Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Going With the Legion

So much for the “three-minute man”… This feels deadly.
That was the last clear thought in Gillian’s mind. She was completely wrecked.
The synthetic roses on the floor had bloomed fully. They filled the room with a heavy, sweet scent.
A small petal had shed its outer layer, shyly revealing its stamen. Clusters of blossoms were packed tight. Some of the delicate petals were already crushed and fallen.
Crimson petals, caught in a draft, tumbled and swirled through the air. The breeze pushed them against the table edge and over the bedsheets—relentless.
It kept going until even the brightest petals were crushed and mangled beyond recognition.
Finally, the air stilled. One petal landed on the white cleric’s robe. Fresh sap stained the fabric in vivid, overlapping layers.
Before she passed out, a dangerous, predatory gleam flashed in those deep eyes.
Did I just bond with someone dangerous…?
*****
The beastmen of the 9th Legion were stationed year-round in Wasteland City. They only came back for one month a year.
As they put it, it was to “take care of personal business.” But any female with half a brain wouldn’t follow the legion back to their post.
Wasteland City was the worst place on the entire Outer Planet. It was practically a barren wasteland. Vicious creatures overran it.
Females who bonded with 9th Legion soldiers got a big settlement and the legion’s protection. Even with that, nobody wanted to go.
Rumor had it that no cleric had joined the legion in three years. And not a single female had volunteered to follow them for a full year.
In her past life, after that bonding, Gillian never saw that beastman again.
The 9th Legion got urgently recalled to Wasteland City that same day.
Once she had the military marriage certificate, the beastmen chasing her vanished without a trace.
Gillian turned down the legion’s escort. She dragged her broken body home alone.
A month later, news hit: the entire 9th Legion had been wiped out.
And that beastman she’d neutered? He showed up at her house that very day.
Mabel tried to protect her and was brutally killed. Gillian’s primal core was shattered, her face disfigured, and she was shipped off to Wasteland City.
Only after arriving did she learn why the legion had fallen. They’d used their own bodies to form a living wall at the source of the outbreak, holding back the taint core.
By all rights, Gillian—without a primal core—should never have survived in Wasteland City. But she was pregnant. Her two children kept her alive.
The three of them struggled to get by for eight long years. Then the taint finally broke through the beastmen’s body wall.
Soon after, a well-armed band of space pirates showed up. They burned and killed everything in their path.
Her children died one after another, protecting her until the end. They were just her little babies—so small, so good. They never knew a moment of peace.
Now, fate had given her a second chance. This time, she’d protect everyone she loved.
“Gillian, sweetie, don’t cry,” Mabel said softly. She dabbed her tears away. “Tell me who did this! I’ll make him pay, even if it costs me everything!”
Seeing Gillian’s red, swollen eyes filled Mabel with a murderous rage.
Gillian remembered. In her last life, she’d been too ashamed to tell Mabel the truth. Mabel had called the authorities and stormed the Cleric Academy.
The fight left Mabel so angry she suffered a stroke. By the time the academy sent her home, she’d lost the ability to speak.
An official inquiry was forced open, but before any verdict was reached, Gillian had already been “dealt with.”
“Grandma, I’m okay. He saved me. The one who tried to hurt me… didn’t get what he wanted,” Gillian said firmly. She’d take her own revenge.
She looked Mabel dead in the eye. “I crossed a beastman from the Grayson family. I neutered him. We need to leave, fast. We have to go before they figure out what happened and come for us.”
“Neutered?” Mabel gasped.
Even she knew the Graysons basically ran Goldspine City. Hardly anyone could stand up to them. If Gillian had neutered one of theirs, retaliation was a given.
“Yes. By his clothes, he was probably someone important. Maybe even the heir.”
“Good! Serves him right! Let’s go, now!” Mabel spat, grinding her teeth.
Heir or not, anyone who hurt her granddaughter got what they deserved.
But a problem lingered. “Gillian, where can we even go?”
They couldn’t afford a ticket off-planet. Not even if they sold every last thing they owned.
“Grandma, I’ll join as a military dependent. I’m going to Wasteland City with the 9th Legion.” It was the only way out of this mess.
“The 9th Legion?” Mabel shot to her feet, shocked.
The man she bonded with is from the 9th Legion? Going to Wasteland City is no joke. Conditions there are horrific. My poor girl. No. She can’t go.
Mabel asked, “Can’t you… get a divorce?”
“We formed a core bond. The only way to break it is if one of us dies.”
