Page 38 of Star Crossed Delta

A surge of possessiveness followed it as Mak took in their beholders’ visceral reaction to her, stirring a primal jealousy within him.

The fundraiser was teeming with the prominent and the connected of the Syndicate flotilla. Individuals who wielded influence from Dons of mafia houses to holographic celebrities, fellow business associates, and entrepreneurs.

Mak searched for their target, his neural node scanning the room, finally landing on a sandy-haired, tall, thin man with a smile that made Mak’s skin crawl.

A ping went off in his cognitive vision confirming the ID.

Deimos Vale, the CEO of Phantom Codex.

‘That is Vale,’ Mak muttered to his woman, pointing out their mark with a subtle jerk of his chin.

‘That’s the man we’re here for.’

‘I see him,’ Saba whispered, her eyes narrowing in quiet judgment.

‘All you have to do is follow my lead, baby.’

Her eyes lit up, gleaming with the thrill of the hunt.

They turned their backs on him and focused on making small talk with the other guests.

It didn’t take long for Deimos to make his move, attracted to the femme fatale on Mak’s arms as was every man with eyes in the room.

The plan was working.

He approached them with oily charm, shaking hands, his beady stare already on Saba, eating up her allure.

When he shifted to Mak, the man barely concealed his contempt.

Mak suppressed his fangs, tamping down the urge to bare them and sink their incised edges into Deimos’ temple.

‘ ?ar Sauvage. A pleasure to meet you,’ Deimos murmured.

‘And, you must be the jewel of the evening,’ he said, sliding those creepy eyes to Saba. ‘Your girlfriend or friend, perhaps?’ he added, slicing his predatory gaze back to Mak.

Mak realized that the man had no clue Saba was his wife.

He had no reason to have that knowledge.

He’d not been invited to their wedding, as they’d closed the event.

No images of her were in the public domain, as Mak preferred his privacy and that of his family.

Deimos probably thought she was nothing more than arm candy.

Saba shot Mak a warning glare and plucked his sleeve when he opened his mouth, on the verge of correcting him. ‘I’m his companion, naam ,’ she said.

The man bowed over her proffered hand. ‘A rare beauty at that.’

Her smile was polite but distant.

‘ Sante ,’ she replied, though her tone had an edge.

She was playing him, pulling at threads, waiting to see what would unravel.

Mak arched a brow at how fast she’d picked up on the game at hand, as his wonder of her ratcheted.

Mak turned back to the conversation, stroking his woman’s spine as his mind raced.

They had only a slight window to obtain what they needed.

After some minutes of small talk, Saba excused herself to the restroom, leaving Mak with Deimos.

The Codex man leaned in to Mak with a wink. ‘How the hell does a thug like you score a beauty like her?’

‘Hey, pal. Some shit is off-limits. We ain’t friends. You’ve no right to our love story.’

Deimos’ face blanched at Mak’s lopsided smirk.

‘Also, don’t hate what you can’t get, no matter how much you try.’

That seemed to push Deimos over into unadulterated loathing for Mak’s challenge to his ego.

His charming veneer slipped away, revealing his insecurity.

He attempted to goad and talk down to Mak, starting by flicking his eyes with disdain at the Signet strong guard’s glowing tattoos and bejeweled hands. ‘I heard you were a rebel in your earlier years.’

‘I was. I chose to fight for justice during the Apocalypse Wars and not hide from the conflict under the facade of heritage, private schooling, and tailored banker aesthetic.’

Deimos glowered at Mak’s insinuation.

Mak had read up on him and was spot on; the man had never served in the cataclysmic wars that had raged on Earth.

He had disappeared into the arms of the Accord and hid, concealed by their protection, until the worst was over.

‘You’re just a gangster in a suit,’ he growled.

Mak didn’t give a fokk what Deimos thought about him, but he couldn’t help but dig at him. ‘And you’re a coward in yours, as was every man who escaped the war effort.’

Deimos Vale leaned in, a cold gleam in his eyes, not attempting to mask the bite beneath his smile.

‘You’ve got quite the mouth for an ex-con,’ he murmured, each silken word dipped in poison.

Mak smirked. ‘A former felon with an empire bigger than your own. Must sting, knowing I did time and still lapped you.’

Deimos’ smile thinned. ‘Careful. I’ve buried men for less.’

Mak gripped Deimos’ hand and pulled him close to him, in what appeared to be a friendly man-hug.

He whispered into the man’s ear. ‘Try it. But wear black because your next starring gig will be at your funeral.’

In actuality, the move was a way for him to bring his suit jacket pocket adjacent to him.

To allow proximity to the slim, dark device hidden in his own.

It was meant to hack and clone his wrist comm, giving his team, led by Kaal, unprecedented access to Deimos’s calls, messages, and data if successful.

A harsh buzz in his ear confirmed something was wrong.

Fokk . He had to pull back.

He leaned away and shot Deimos a frigid simper, while the Codex operator gave him an incredulous, suspicious look.

Deimos’ jaw twitched. ‘I’m not nervous, nor afraid of you.’

Mak’s smile curved, slow, and surgical. ‘Then calm your voice, Vale. It’s shaking.’

