Page 81 of Knotted By the Triad

“Because arresting Orion now could warn the people connected to the operation we found in that warehouse. There are more recent records in these files, and some of the names in them are people we cannot afford to alert before we're ready to move.”

Daemin stopped moving his thumb over my hand. Zian's palm remained warm against my back.

“Who?” I asked.

Kai reached for another folder. He pulled several pages free and laid them on top of the others.

“Mei Lin,” he said.

For a second, nobody said anything.

I looked from the papers to Kai. “Mei Lin is connected to the smugglers and the experiments?”

“She’s connected to the same research team that experimented on you and your friends.” Kai turned one of the pages so the writing faced us. “These are medical records. Some are several years old. From these records, I learned that Mei Lin was born a beta.”

Daemin's fingers tightened around mine. Behind me, Zian went completely still.

“What?” I asked. CiCi hadn’t foreseen that.

“When she came of age, she presented as a beta,” Kai explained. “The omega characteristics she has now were induced through treatments arranged by her father. The lavender scent, the changes that allowed her to present as an omega, none of it occurred naturally.”

I stared at him, waiting for the rest because there had to be more. There was.

“Her father signed off on her being part of an experimental drug that changes a person’s designation,” Kai continued. “The experiment failed. Though the drug can’t change your designation, the researchers found that it could mimic other designations. But you have to take the drug once a month. The early records show her father signing off on each shot she received. The later ones include Mei Lin’s signature. She knew what the treatments were for. She consented to continuing them.”

Daemin released my hand long enough to take the paper Kai offered him. His eyes moved over it quickly before he passed it back without comment. His hand returned to mine. Zian's hand had stopped on my back.

“She lied to all of us,” Zian said.

“There’s more,” Kai said. “Turns out, this research team belongs to her family. Her great-grandfather oversaw the first experiments. Her father oversaw the latter ones. The splicing, the designation-changing drugs were all experiments her family hired people to research. And Mei Lin has been working for her father. There are communications in the records too,” Kai said. “Between Mei Lin and her father.”

Zian's hand started moving over my back again, slower this time.

“What kind of communications?” Daemin asked.

“Information about us. Meetings. Deliveries. Changes in security measures. Intel on some of our Triad operations, including making a copy of our authorization seals.”

“For how long?” Daemin sneered. “How long has she been giving them information about us?”

“Ever since she met us,” Kai answered. “Even more intel has been passed between them since we became princes. She sends intel by her maid.”

Zian swore quietly behind me.

Kai pulled another set of papers from the folder. “I can't tell you how much Mei Lin knew about what her father was doing with the information. These records don't prove she knew about the Dragonblight shipment or every part of the warehouse operation. They do prove she knowingly passed information to him. Information he’d planned to use to overthrow my cousin.”

“So she was spying on you this entire time,” I drawled.

“On all of us,” Zian replied.

Daemin's eyes settled on the files. “Does Zeyan know? I mean, does King Zeyan know?” he corrected.

“I sent word that we uncovered evidence requiring action. I haven't sent the records themselves.” Kai gathered the loose pages back into order. “I'm not putting details like these into a message that can be intercepted.”

That made sense. Unfortunately, the rest of this made no fucking sense. I had woken up believing I was trapped inside my best friend's book. Now apparently, I had lived two lives, and my father had knowingly handed baby-me over for experiments.

Oh, and my husbands’ other wife was secretly a beta who'd been taking treatments to pass as an omega, and her father was planning to overthrow the King. Damn, I missed the days when all I had to worry about was whether I wanted fries with that or not.

“What are we going to do with Mei Lin?” Zian asked.