Page 23 of Star Crossed Delta

‘Cousin?’

His eyes locked onto Zolan, narrowing with suspicion and anger.

Enmity crackled between them like a storm about to unleash its wrath.

Without warning, Mak leaped forward, grabbed Zolan around the collar, and lifted him, snarling with rage. With unworldly one-handed power, he flung him against a wall.

Fokk.

Mak bared his diamond-tipped fangs, and they extended until they almost pressed into Zolan’s neck.

‘Forgot ‘bout your party trick,’ Zolan murmured, yet Saba caught a trace of fleeting fear on his face.

She took a shaky breath, biting back the urge to shout at Mak to leave his cousin alone.

But she dared not, lest he turn those fangs on her.

Mak railed at his kin in a hoarse, raw, unfettered roar. ‘Did you plan the hit on me on the launch deck? Which summoned Koda and left my woman unprotected so you could swoop into my house, thinking me dead?’

Zolan’s eyes narrowed, genuine worry etched on his brow. ‘ Nada , I’ve had nothing to do with your troubles. Brother, while I might wish you dead, the actuality would rob me of my reason for living.’

‘It was not you?’

‘ Fokk , Sauvage, it was not. I mean you no harm,’ Zolan grunted, lifting palms in surrender.

The two men stared off for a moment until some truth must have penetrated Mak’s storm, and the glittering canines retreated a touch.

‘So what the hell are you doing here, Asivan?’ Mak’s growl dripped with menace.

The icy, coarse drag on Zolan’s last name emphasized the ominousness in his tone.

Mak’s broad chest was heaving, displaying his untamed rage.

To his credit, Zolan remained calm in the face of Mak’s hostility, his expression betraying no hint of fear or intimidation apart from the wild beating pulse on the base of his neck.

He leaned into Mak’s bared incisors ever so slowly.

‘I came to speak with your wife, believing her to be a more sympathetic ear,’ he growled. ‘Perhaps she can fill you in on our discussion.’

Saba’s heart pounded as she witnessed the standoff between the two men, a sense of foreboding settling over her like a heavy shroud.

She understood Mak well enough to recognize the dangerous glint in his eyes, a sign that he was on the verge of losing his temper.

He reared back, sheathing his fanged teeth, his jaw clenched in fury. ‘My woman has nothing to discuss with you, Asivan,’ he spat out.

Zolan held his ground, his gaze steady as he met Mak’s furious stare head-on. ‘On the contrary, ?ar , your wife deserves to know the truth. So she can pass it to you as you’ve refused to listen to me these past few months,’ he replied, calm but laced with an underlying tension.

Mak gave a bitter scoff. ‘You came to visit the ?arim late at night when you realized I was conveniently out of the house. Why else except to try to seduce her, which you also attempted at our fokkin ’ wedding?

The question is, did you succeed? Are you two having a fokkin ’ affair? Were you lovers before we even wed?’

Zolan’s eyes flared with surprise and indignation at Mak’s accusation, but he regained his composure fast. ‘While you’ve every right to disparage me, your lack of trust in your wife’s judgment and honor is concerning, ?ar ,’ he retorted.

His voice cut through the tension like a blade. ‘I came here out of concern for her safety and yours, not to engage in baseless flirtations. I’m here for a freakin’ good cause.’

As he proceeded to repeat the Nightshade and Syndicate council collusion to Mak, Saba stood frigid in the room.

Frozen by her husband’s seething anger and Zolan’s steely resolve.

When Zolan felt silent, Mak cursed, long and loud.

His anguish tore into her, and tired of keeping Zolan and Shiloh’s secret from her husband, she stepped toward both men, parting her lips, ready to tell all to her husband.

Until she caught Zolan’s eyes and the narrowed warning in them.

She took a hasty breath. Fokk .

Their souls would be Mak’s if he discovered their deception and why Shiloh had jilted him.

She eased back, choosing to keep her mouth shut and hating the lies, the duplicity, hell, loathing herself.

The air crackled with unspoken animosity, each man poised on the edge of a precipice, ready to plunge into further conflict.

Mak’s gaze narrowed as he loomed over Zolan, a palpable threat in his stance. ‘I’ll take your warning under advisement. Which means you need to leave. Now,’ he commanded through gritted teeth, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Zolan tilted his chin, revealing the gash of blood on his neck, his jaw clenched in defiance as he met Mak’s intense stare with unwavering stubbornness.

‘I will fokk off as you wish, cousin, but mark my words; the danger that lurks in the shadows will not dissipate until you act. It is in both the Asivan and the Sauvage families’ interests that you make the right call.’

His warning carried the rawness of an ominous prophecy.

With a final piercing gaze directed at Saba, Zolan swiveled on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving a charged atmosphere thick with tension and unanswered questions.

As the echoes of Zolan’s departure faded, Mak’s gaze, dark and brooding, turned to her.

A storm was brewing in his eyes, a tempest of wild emotion threatening to consume them both.

‘You let a man inside my home, my enemy at that, and late at night, Saba?’ Mak’s whisper was husky and dangerous, and each word was tinged with restrained fury.

His hands clenched at his sides, knuckles white with strain as he pinned her with an accusatory glare.

‘I can explain, Mak,’ she started, the words tumbling out in a rush as she struggled to calm his rising anger.

He cut her off with a sharp gesture, his expression stern and unforgiving.

‘I don’t want your fokkin ’ explanations, Saba. I want you to understand the danger you’ve put us in by associating with someone like Zolan Asivan.’

Mak’s timbre was cold and clipped, his blue eyes flashing with a mixture of hurt and betrayal.

She stepped towards him, her hands reaching out in a futile attempt to bridge the growing distance between them.

‘Mak, please, you have to believe me. Zolan came here of his own accord. He said it was because he wanted to inform you of the threat he just outlined to us. He was earnest that I hear him out,’ she implored.

Desperation crept into her voice as she tried to make him face reason.

Mak’s features hardened, the shadows of mistrust flaring in his gaze. ‘Woman, he’s the menace, and so are you. I’ve had enough of you and your lies and manipulation,’ he bit out, laced with bitterness and disappointment. ‘You can’t seem to stay away from it, can you?’

Mak’s words cut through her like a knife, each syllable a painful reminder of their growing chasm.

She sighed as Mak turned away from her. His body was rigid and tense as he paced the room, the anger rolling off him in waves.

His accusations hung heavy in the air, suffocating her with guilt and regret.