‘ Fokk you,’ Deimos exhaled through his nose and walked off with tight, deliberate strides.

Mak tracked the man’s back as it vanished into the crowds and chuckled as he reached for a nearby sanitizer auto dispenser.

He used it well, then wiped his fingers with his kerchief, washing the kinai’s slime away.

Mak sent a neural node message to Kaal. Brother, it didn’t work; we need plan B .

I’ll figure it out.

We only have one shot.

Well aware. On it.

SABA

Saba hated Deimos’ predatory eyes on her.

Throughout the night, an uncomfortable heat crept up the back of her neck.

There was something hair-raising in how he glowered at her, his slick grin and licked lips turning her off.

Hell, Vale’s unsettling presence made Saba’s skin crawl.

From his tiny eyes to the sotto voce of a snake oil salesman, he gave her the creeps.

It seemed he slithered through life, oozing charisma that was sickeningly false.

She tried to focus on the reason they were there, but the plan was working too well as his stare followed her like an unwelcome shadow.

After a few strained moments of polite dialogue between Mak and Deimos, Saba excused herself to the restroom.

She needed a break from the oppressive unpleasantness of his lustful gaze.

In the ladies’ room, she wiped under her arms with the provided, refreshing cold packs from a tray on the counter.

She reapplied her makeup and, revived, slung her evening bag over her shoulder and exited.

Only to find a silhouette waiting for her in the dim hallway. She froze for half a second but pulled her shit together.

‘Leaving so soon?’

As Deimos stepped closer, his voice dripped with oily slickness, cutting off her path back to the ballroom. She forced a smile, trying to keep her tone civil. ‘I was just heading back to Mak.’

‘Why rush?’ he purred, his gaze dropping from her face, lingering too long on the neckline of her gown. ‘A woman like you deserves more than standing in the shadow of a man like him.’

Her stomach twisted.

She attempted to walk around him, but before she could take another step, he reached out, and his fingers gripped her arm.

His touch was clammy and wet, and bile rose in her throat.

‘I can grant you whatever you desire.’

‘You assume much, but I’m more than content with my life. I’m not interested whatsoever in what you have to offer.’

He sneered. ‘You’ve no idea who I am.’

‘I don’t give a fokk , now let me go,’ she muttered.

She pulled free, his hand leaving an imprint in its wake.

His smile widened as if her discomfort only encouraged him.

‘You’re wasting yourself, you know. A beauty like you could have real power. With me.’

His words slithered into her ear, and for a moment, she thought about the ease with which she could slap the smug smirk off his face. Instead, she straightened.

‘You’re mistaken if you think for one second I’d ever entertain that thought. My loyalty is to one man and him alone.’

Deimos sidled closer and, in a flash, sought to throw her against the wall, his slimy lips trying to connect to hers.

She lifted a knee and sank it into his balls.

He howled and surged back, bending over, groaning. ‘ Fokk !’

She pulled out a small laser weapon when he attempted another lunge. ‘Stay back.’

Deimos’ face was a canvas of agony as he clutched the front of his trousers, swaying as he glared at her. ‘Are you his concubine, a mistress perhaps? He must be paying you well for you to go this far. I hear the Akkadians like to keep to old-world ideas of whores.’

She huffed, raised her ringed finger to waggle it in his face. ‘I’m his wife, Sherlock. You’ll also know the Sauvage dynasty and the ?ar live by the tenet of an eye for an eye. So this shit you’ve just attempted might get your neck sliced open.’

She enjoyed the fear that flew across his face, but she didn’t wait for him to respond.

Pushing past his half-bent form, she marched back into the safety of the ballroom.

She found Mak within moments.

His eyes met hers, and he could see the storm still swirling inside her.

Without a word, he pulled her aside.

‘What happened?’ he demanded.

She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to ruin the plan, but she couldn’t keep it from him.

‘Vale. He was waiting for me outside the restroom. He made some creepy overtures. I told him to back off, but he was persistent. He grabbed my arm, pushed me to the wall, and tried to paw at me until I kicked him in the balls.’

Mak’s face darkened, and the muscles in his jaw clenched with such fury that the tendons strained. Rage rolled off him in waves, and his hands tightened into fists when his arms went around her waist.

‘The fokk? He touched you?’ he growled, eyes scanning the room for Vale.

Saba placed a palm on his chest to calm him. ‘ Naam , but I handled it. I’m fine,’ she murmured, attempting to pacify him, though her heart raced from the encounter. ‘He just wants to provoke you, to make you lose control.’

‘I don’t care what he’s trying to do,’ he snapped. ‘He’ll regret ever laying a finger on you.’

She stroked his arm, and the hard muscle rippled beneath her fingers as he fumed. ‘Don’t let him win. Not here, not like this.’

His eyes softened; however, the wrath was still there, simmering just below the surface. ‘No one touches my ?arim , or pushes her around, without bleeding,’ he snarled.

Deimos Vale had made a dangerous enemy this evening.

Her heart jolted at the dominance in Mak’s voice and the undercurrent of pure fury.

All for her. She also didn’t doubt her husband’s rage.

What she wondered about was just how profound his possessiveness of her was.

Regardless, she fokkin’ loved it.