Gillian thought of the beast-shape sleeping in her core. It was an unchangeable fact.
“A core bond?” Mabel’s blood ran cold.
A normal marriage allowed one to walk away. A core bond was the highest form of marital contract—breakable only by death.
Those beasts wanted to turn her into their puppet!
“Don’t talk about dying,” Mabel said. Her face hardened with resolve. “A 9th Legion beastman? Fine. We don’t back down from anyone. We’ll go.”
Gillian was already a level 2 cleric. For someone her age, level 1 was exceptional. Level 2 was exactly why they’d targeted her.
By Capital Planet rules, if she reached level 3 before 25, she’d get a free starliner ticket. It was worth over ten million coins. She’d been so close to a safe, normal future.
Mabel couldn’t help but ache inside. It’s my fault. I couldn’t protect her.
Right now, joining the legion was the best choice. It was just the two of them. Leaving would be simple.
Gillian said, “Grandma, the 9th Legion leaves tonight. Pack only the essentials. We leave now. We might never come back.”
“So soon? How do you know that?” Mabel asked.
Gillian lied smoothly, “My beastmate told me. He’s already left with the legion. Please, hurry.”
Mabel was surprised he’d share that. At least he thinks of her.
“Alright, I’ll be quick,” she said, hurrying off to pack.
Gillian rubbed her temples. She didn’t know why she’d been reborn. Maybe it was because of Asher and the taint.
Her headache faded. It was replaced by the memory of being dragged to that Grayson beastman’s bed. The Cleric Academy was behind it all. She wasn’t the only target.
Cleric Academy students were all females with purifying psionic power. They were trained to cleanse the taint in places like Wasteland City.
But these days, the females were simply being “invited away” by powerful families. None of them were joining the legions.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one who went through something terrible.
Gillian tried to access the Cleric Academy’s StarNet, hoping to reach her classmates. Just like in her last life, her access had been revoked. All of her usual contacts were offline—every single one.
This is worse than I thought.
The academy didn’t know her power was different. It wasn’t just for purification. She could heal, too. That was how she’d woken up at the critical moment.
One never revealed their trump card. She couldn’t recall who had taught her that, but it was a rule she lived by.
Gillian pulled up the electronic deed to their house. She listed it on Fortune Auction House—the biggest platform in Void Star. She priced it 100,000 coins below market value.
It sold instantly. She’d known it would. The site was full of bargain hunters. She used to be one of them. She’d scour for deals to help make ends meet.
The auction house owner was rumored to be a big shot from the Capital Planet. He was someone even the Graysons couldn’t touch.
Trading there kept her account safe. Even though the fee was a steep one percent.
After fees, 800,000 coins hit her account. With her savings, she had 1.2 million total.
She didn’t waste time sitting on the money. She pulled up a map of Wasteland City. Her eyes traced the bleak, familiar terrain.
Wasteland City got its name from the vast areas ruined by the taint. No one knew where the taint had come from.
It had appeared a century ago. It spread fast, infecting the planet and killing countless beastmen.
The military sent half a million troops, built a defensive line, and contained the taint. They also established the Wasteland City settlement.
After that, females with Five Elements Power had emerged. They led to the five Elemental Cities: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.
In her past life, after having her babies and losing her core, she’d only survived because her kids had protected her.
They’d wandered all over the city. They barely scraped by.
“Wilder Peak,” Gillian murmured.
She stared at the lonely, jagged mountain on the map. It looked barren, dark, and sharp. Its rock was nearly turned to black iron by the taint. But underneath, there was a blackstone vein.
A piece of blackstone the size of a child’s fist could boost a level 1 cleric to level 2.
This stuff was buried deep under Wasteland City’s hard ground, covered by a thick layer of isolation soil. It was impossible for most to find.
Her son Elias had used his power to blow open the mountain, drawing the pirates away. That was how they’d finally found it. But by then, it had already been too late. The pirates had surrounded Wasteland City, leaving them no way to escape.
Now she was sure the 9th Legion had been wiped out over those blackstone veins.
If she bought Wilder Peak now, mined the blackstone, and used it to reach level 9, she could protect her family. This was their key to survival.
She tapped the screen and bought Wilder Peak, along with a thousand acres of surrounding flatland.
The 1.2 million coins vanished in an instant. That would only buy a tiny apartment in Goldspine City.
It stung to spend it all. But thinking about the blackstone vein made her wish she could fly to Wasteland City right then.