Page 73 of Knotted By the Triad

“No. With Kai and Zian. I must talk to them before I mark you. It has nothing to do with her. None of us have marked her. She’s not a part of our pack. And if either of them doesn’t want me to mark you, then I’ll leave that pack, and we’ll be our own pack. I choose you, Zuri Bane, over everything else, over anyone else.”

Silly tears blurred my vision. I blinked them back.

“Thank you, Daemin.”

“You’re welcome, Zuri.”

He kissed my shoulder as my eyes drifted shut. I fell asleep with my alpha's knot still locked inside me. But before I drifted off, I heard him whisper...

“Sleep well, omega. We’ll return to the princes’ manor soon. And I’ll be moving into your courtyard.”

I don’t know how long I slept, but I awoke to find myself wrapped in Daemin’s embrace. However, we weren’t in bed. We were in a carriage, and he was holding me close. I stared up at him and asked him who dressed me.

He let me know he’d dressed me in some of his clothing. I smiled and snuggled closer to him as he continued talking. He told me that Allie had been found by one of their guards, who’d thought she was a smuggler.

Before I could ask if she was okay, he hurried and assured me that she was fine. The guard had eventually believed her and turned her over to Kai. Kai had reached out to him through their connection, but Daemin ignored him for a long time, wanting to spend time with me alone.

When he finally opened up the connection, he let them know I was okay. He said that Kai and Zian were pissed. I didn’t care. I’d wanted to be alone with Daemin. He told me that Kai wanted us home as soon as possible because he had something to share with us.

He said Kai stated that it was an emergency. That’s why Daemin had carried me into the carriage while I’d slept. Whatever Kai wanted, it probably had something to do with Mei Lin. I’d worry about that after we arrived in the manor. For now, I snuggled closer to Daemin as he tightened his arms around me. I drifted back to sleep in my alpha’s arms.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ZIAN

It was an hour ago when I felt through our connection that Daemin was returning to the princes’ manor. A fucking hour, and he still wasn’t here yet. I’d been standing here ever since then, waiting for her.

He touched her, my dragon growled.

I rubbed my hand through my short hair, trying not to get angry. But I was pissed. He’d touched her. Just last night, after we’d snuck into her room to get a whiff of her scent and see how our dragons responded, we’d agreed that we would have a discussion with her before claiming her in any way.

We’d agreed to apologize to her for how the wedding incident went down. We agreed to apologize for marrying Mei Lin as a secondary consort and talk with Kai about annulling the wedding.

Yet, this bastard hadn’t stuck to the plan. He’d touched her. No, from the feelings coming from him before he closed the connection, I knew he’d done more than touch her. He’d become one with her.

He’d knotted her. A low growl rumbled through my chest. My beast was angry because we’d been left out. I wanted to touch her. I wanted to knot her. I wanted her to smile at me the way she’d smiled at Kai in the garden.

I wanted some time alone with her to apologize for not recognizing her right away. I also wanted to know how she’d known where to find smugglers. According to her maid, they’d gone out looking for bad guys to rob because their courtyard was neglected.

That was my fault. Fuck what Kai wanted. Zuri deserved to be in charge of the manor. And after the way mine and Daemin’s dragons had reacted to her last night, she also deserved to be our only wife.

Last night, when I’d leaned close to her and breathed in her sweet scent, my dragon had gone crazy in a way I’d never experienced. He was already an insane, bloodthirsty bastard.

But when we’d inhaled her scent, he’d damn near forced me to shift so he could smell her with his nose. I’d had to leave the room to calm him down. We’d never reacted that way to Mei Lin.

I never should’ve agreed when Kai said he wanted to marry her to keep her from being bullied. It wasn’t even Zuri doing the bullying. It was Mei Lin who was demanding all sorts of things for her courtyard.

Yet, the moment Zuri asked for something, suddenly the accounts had to be in order before that could happen. Fuck that. I’d held silent because Kai claimed that sometimes Mei Lin feared me and my blunt way of talking.

But I couldn’t remain silent any longer. It was time to accept the fact that Mei Lin couldn’t be anything other than a friend to us. And if our omega didn’t want her to be a friend, then she couldn’t be that.

We owed her nothing. The wedding, that was her idea. Hers and Kai’s. I would’ve been just fine never making her our bride. In the past, I’d gone with the flow too much. That ended now.

They’re here.

My dragon was right. A carriage was coming down the road, moving entirely too slowly. I stared down at my clothing. I was dressed in my official prince’s robes, which I rarely wore. Tonight, I’d worn them for her.

Before the carriage even came to a stop, I was approaching the door and pulling it open. Daemin looked my way. The satisfied grin he wore made me want to punch him in the face. The carriage came to a stop as my gaze dropped to the woman in his arms.