Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland (Gillian and Merrick) novel Chapter 263

Chapter 263 You’ll Always Be Our Mom

Chapter 263 You’ll Always Be Our Mom

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Gillian thought for a moment, then let her white psionic power drift up and weave through Lily’s hair, trying to smooth away the worry lines creased into her brow.

“Kid, you’re barely two years old and you’ve already got frown lines like an old lady,” she said.

Lily finally looked up at her, her face pinched. “Mom, is it really that bad?”

Gillian felt her relax a fraction and let out a quiet breath. She pulled up her wrist terminal and showed Lily the photos of the egg seeds the Legion had been incubating. “Lily, you remember we saved six hundred flower beasts that still haven’t hatched?”

“Yeah,” Lily said softly. “I remember.”

Gillian asked, “Lily, do you want to help take care of them?”

Lily shook her head. “The 9th Legion knows how to look after them.”

“They do,” Gillian said. “So what do you want to do?”

“I want to wipe out every last one of those egg thieves.” The words came out cold and flat, and that was exactly why Gillian couldn’t help but favor her.

Lily had shot up in power under her care, and when she said she’d wipe something out, she meant it.

“Lily, we want the same thing. I want every one of those things dead too. So how about we team up?” Gillian didn’t talk to Lily like she was a child. She’d come to respect the place Lily had come from with something close to awe.

What kind of world produces creatures like this?

Age was never the way to measure their intelligence. Gillian had always led with her heart. She knew she wasn’t smarter than Lily, and she’d never once thought she could fool her. She’d simply loved her, and that was all.

Gillian wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulders and pointed down at the flower beasts below them. “All of them need you, Lily. You’re a good leader. They’ll be safe under you.”

The sky was still black, but the spark wouldn’t go out.

“Like you and Dad Merrick?” Lily asked. “Protecting this land, protecting the 9th Legion?”

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13:08 Tue, Jul 14

Chapter 263 You’ll Always Be Our Mom

70

+20 Free Coins

“Yeah. And protecting everything Lily cares about.” Gillian paused. “I know you’re not like the other kids in Wasteland City. So if there’s ever a chance, I want to send you back to the Central World.”

“Send us back?” Lily’s eyes flickered with something sharp.

If we could really go back, should we?

Gillian said, “Lily, you learn fast. I’m sure you’ve figured out I’m not your real mother. A normal female like me couldn’t give birth to all of you.”

“Mom, you knew?” Lily’s voice was tangled. They’d absorbed too much too quickly not to understand that Gillian could never have been the one who made them.

“Yeah. But I still want to be your mom. I want to teach you the things parents in this world are supposed to teach their kids.”

Gillian knew Lily’s earlier distance hadn’t come from nowhere. Better to say it out loud. Lies only built walls between people.

“The Outer Planet’s too small for you. I want you to find a world that fits.”

Lily felt something hot press against her ribs. She’d looked up the word for it on her wrist terminal. It was called being moved. “Thank you, Mom,” she said.

Gillian’s presence had wrapped around her the whole time, soft and steady, and Lily let herself lean into it, greedy for the warmth. “You’ll always be our mom.”

Thank you. For everything.

Adrian watched the two of them from the aircraft’s controls, the small figure tucked against the larger one, and guided the ship quietly back toward the landing zone.

That was when he spotted Merrick, geared up and stone-faced, with a squad formed up behind him like he was heading out.

“Gillian, the Griffin Warship’s been hit. I’m leaving for the Naiad River now, but you’re staying here,” Merrick said.

Gillian stepped off the aircraft, and the words hit her like ice water. “What happened? Where are Freya and Elara?” she asked.

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