Page 64 of Knotted By the Triad

When had I started to fall for this man? Was it when he’d shown up in his dragon form to save me? Or maybe it was last night, when I’d caught a whiff of his scent, leather and cloves. Unable to stop myself, I asked the question that was haunting me.

“You keep calling me your mate. But when you say mate, do you mean, like, what Mei Lin is to you? Are you saying you have two mates now?”

Daemin stopped walking. My stomach immediately dropped. Damn, I shouldn’t have brought up his precious Lin’er. For several seconds, he said nothing. I stared down at my lap, regretting bringing it up.

“Look at me,” Daemin insisted.

I didn't want to. I didn't think I could handle what I saw in his eyes if he told me that whatever existed between us didn't change how he felt about her. Yet, I found my gaze lifting toward his.

“I apologize for marrying Mei Lin,” he said, expression filled with regret. “I was wrong. At the time, I hadn’t recognized you as my Fated One. And in truth, I didn’t think I had a Fated One.”

I stared at him, not knowing what to say. Not recognizing me didn’t excuse his behavior. But he wasn't finished talking.

“Mei Lin has always been our friend. She rescued Kai from a lake when he was a child. Back then, he hadn’t known how to swim. He’d fallen in, and she’d saved him. Afterward, she’d been sick for a week with a high fever. When she recovered, he learned she’d always be frail because of that incident. After that, she began following us around everywhere. And he felt guilty for what had happened, so he allowed it. We found out her mother died when she was young, and her father wasn’t the kindest man. He didn’t step in when she was bullied by her older sisters and stepmother. Since she was weak, Kai let her follow us around. We became her protectors.”

That wasn't how I remembered the story. But I couldn’t tell him that.

“As we got older, she continued following us. Naturally, others thought we would take her as our wife one day,” Daemin continued. “But we were waiting for our dragons to recognize her as ours. That never happened. We only married her because the king decreed that we marry a Bane daughter, and Mei Lin worried our primary wife would bully her in the future.”

I rested against him, listening to his version of the story that didn't match what I'd read in the book. In the book, Mei Lin had been loved by her father and stepmother. In the book, the alphas had been obsessed with Mei Lin.

Every damn thing she'd done had been precious to them. Yet, since that first night, I hadn't really seen any signs of that obsession. Sure, they were kind to her. But obsession? Love? I hadn't seen any signs of that.

“So, you’re not in love with Mei Lin?” I asked.

“No. What I feel toward her is more like friendship. A friendship that has grown strained over the years because she is constantly demanding things of us.”

I wasn't sure what to do with that information. CiCi's book had been wrong about too many things already, and after the dream I'd just had, I wasn't sure I could keep dismissing those differences.

“But what about Kai and Zian? Do they love her?”

“They do not. They feel friendship. Kai feels protective of her because she’s a weak omega. But even he is starting to feel... exhausted by her.”

“That’s not fair to her,” I told him, thinking of the Mei Lin in the story who had been devoted to them. “You can’t string a woman along, just to let her go because you think you’ve found your mate.”

“I don’t think, my pretty omega. I know I’ve found my mate,” he told me.

Heat immediately crept into my cheeks again.

“As for Mei Lin, we’ve never truly dated her. It was just expected of us to marry her since she was our friend. And we went with the flow since we’d never met anyone we were interested in. I even once pushed her to try meeting other alphas, to see if she could find love.”

“Why would you do that?”

And why wasn’t that in the book?

“I did it because I’d felt sorry for her. I knew we couldn’t give her what she truly wanted. I’d seen my cousins with their wives, even those who’d married their Chosen Ones. How we treated Mei Lin wasn’t how they treated their partners. How she looked at us wasn’t how their partners looked at them. And I knew I could never give her what they had. I tried telling Kai that, but he kept telling me to give it time. And Zian had no opinion on it, because he’s never been one to care about love and emotions. But even if I didn’t understand love, I’d known that what Mei Lin felt toward us wasn’t what my cousins felt toward their partners”

“How so?” I asked.

“I’d always noticed that something was strange about Mei Lin’s actions and her affections toward us. I couldn’t understand it until this morning, when she stopped Kai from giving you money. You never once complained or argued with her. Yet, she teared up anyway and suddenly, she seemed like the one who didn’t have money for her courtyard. That’s when I realized what I’d been sensing all this time was a form of manipulation. I feel like she’s been manipulating Kai with her frailty all these years. And as his pack brothers, we went along with whatever decision he made, willing to follow his lead. Not anymore, though. If following him leads to Mei Lin, then I must take a different path.”

“But you’ve already married her,” I reminded him.

“Annulling a marriage because a Fated One is found is not uncommon. It has happened before. We will compensate her, and in the future, she will be able to remarry whomever she pleases. Love can’t be forced.”

“Still, it’s unfair to her.”

“What would be unfair is going one more day without showing you the adoration you deserve.” His hold on me tightened slightly. “You’re our true omega. We should be worshipping you.”