Page 59 of Knotted By the Triad

“For not recognizing you sooner.”

I frowned. “What?”

He started to say more, but his eyes drifted shut again.

“You can’t just drop words like that on me and then pass out,” I muttered, then finished cleaning around the wound.

It was time to pull the shard out. I grabbed a clean cloth and folded it around the exposed end of the fragment. My hands began shaking before I'd even closed my fingers around it.

“What if I make it worse?” I whispered.

“You won't.”

Oh, so he wasn’t out. He just hadn’t wanted to answer my question a moment ago.

“I trust you,” he told me as his eyes fluttered open again. Daemin watched me through half-lidded eyes.

“You trust me?” I whispered.

“Yes. I trust you with my life, mate. It’s yours anyway. Do with it what you will.”

My vision blurred. I blinked hard, annoyed at myself for feeling all flustered and shit.

“I'm sorry this happened to you,” I whispered, voice shaky.

Daemin's gaze remained on mine. “I was able to save you. So, it was worth it.”

Warmth spread through me as my dragon swooned. I was starting to feel overwhelmed with emotions I didn’t have time to process.

“Saving me wasn’t worth all the pain you’re experiencing,” I whispered when he winced again.

“You're alive. So, yeah, it was.”

“You could've died, Daemin.”

“As long as you lived, I would’ve died without regret.”

“But,” I started, confused and hopeful at the same time. “I thought you hated me and...”

“Mate,” he rasped. “Look at me.”

Blinking back tears, I obeyed.

“I’ve never hated you,” he told me. “It’s impossible for me to hate you when everything in me beats for you, breathes for you, yearns for you.”

“Daemin,” I whispered.

“Listen to me, Zuri Bane. I never truly knew what love was until my eyes landed on you that very first time. Before, I thought love meant family and closest friends. I thought loyalty meant love. Then I saw you and realized that love is a woman who stares at me with defiance blazing in her pretty brown eyes. Love is a woman who demands money from her alphas while staring at them with disdain. Love is a woman who snores when she sleeps, while whispering about wanting a meat lovers pizza in her sleep.”

“You... you watched me sleep last night?”

He didn’t answer. He just smiled and said, “And love is a woman who makes my dragon roar, begging me to be closer to her. Love is...” He coughed, wincing from the pain that act caused.

Only then did I realize I was crying.

“Stop talking,” I told him. “Why did you suddenly become so chatty? Now you’re bleeding again.”

I felt his hand against my cheek, brushing away my tears. I found it hard to meet his gaze. I was confused. I was in pain, physically and emotionally. And I was frightened because in the book, he hadn’t gotten stabbed with a magical crystal.