in protest.

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When he finally let her go, Gillian was a little put out. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t ask again… no need to be such a brute about it…”

“I killed someone. That’s why they shipped me down here. Does that scare you, Gillian?”

Merrick released her from his arms. A deep sorrow had settled in his eyes. Would Gillian be afraid of hig

now?

Merrick had killed someone?

Who exactly had he killed?

Faint shock surfaced in Gillian’s eyes, and panic spiked through Merrick. His broad hand rose up and covered her eyes.

“If you still want to hear it, I’ll tell you.”

Gillian’s hand came to rest over the back of his, and she pushed his palm aside.

“I do.”

Merrick tipped his head back slightly and stared up at the night sky. Gillian knew he was looking at Capital

Planet.

“My father picked the teacher who trained me. The man taught me for seven years total.”

“Why would you kill him?”

Gillian realized Merrick must have still been a minor when they’d shipped him out to the Outer Planet.

Why would a kid raise a hand against his own teacher?

“Because he wanted me dead. So I took him out before he could finish the job.”

“That’s it?”

Gillian hadn’t expected that to be the reason. “Why would your own teacher want you dead?”

“I never figured that out either. He backed me into a corner with nowhere left to run, so killing him was my only way out. By the time I came to from the injuries, every shred of evidence had been wiped clean. The fact remained that I’d taken a life. The Capital Planey courts ruled it premeditated murder and handed down the death sentence. Someone pulled strings to save me, and that’s how I ended up in Wasteland City.”

“So your teacher had accomplices in this. They wanted you dead on purpose. Merrick, have you ever stopped to think about who wanted you gone? Or who pulled you out of it?”

“I don’t know. They dumped me in Wasteland City half-dead and stripped of everything I owned. My link to Capital Planet was severed. Even after I rebuilt a few lines later on, I couldn’t bring myself to trust any of

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Chapter 158 Blood on His Hands

those people.”

If his own teacher could turn on him, there was no one left he dared to put faith in.

“Merrick, don’t be scared. You’ve got me and the kids now.”

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Gillian grasped his hand and pressed the White Griffin back into his palm. All she needed to know was that Merrick was a good commander, that he’d held Wasteland City together by sheer force of will. He was no bad man.

Merrick took the chip, and in the same motion swept her up off her feet.

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