Page 97 of Knotted By the Triad

Nobody answered immediately, which made me nervous. Then Daemin inhaled slowly, and something about his expression made warmth crawl higher beneath my skin.

“Zuri,” he said, his voice lower than it had been a moment ago. “Can you smell yourself?”

I frowned until strawberry and chocolate suddenly filled my senses. The scent was stronger than I'd ever smelled it. It wasn't merely lingering around me anymore. It seemed to pour from my skin, warm and sweet, filling every corner of the room.

Zian released my hand. Not because he wanted to move away. Because his fingers had started trembling. I looked at Kai. His eyes had changed too, the pupils narrowing as his dragon pushed close to the surface, scales appearing and disappearing on his skin. What the hell?

Daemin leaned forward, forearms resting on his thighs. “Your first complete shift awakened everything dormant within you.”

“What do you mean everything?”

His gaze held mine. “I mean your heat, baby. Your shift has triggered your first heat.”

Another wave rolled through me. Oh. My. Gosh. I was in heat! My skin felt too sensitive beneath my nightclothes. The scents surrounding me suddenly seemed stronger too. Leather and cloves wrapped around me because Daemin was closest to my legs, followed by Zian's black tea and vanilla and Kai's pine and rain. My dragon stirred inside me with such immediate interest that I almost cursed her.

Mine.

Another pulse of heat made me press my thighs together beneath the blanket. All three men noticed, which was deeply unfair considering I was already struggling to think straight. Kai stood. I looked at him.

“I'll leave and stand guard at the door,” Kai said. “I’ll also get food and water ready. You guys are going to need it.”

Something about the distance in his voice irritated me.

“Why are you leaving?” I asked.

Kai paused. “You're entering your first heat.”

“I gathered that.”

His gaze met mine. “And you haven't chosen me. You’ve chosen Zian and Daemin. But not me. I won’t dare touch you until you forgive me and accept me. But I will stay close. I’ll stand guard. You all will be safe.”

The room became very quiet. I understood then. He wasn't rejecting me. He was refusing to use my heat to make a decision for me. I looked at the man I'd married only days ago, the same man I'd disliked almost immediately.

He had been rude, controlling, and so convinced he knew what was best for everyone that I had wanted to throw things at his head more than once. But he'd listened yesterday. He'd believed the evidence when it condemned someone he cared about.

He'd sought the annulment. He had gone after the people who hurt me. And now, when every instinct in the room was probably telling him to come closer, he was walking away because I hadn't told him he could stay.

“Kai,” I called out when he started toward the door.

He stopped.

“I still think you were an asshole on our wedding night,” I told him.

Daemin made a suspicious choking sound beside me.

Kai's mouth twitched. “I know.”

“I haven't forgotten everything else either. You don't get instant forgiveness because we're mates.”

“I know that too.”

“But I didn't tell you to leave.” I pushed the blanket away from my legs and sat straighter despite the warmth moving through me. “If you want to stay, do it because you truly want me. Not because my heat started and not because some bond says I'm yours. Stay, because you want me. Do you... Do you want me?”

Kai rushed over and shocked me by going to his knees in front of my bed.

“I want you, Zuri Bane, more than I’ve ever wanted anything,” he told me. “If you let me, I’ll spend this heat worshiping you the way you deserve. And then I’ll spend the rest of my life cherishing you the way you deserve to be cherished. And I’m... I’m sorry for not being a better alpha to you. For not putting you first. That will never happen again. I swear it.”

We still had a lot of bonding to do. But I believed him when he said he’d spend forever cherishing me.