Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland (Gillian and Merrick) novel Chapter 272

Chapter 272 They’re Fake

Chapter 272 They’re Fake

The hull was unmistakable. It was the Griffin Warship.

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The message Gillian got was from Freya. “Gillian, run. Get out of there. They’re fake, all of them-” The transmission cut out.

Merrick saw her face go white and asked fast, “What is it? Gillian, what’s wrong? Who sent that?”

She shuddered, staring at him. Then she triggered her primal core.

Something flickered across his face, and a heartbeat later the black griffin in her core stirred in

response.

“Gillian, were you checking if I was real?” Merrick asked.

She looked at him and finally let the doubt go. “Freya sent me a message.”

“Freya?” Just hearing the name didn’t strike Merrick as good news. Not with the look on her face.

Gillian pulled the message up and showed him. “I tried messaging her back and got nothing. Was that really her?” she asked.

Merrick read it through, his brow pulling tight.

Gillian caught the shift in him and knew he was holding something back. “You’re keeping something from me.”

She pushed lightly against his chest, and the look on her face said if he didn’t tell her, she’d go find Adrian and ask him herself.

“Gillian.” Merrick lifted his head, met her eyes, and told her everything. “On the way back, we got hit. I was worried about you, so I came ahead alone.”

He glanced at her wrist terminal, and his voice carried a thread of fear he couldn’t hide. “If the thought hadn’t crossed my mind, I’d still be back there.”

“Hit? Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t Adrian, Number Five, Number Six-why didn’t anyone come get me?” she demanded.

Merrick explained, “It’s not on them. The comms array on the warship got taken out. I couldn’t send anything. Even the White Griffin couldn’t get through.”

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Chapter 272 They’re Fake

Gillian grabbed his arm. “Are you hurt? How did they hit you? Is Lily okay?”

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He let a grin crack through. “Your husband’s a hell of a lot tougher than that. I’m fine. Lily’s fine. Adrian’s already on his way. Look.”

He pointed at the display, at the figures swarming over the half-buried warship, and one of them was definitely Adrian.

Lily had been quiet the whole time, watching the two of them through the screen. She finally spoke up, her voice careful, “Mom, we’re all okay. Once we dig the warship out, we’ll check if Aunt Freya and Aunt Elara are inside.”

Gillian said, “Lily, you did so well. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

The figure on the screen was unmistakably Adrian. Gillian couldn’t believe all of this had gone down while she’d been asleep for a few hours.

Merrick said, “Gillian, I wasn’t trying to hide it from you. There just wasn’t time.”

She saw the exhaustion behind his eyes. Even without a scratch on him, it had shaken him.

“Next time, tell me straight. If you don’t, someone’s going to use that gap against us.”

Gillian didn’t want to think about what she would’ve done if he hadn’t been standing right here when that message came through.

Merrick saw how shaken she was and stopped holding back.

“A crimson hide got on board. It wrecked a part on the warship and forced us down.”

“One of ours?” Her hand clenched.

“No. Must’ve slipped on board at the Naiad River.”

Gillian realized then that if she hadn’t gotten that message-the one they still couldn’t verify- Merrick probably wouldn’t have told her about the fight at all.

He laid it out like it was nothing. “We got out to repair the damage, and the warship got surrounded. A whole nest of parasites tried to eat us alive. They didn’t pull back until almost dawn. Lily took a team and went after them. I came back for you. If they could get close to me, they could get close to you.”

Here was what had actually happened. On the flight back, the warship had lurched over a stretch of terrain and started going down.

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