Page 30 of Knotted By the Triad

Then she'd appeared like an answer to our dragons’ prayers. I’d felt the desire to leave melt away from both of my pack brothers, replaced by something I’d never felt from them upon seeing Mei Lin: Pure happiness.

Their dragons were reacting to her. So was mine. And I had no idea how to make it stop before it went too far. Just this morning, when we sat down to eat breakfast with our Lin’er, she’d asked us when we would give her our mating marks.

She said she understood we couldn’t yet consummate our marriage with her. However, she was ready for all three of us to sink our teeth into her neck, marking her as ours forever. And she wanted us to mark her before any of us consummated our union with Zuri.

Her words had made my dragon recoil. Daemin and Zian had looked away from her. I’d forced a smile and told her we would have to get the King’s permission first. That was the first time I'd ever lied to her.

Since we were kids, I’d always told her the truth. Likewise, she’d done the same. Even now, she rarely had contact with her family because she feared her father’s ambition and his hatred toward my cousin would affect our relationship.

She’d sacrificed so much to be with us. Yet, all three of us were craving another woman. For years, I'd believed that once the suppressants were out of my system, I’d start to see Mei Lin differently.

I thought I’d start to desire her the way an alpha was supposed to desire his omega. That wasn’t happening. My dragon didn't want to mark her. He wanted Zuri. My body didn’t crave her. It craved Zuri.

My pack brothers didn’t get happy when they saw her. Only Zuri could make them feel that way. I’d wanted to blame it on the drug Orion had given his daughter. But the drug had worn off. Yet, our feelings for Zuri were growing stronger.

I closed my eyes. Was Zuri Bane truly our Fated One? Just last night, that possibility horrified me. Now, something inside my chest settled at the thought, as though my dragon had been waiting for me to come to terms with that.

I opened my eyes. I couldn't do this right now. Tonight, I had a mission that demanded my full attention. Tomorrow, I would talk with my pack brothers about our feelings for Zuri and figure out what this meant for Mei Lin and us.

I didn’t want to break Mei Lin’s heart. But if Zuri was my mate, then there wasn’t room in my heart, in my bed, in my life for another omega. My dragon rumbled in agreement. I sighed.

If we annulled our marriage to Mei Lin, we'd have more than her broken heart to deal with. We'd have her father, the Prime Minister. He would consider the annulment an insult to his daughter and a humiliation for his family.

And I had no doubt he would look for someone to blame. My jaw tightened. Due to the situation, I knew he’d blame Zuri. If we chose Zuri over Mei Lin, we could be putting her life in danger.

And we’d risk losing our Fated One before we had a chance to apologize for how we’d treated her.

CHAPTER EIGHT

KAI

We’d been in position for nearly an hour when the wagon finally appeared. Two lights emerged in the distance, their glow growing brighter as the wagon traveled along the narrow road leading toward the abandoned warehouse.

I was crouched on a thick branch beneath the cover of the trees. Daemin occupied a tree several yards to my right, while Zian waited in another to my left. Like me, both wore all black, their faces covered with masks.

It had been a while since the three of us had gone into the field together. Before Zeyan decided to overthrow the tyrant King, he’d been training me to replace him as Triad leader one day. I alone would’ve ruled over the clans.

But when he became King, he’d decided to make my pack brothers co-leaders. That way, the clans couldn’t complain about Iron Clan controlling both the throne and the Triad through Zeyan and me.

The three of us ruling the clans together made the other two founding families feel secure. Since Zeyan became King and made us princes, most Triad problems were handled by our clans. We gave the orders. Our people carried them out. Tonight was different. Tonight, we were going to get our hands dirty.

Though we appeared calm on the outside, anticipation thrummed through our bond. All three of us were ready for a fight. Zian had brought along several of his best Shadow Guards. Daemin had selected a handful of assassins he trusted with his life.

My Iron Guards controlled the roads farther out, ensuring no unexpected travelers wandered into the area, and no one escaped. The men hidden with us had two purposes tonight.

Capture the smugglers alive, if possible, and secure the DB along with any other illegal substances or weapons we found.

We could not let our targets kill themselves once they realized they were caught. The warehouse sat beyond the western edge of the capital, isolated enough that whatever happened here tonight was unlikely to draw unwanted attention.

Time had taken its toll on the building. Part of the roof sagged, vines crawled along one wall, and the wooden doors looked as if one strong wind would blow them down. Zian's guards had searched the building before we arrived.

It had been empty. Since then, five men had shown up. Three arrived shortly after we took our positions. Two more came several minutes later. They’d all arrived in their dragon forms before shifting into their skin forms.

Without uttering a word to each other, they entered the warehouse and hadn’t exited since. Though we didn’t have eyes on the men in the warehouse, we’d planted listening devices inside.

So far, they’d only been chatting about the latest gossip in the capital. Apparently, the King’s guard had found a spy sneaking around the King’s hunting grounds last night. They'd imprisoned the woman and were interrogating her.

Many in the capital were wondering how she’d gotten past the guards on duty and made it so close to the King’s hunting tent. This was news to me. Through our bond, I could feel my pack brothers’ surprise as well.