Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland novel Chapter 61

Chapter 61 Planted in the Garden

Chapter 61 Planted in the Garden

+10 Free Coms

Merrick couldn’t explain it, but the second he laid eyes on Tristan, he wanted to bury him in the dirt.

Tristan panicked. “Merrick, let me out of here! It’s me, Tristan!”

Tristan, huh? Merrick’s eyes brightened at the name, and he shoveled on another scoop of dirt. He had the right guy after all.

Tristan’s protest died on his tongue.

A wave of irritation rolled through Gillian. Right now, these two were the last faces she wanted to see.

Gillian fixed Tristan with a cold stare.

“What are you even doing here? I told your brother not to dump you on me. You eat like a horse and shed like crazy. A real nightmare to keep around.”

Tristan bristled. “You! Y’think I wanted to come here? It was your grandma who…”

“My grandma? Major Lawson, you’d better watch where you point that mouth.”

The smell of meat pie wafted off Tristan’s fur, and a flicker of menace crossed Gillian’s eyes.

“If your grandma hadn’t agreed to my brother’s deal, he wouldn’t have dumped me here. You think I wanna be here? I’m a major, Gillian. Don’t act like I’m a charity case.”

“Yeah? Well, he’s the commander, and that makes me the commander’s wife.”

Gillian wasn’t in the mood to bicker, but her palm was itching to swing.

She raised her hand, and a sharp slap cracked across Tristan’s face.

Several patchy tufts of fur that were still clinging on went flying.

“Hsss, Gillian, you actually slapped me!”

Tristan was stunned. The slap barely stung, but the humiliation hit him like a truck.

“You bet I did!”

Before Gillian could swing again, a flash of steel cut through the air.

Merrick swung a shovel from out of nowhere and slammed it down. Tristan’s fox-head was driven straight into the dirt with a thud that made Gillian wince just hearing it.

Heh. So that was why she had heard someone yelping a minute ago. Merrick had been the one laying into

him.

Tristan had it coming.

1

1/4

|||

O

r

10:55 Wed, Jun 3 M.

Chapter 61 Planted in the Garden

“Tsk. Merrick, finish burying him.”

Gillian’s voice came out almost tender, but it sent a chill straight through Tristan.

“Gillian, you wouldn’t dare!”

Gillian didn’t bat an eye. She raised a hand and pointed at his muzzle.

+10 Free Coms

“That grease on your mouth, that’s from a chicken pie, right? Polished it off and didn’t even bother wiping your face?

“My grandma’s getting up there in years, and she still cooked for you in the middle of the night. Not even a thank-you. Is this how the Lawson family raises its kids? How are you any different from those animals over in Goldspine? Merrick, keep shoveling!”

“Wait, Merrick, c’mon, don’t… ptui, ptui, ptui!”

Watching Merrick dutifully shovel dirt over Tristan until he was completely buried in the pit, Gillian finally felt her mood start to lift.

Merrick turned around, his whole face begging to be praised, but the thought of Elara surfaced in Gillian’s mind, and a sour edge of irritation rose on its own.

It felt like she had stepped between two people without meaning to.

Gillian quietly opened her wrist terminal and switched over to her chat with Freya.

Her last message was still sitting there, unread response and all.

Just as she had suspected, something was off.

She fired off another message to Freya. “Didn’t you say the beastmen in the matching pool were all unattached hotshots? How did I get set up with one who already has a girlfriend?”

Tristan couldn’t stand seeing Gillian look the least bit pleased. From under the dirt, he yelled, “He married you and didn’t even throw a wedding. How into you can he possibly be? Wait till Elara gets back. See if Merrick doesn’t kick you to the curb!”

“God, you’re loud. Bet your genetic flaw is being a hothead, huh?”

Gillian scooped up a ladle of water, poured it straight into the fox-pit, walked over, and stomped the soil flat. Only then did the burn in her chest start to fade.

She turned with the bucket in hand and walked to the strip where she had just planted carrot seeds.

She wasn’t about to let those two headaches throw off her work.

Her hand slipped into the bucket.

With a gentle flick of her wrist, gold light spilled down from her fingers.

O

2/4

10:55 Wed, Jun 3 M.

Chapter 61 Planted in the Garden

Countless droplets of water sank into the dry earth.

Merrick kept nodding. “Pretty.”

• 10 Free Cams

Tristan’s muffled voice traveled up through the dirt as he scrambled to dig his way out. “Merrick, pretty my ass! Are you sober yet or not? Get me outta here!”

Another swing of the shovel was Tristan’s welcome, slamming the head he had just dug free fight back into the soil.

“Shut up. Sit tight. Don’t move.”

Rage hit Tristan so hard his vision blacked out, and he passed out cold.

A little dirt over him was hardly fatal; he would catch a chill at worst.

Gillian took a few steps away, then her temper got the better of her. She pulled up the clip her wrist terminal had just recorded, snipped out the part with Tristan buried headfirst, and fired the footage off to Lucian.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify