Page 76 of Knotted By the Triad

“We’ll work on that. We’ll show her that we can be a good alpha to her. We’ll be number one in her heart soon.”

The doors were already open when we arrived at Kai’s office. He stood behind his desk with several documents spread across its surface, along with two thick folders and boxes of documents in the corner.

He looked up when we entered. His eyes immediately dropped to Zuri in my arms. Then they moved to me. I waited for him to say something. He didn't. But I felt the jealousy through our bond.

He cannot hold her. It’s our turn, my dragon roared.

There was a guard standing at attention in the corner. Daemin walked into the office behind us and closed the doors. There were two chairs positioned in front of Kai's desk. Kai looked at the chairs, then at Zuri.

I crossed the room and sat in one of the chairs without putting Zuri down, settling her comfortably across my lap instead. She chuckled. The sound made my dragon purr. Zuri tilted her head back and stared up at me.

“Are you sure it's okay for me to sit here?” she asked.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Won't Mei Lin get mad when she comes into the office?” she countered.

My arms tightened around her. “Her feelings do not matter to me. Plus, she isn't part of this meeting. And fuck anyone who gets angry with me for holding my mate,” I told her.

Her eyes widened slightly. She looked stunned. My dragon went completely still as we awaited her response. Finally, her expression softened into a smile.

“Oh, okay,” she whispered.

I was still tongue-tied from her smile. It wasn't the same smile she'd given Kai in the garden. It wasn't the sleepy affection I'd watched her give Daemin when the carriage arrived. This one was all mine.

Something tight inside my chest loosened. As if it were confirmation that she was willing to give me a chance. She rested her head against me again as if there was nowhere else she'd rather be, and I had to remind myself that Kai had called us here for a reason.

Otherwise, I would've been perfectly content to sit in that chair holding her for the rest of the day, listening to her breathing, letting my dragon purr for her. Zuri turned her attention toward Kai.

“All right,” she said. “What's going on? Why was I needed at your meeting?”

Daemin plopped down in the chair beside mine. He glanced at Zuri curled comfortably in my lap, then looked at me with that same irritating smile he'd worn when the carriage arrived.

I was definitely going to hit him later. From the other side of the desk, Kai looked at Zuri for several seconds before pulling his chair out and offering it to her.

“Zuri, you can have my chair,” he said.

A growl slipped from my chest before I could stop it. Zuri tipped her head back to look at me, amusement dancing in her eyes. The jealousy dispersed instantly. Then she looked at Kai.

“No, I'm comfortable here,” she told him.

My dragon immediately began to purr. I sat a little straighter. Across from us, Kai clenched his teeth. Daemin made a suspicious sound beside me that might've been a laugh, but I didn't bother looking at him.

I was too busy enjoying the fact that our omega had been offered a perfectly good chair and had chosen to remain in my lap.

She likes us. She chose us.

“She chose our lap.”

Same thing.

Kai glared at me, jealousy raging through our bond. I held back my smile. I knew the feeling. But there was no way in hell I was letting her go. I’d just gotten her. Finally, Kai tore his gaze away from me and turned his attention to the folders stacked on the corner of his desk. He pulled several free and placed them in front of him.

The change in his demeanor wiped away most of my amusement. I'd known Kai too long not to recognize when something was wrong. Whatever he'd found in those files had kept him occupied for hours, and now he'd summoned us here to discuss it.

More importantly, he'd asked for Zuri to be present. What did these files have to do with our mate? Kai looked toward the corner of the office where the guard stood silently awaiting orders.

“Go outside,” Kai told him. “Stand guard at the door. No one comes in, and no one gets close enough to listen.”