Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72 The Gamble

Chapter 72 The Gamble

“Don’t you want to be cured?”

“Ms. Sterling, this can actually be cured?”

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On his tanned arm, what had started as a chip the size of a fingernail had grown into a sprawling slab of black scaling, slowly creeping toward his torso.

“Looks treatable to me at this stage. Don’t worry about it.”

Gillian gave the arm one careful look and pulled her hand back.

She knew taint-induced scaling inside and out. In her past life, after Wasteland City lost its shield, the rotters had been the first to die, and the survivors were all scaled.

Her younger son, Asher, had been one of the worst cases.

Aiden did not share Gillian’s optimism. Every cleric before her had thrown up their hands at body scaling.

Did she really have some trick the rest of them didn’t?

“Can you actually cure it? Ms. Sterling, what level cleric are you? How many years have you been purging taint?”

Aiden still couldn’t shake his doubts. Gillian was so obviously young.

She looked nothing like the seasoned clerics he had dealt with before.

“Level 2 cleric. Started yesterday. Today’s my second day.”

Gillian answered Aiden without missing a beat.

She wasn’t idle while she talked, either. If she was going to cure him, she’d pull it out by the root.

She pulled up the medical inventory on her wrist terminal, scrolling for what she needed.

Nothing came up. She would have to call in outside help.

Gillian’s answer sent Aiden’s heart straight to the floor.

A level 2 cleric this young already outclassed most.

But if even Elara had no answer, how was a fresh graduate supposed to pull it off?

Her wrist terminal pinged.

The reply came back fast. What she needed would be delivered shortly.

Only then did Gillian pull up Aiden’s chart and read through it carefully.

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Chapter 72 The Gamble

He had no infectious diseases. His vitals came back across-the-board healthy.

Good. That meant she could cut straight in.

“Lieutenant Pierce, you want anesthesia?”

“No, thanks.”

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Aiden shot to his feet, disappointment all over his face. Maybe he shouldn’t go through with this after all

“Not the pain, then? You’ve changed your mind?”

A flicker of regret crossed Gillian’s eyes as she watched Aiden move to leave.

“Ms. Sterling, you’re not about to chop my arm off, are you? If that’s the plan, I’d rather not do it today.”

Losing the arm meant his discharge papers.

A bitter laugh slipped out of Aiden.

Scaling was not the same as rotting. It worked more like a second evolution forced on the infected body.

If you pried off the black scales, fresh ones would grow back in their place at terrifying speed.

The only real cure was to amputate the entire limb.

His arm wasn’t fully overrun yet, so naturally he was going to grab any option that kept it attached.

“I’m not taking your arm. I promise. Want to give it a shot?”

Gillian held his gaze with an open face and a soft smile.

Aiden blinked at her. “And you won’t yank the scales off either?”

“Right. Treatment’s your call. But at the rate this is spreading, you’re looking at amputation within the month.”

Gillian gave a small shrug. She got where he was coming from, but she wasn’t about to make him a promise she couldn’t keep.

“You really won’t have to amputate?”

Aiden could barely believe it, but a faint thread of hope pushed up inside him.

What if she was telling the truth?

What if all the luck he had ever earned in this life had been saved up for this one moment?

Aiden turned around, dropped back into his seat, and stared at Gillian like a man waiting for a verdict.

“No amputation. But I should be upfront with you. This is my first time doing this procedure, so I’d

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Chapter 72 The Gamble

basically be practicing on you. If you’re okay with that, we can start right now.”

“What do you say?”

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Gillian added one more thoughtful warning. “You sure you don’t want the anesthetic? This is going to hurt.”

Aiden’s eyes flickered with doubt, then he gave his head a firm shake. “No anesthetic. Just do it. Long a you don’t take the arm.”

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