Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland (Gillian and Merrick) novel Chapter 282

Chapter 282 The Cardinal Flame

Chapter 282 The Cardinal Flame

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So Maddox hit a nerve. That flicker in Merrick’s eyes-Gillian caught it and couldn’t shake the question.

How much more is Maddox hiding? This is getting intense.

The revelation hit hard. Elara stared at Maddox, her cold face cracking with disbelief. “Number Five and Number Six are your Shadow Guards? Maddox, how much have you been hiding?” she demanded, not bothering to hide her irritation.

Maddox just let a faint smile tug at the corner of his mouth and offered nothing.

All those years digging through Capital Planet and I never found that group’s trail. Dragging Merrick into it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

He turned to Merrick, who hadn’t spoken, and his voice dropped quieter. “Can you release me now, Merrick?” he asked.

“Milo and Hugh are yours?”

Merrick’s mind was reeling, flashing back. When he’d first been dumped in Wasteland City, George had picked him up. That wasn’t a coincidence. Number Five and Number Six had probably put him there.

They’d climbed the ranks and fought their way to his side, and he’d thought he’d simply found good soldiers.

He called them in now and looked at Maddox.

For years, ever since his mother died, he’d wanted to demand answers from the older brother he’d once looked up to. Why had he been so cruel? He’d been a level 8 beastman and he’d done nothing.

But even without a single piece of hard evidence to back Maddox’s story, the hatred that had coiled in Merrick’s chest for six years was already melting away.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Merrick asked.

Maddox said, “And what would you have done? That thing looked exactly like Skylar. There wasn’t a single flaw. When I set the fire, she finally smiled-just a small, twisted smile. And even dead, she still looked just like her.”

Gillian realized Maddox only ever showed emotion when he talked about Skylar.

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Chapter 282 The Cardinal Flame

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After that, he went quiet for a long time and then let out a hollow laugh. “Maybe I did kill the real Skylar. I still don’t know.”

Gillian felt something loosen in her chest. At least they were talking now, and that meant things could be fixed. Maddox wasn’t the enemy. That was what mattered.

“Maddox, where did you see the kind of wounds Elara has on her neck?” she asked. She needed to know how long these parasites had been on Capital Planet.

Elara’s eyes sharpened with the same question.

The misunderstanding between Maddox and Merrick was clearing up, and now Elara was bracing for the fallout. She’d written Maddox off as a cold, poisonous bastard who’d finally gotten what he deserved. Turned out she was the fool.

She was already calculating how to dodge what was coming and quietly edged backward.

Maddox’s gaze landed on Merrick. “On Merrick. Skylar said he was sick and took him to the Cole family’s private hospital. No visitors.”

“But you went anyway,” Gillian said. Maddox didn’t deny it.

Merrick had no memory of this. The year Skylar died, everything was a blur. He’d always thought it was grief-his mind refusing to remember. Now he understood someone had done that to him.

“When Merrick got sick, he liked those peach preserves. They’re hard to come by. I managed to get one can in Griffin City and smuggled it in.” Maddox’s voice was distant now, like he was watching it play out again. “I found him alone in a freezing room. There was a layer of blood membrane clinging to his back.”

“So you burned the hospital down.” Gillian could almost see him standing there, the weight of that decision crushing him before he ever struck the flame.

Maddox continued, “The fire broke out, and in the chaos, I got Merrick out. The membrane on his back vanished. I thought I’d imagined it. But his clothes were full of tiny holes, soaked in blood. I knew it was real.”

Merrick’s face had gone pale as a sheet, and Gillian felt it like a blow.

“Ordinary fire can’t burn those crimson hides.” She looked at Maddox. “What did you use?”

“The Cardinal Flame,” Merrick answered before Maddox could, his voice rough. “His mother was Cardinalkin. Their primal cores carry true fire.”

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