Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland novel Chapter 207

Chapter 207 An Unknown Taint Core

Chapter 207 An Unknown Taint Core

Gillian realized she’d been shipping the wrong couple all along.

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“So Sylas followed Elara around for three years too, she murmured. “He knows her inside and out, he’s got the looks, the temperament. Sounds like the top candidate right now.”

“Why are you so set on finding someone for Elara?” Tristan asked. “She’s got plenty of lovers. She’s a regular at Elowen’s place. I heard she keeps several males.”

Back when Tristan was recovering, he’d smelled pear blossoms and male scent on Elara every single day.

“You don’t get it,” Gillian said. “The males at Elowen’s place aren’t on Sylas’ level. Sure, he’s not as strong as Maddox, but he’s… young and fresh. That alone crushes Maddox. The best way to get over heartbreak is o keep her too busy to think about that bastard.”

Gillian had woken up that morning kicking herself. She and Merrick had gone at it so hard last night, and she’d fallen asleep before he finished telling her about his history with Maddox. By the time she got up, he was already gone.

She’d have to ask him later.

By July, the sun over Wasteland City was brutal.

Gillian moved into the shade as the sun climbed higher. The warship suddenly jolted and came to a hard

stop.

Tristan flipped over. “What was that?” he asked.

A White Griffin appeared on Gillian’s shoulder. This one had blue wings and a blooming lotus flower on its head. The look was strange and beautiful at the same time.

“The display shows that taint contamination ahead is climbing. It’s hit critical levels,” the White Griffin reported. “If it goes any higher, this whole zone becomes uninhabitable. The Griffin Warship will lose navigation too.”

Gillian’s stomach clenched. She turned to the White Griffin System. “Is this shaking from a tainted beast swarm, or is a taint core going active?” she asked.

“Scanning,” the White Griffin said.

Merrick had caught the report too, and worry flickered across his face. “Gillian, check your wrist terminal. See if there’s a beast pack gathered within fifty miles.”

“On it,” Gillian said.

She got to work fast. Big beast packs were easier to spot than hunting for a taint core inch by inch. Three minutes later, the White Griffin came back with nothing.

She let out a breath. “No beast packs within fifty miles.”

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Chapter 207 An Unknown Taint Core

“Tristan, take my station,” Merrick said.

“Yes, sir”

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Merrick came straight to Gillian and checked her over from head to toe. Then he pulled a Sovereign Guard bio-armor suit over her.

“No tainted beasts moving below, but the taint concentration is sky-high,” he said. “That means an unknown taint core is active down there. I’m going to take a look and see how deep this contamination runs.”

“I’m coming with you.” Gillian gripped his hand. “Good time to test what these three wrist terminals can do.”

Merrick’s expression stayed tense. They weren’t even halfway there, and already had an unknown taint core. His gut was pounding. The taint outbreak Gillian had warned about was looking more and more likely.

“I’ll take you down, but you stay close and do what I say,” Merrick said.

“I promise,” Gillian said.

Ten minutes later, a ten-man team dropped from the Griffin Warship. They wore odd gray-white bio- armor and headed straight for the spot on their wrist terminal marked with the worst taint contamination.

Gillian studied the gray-white coating on her suit. It looked a lot like the isolation soil wrapping around the blackstone. Whoever designed this bio-armor was a genius.

“That suit holds up for three days under normal taint contamination,” Merrick said. “With levels this high, it might be shot in half a day. Everyone sync your timers. Ten of us, teams of two. If nobody finds the taint core in three hours, we all fall back to the Griffin Warship.”

“Yes, sir.”

The area near the taint’s source was dead and barren. The surging contamination had knocked out all normal wrist terminal signals. Only Gillian’s signal still cut through-the one human beacon leading the beastmen through the wasteland.

She and Merrick headed east. They were talking through their wrist terminal displays instead of out loud.

Gillian sent, “Merrick, it’s quiet here.”

Merrick asked, “Are you scared?”

Gillian replied, “No. What if we find an active taint core? It’s not far from the Naiad River.”

That was the problem. In all these years, no one had ever found a taint core this close. Merrick’s mood was heavy.

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