Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland novel Chapter 76

Chapter 76 Reputation

Chapter 76 Reputation

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Out in the hall, the other scaling patients swarmed around Aiden the second they got the chance.

After scanning his report, they roared like wild men. They had a way out.

They were not going to lose their limbs after all!

“Everyone quiet down. The next person who makes a scene doesn’t see a cleric today.”

Sylas stepped out of his metal office and surveyed the chaos in the hallway, his face all business.

The hall went silent in a beat, though the joy in their eyes was impossible to hide.

What Gillian didn’t realize was that her name was about to spread like wildfire through the entire 9th Legion.

Plenty of soldiers stuck deep in the scaling lost their minds with joy the moment they heard a cleric had finally turned up who could cure them.

It sounded like a thousand patients, but Gillian worked through them fast. Around 500 only needed a taint cleansing all morning.

Twenty needed actual scale removal.

The real grind fell on the medics.

They worked two shifts, with no more than 50 medics per shift, which broke down to about ten medics per hall.

Soldiers couldn’t take leave whenever they pleased, and if they missed their slot today, they could be waiting until their next time off. The medical team ran 24 hours a day.

Gillian got special treatment. She only took day shifts.

Gillian carried small chips of blackstone in her pocket. Even on the walk back, she could palm one and pull energy from it.

Before lunch she swung by the cleric’s quarters, planning to tidy up yesterday’s mess. The room was already spotless and stocked with fresh household supplies.

The place felt different from the bare-bones space she had left.

There was a touch of warmth to it now.

On the low table in the middle of the room sat a vase holding two bionic roses, their petals curled together, lush and dewy. Every bloom had opened just right, the perfume thick in the air.

They looked like the two of them on the day they bonded, growing into each other with reckless abandon, refusing to let go.

1/3

10:58 Wed, Jun 3 M

Chapter 76 Reputation

Gillian leaned in for a whiff. Heaven. Her fingers trailed across the petals.

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A wisp of psionic power lifted moisture out of the nearby water glass and dotted the petals with fine droplets.

The flowers didn’t react at all, which struck Gillian as strange. She pulled one bloom out of the vase.

Soft petals fell free, drifting one by one to the table.

Gillian froze. These were real flowers?

“What is Merrick up to? He actually got me real flowers?”

Fresh flowers were nothing special in Goldspine City. In Wasteland City, though, they were almost mythical, with even the cheapest stems running close to 1,000 coins each.

Gillian slid the bloom back into the vase and went to check the bathroom.

The blood-stained robe she had left soaking was gone.

She eased open the closet doors.

Three new uniforms hung inside.

A handful of casual changes hung next to them, every piece in her exact size.

Gillian only needed a glance at the stitching and the fabric to know everything in there came with a serious price tag.

She closed the closet doors gently, shutting all that luxury back inside.

Well, now what? She hadn’t decided yet whether to actually accept him.

That thought sent Gillian back out the door. She opened her wrist terminal and shot a message to Freya.

“Freya, can I come find you for lunch?”

On the other end, Freya had spent the whole night dodging the issue and decided this couldn’t keep going. Food had lost its taste, and right then Gillian’s message came in.

Picturing sweet, soft-hearted Gillian, Freya couldn’t bear the thought of letting her walk into a fire pit blind.

Mabel treated her like a granddaughter, and even packed her a meat pie to take home last night before she left.

Freya owed her the truth. Yes, Gillian had a right to know. Whatever she chose afterward, Freya would have her back.

“Gillian. I’m in the mess hall right now. Come find me.”

2/3

10:58 Wed, Jun 3 D

Chapter 76 Reputation

The moment Freya hit send, the weight lifted. Suddenly food tasted good again.

“Got it, Freya. On my way.”

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Gillian planned to use the meal as cover to track Freya down and find out what had actually gone sideways that day.

She was just about to close her wrist terminal.

At the top of her message list, the conversation with Merrick still sat where it had left off that morning

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