How could a killer with soulless, nightmare eyes ever care for a child? #Excerpt from A Stolen Heart #SpaceOpera #MFRWauthor

Updated on 09/25/2023 by Kayelle Allen

While they are in Luc's hoversine, he realizes this child has better vision than most, because he's commented on something far in the distance.

"I can't believe you can see that far."

"I see better than humans." Senthys folded his hands. "Can you see that far?"

"You mean because I have 'weird' eyes?" Nightmare eyes, more like it.

"Uh huh."

"I have better vision than most people." How odd to have a discussion with a child. Usually, none stayed in his presence long enough to say hello.

"Do they hurt?"

"My eyes?" His real eyes would send the boy screaming in the other direction, but it was sweet of him to show concern. "They don't hurt. I cover them for protection."

The boy squinted. "Do my eyes need 'tection?"

"Pro-tection." He patted the boy's hand. "Yours are fine. Mine are sensitive to light." It was an old lie but kept people from asking him to show them his real eyes. He fished out dark glasses he wore in the event of a lens failure, and put them on. "I wear these if I'm in the sun all day."

"Can I try?"

Luc considered it. "Why not?" He pulled them off and helped the boy adjust them over his ears and nose.

The wraparound glasses dwarfed the young face. When they slid down his nose, the child tilted back his head and pushed them up.

"Don't move." After pulling out his mobile, Luc captured an image. Without proof, his friends would never believe he'd been this close to a child without it fleeing in terror.

"Do us!" Senthys patted the seat beside him. "Take our picture."

Luc set his device to hover an arm's length away, then put his head closer to the boy's. "Portrait. Capture." The mobile made a soft click signaling completion.

When he showed the image to the boy, Senthys squealed. "That's me! And that's you."

"Yes, it is." The glasses had the name Draap on the earpiece. No kid this age could afford those and it was Luc's preferred brand. Proof he hadn't faked the entire thing. His friends would lose substantial bet money with this.

---
Be sure to scroll down and visit other authors in this hop!

Posted in Blog Hop | Tagged A Stolen Heart, Antonello Brothers, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, Blog Hop, Luc Saint-Cyr, MFRW, Senth Antonello |

Meet the bad guys from For Women Only by Kayelle Allen #SciFi #Romance #MFRWhooks #MFRWorg

Updated on 09/25/2023 by Kayelle Allen

For Women Only Excerpt

"Why the drama, Pietas?"

"Your assistant wouldn't let me see you without an appointment."

"You insufferable..." She palmed the weapon fastened beneath her desk, then withdrew it and aimed at his head.

Pietas laughed, but he raised his hands. "I should've known you'd be armed."

With her other hand, she picked up his gun and aimed it at him. "Ambidextrous, remember?"

He started to put his hands down and she thumbed his weapon to full. His hands went back up. "Fine, Dessy. But I had to see you, and he wouldn't let me in. You know how I hate waiting."

"For that, you made my favorite your hostage and instigated a riot among my Praetorian?"

He shrugged.

She sighed and clicked the safety into place on both weapons. "What do you want?"

"I haven't seen you in twenty years, and that's all you have to say to me?"

"It's been eleven years, and according to the rules of Peril, I shouldn't have seen you for at least ten more. And you had no right to interfere with anyone I claim as mine. Don't you ever touch Alitus again. If you do, I'll kill you in every way you hate." She tapped the desk. "And I know them all, my dear brother. Is that clear?"

He twisted his mouth. "Fine. I won't touch your pet."

"Or allow anyone within your control or influence to do so. So help me, Pietas, promise me or I'll--"

"Yes, yes. I promise. Don't be tedious. I get the point." He dropped his huge frame into a wingback chair and hung one leg over an arm of it. "Besides, you're impossibly nasty when anyone touches your pets."

She snorted and slid his gun toward him. "Fine. Now tell me what you want."

---
Pietas model: Nik Nitsvetov

Posted in Blog Hop | Tagged Antonello Brothers, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, Blog Hop, Bro, Kayelle Allen, Luc Saint-Cyr, MFRW, Senth Antonello |

Share a sweet but awkward father and son moment with Senth (from Bro) #MFRWhooks #YA #SpaceOpera

Updated on 09/25/2023 by Kayelle Allen

Father and Son

"Is that the info?" Senthys nudged his chin toward the reader. "What else does it say?"

"In good time," Luc responded. "I adopted you but didn't change your last name to Saint-Cyr so if your family looked for you, they'd find you, and that's how it happened. A worker at the Guild mentioned to this person that he knew another Antonello. One thing led to another."

"That's why you kept my name?"

"Of course." Luc frowned. "Why else?"

"I thought--" Senthys eased back into his chair. "Never mind."

"Say what you're thinking."

His son didn't react at first, but finally lifted his head. "I figured... you were--you know." He gave a small shrug. "Ashamed of me."

"What? No! I am inordinately proud of you." Why did his son not see that? "Why would you think I wasn't?"

The youth traced a pattern in the wood. "I figured if you were proud, you'd have wanted to tell people about me." He peeked up under his lashes. "Instead of making me hide."

His son could not have cut out Luc's heart any better with a knife.

"No! That was never why. Son." He reached for Senthys but placed his hand flat on the table. "I promise you." He held his son's gaze, willing him to understand. "I am indeed proud of you. I hide you to protect you."

"You're my father. It's public record. You own the house where I live. You sponsored me into the Guild. I don't see how that's hiding."

Luc sagged in his chair. "Do you have any idea how much it costs to buy off the media? There are almost two dozen planets in this empire. The media exacts a heavy toll on silence when--" He stopped himself. Lowered his voice. "You don't need to know the deals I make and you don't need to make it more difficult--or expensive--for me to protect you from the fame that dogs my every step. A thief can't work in a spotlight." He drew back. "Most of the time, neither can I."

"What you're saying is--you've been protecting me?"

How many times had he said that exact thing? Did this child never listen? With yet another reminder to pick his battles, Luc tamped down his frustration. "Yes."

The adorable blue eyes and shy smile that had charmed Luc when Senthys was a toddler flashed across his son's face and then was gone.

No sweet little kitten remained a kitten forever. No matter how much you wished they could.

Posted in Blog Hop | Tagged Antonello Brothers, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, Bro, For Women Only, Kayelle Allen, Khyff Antonello, Luc Saint-Cyr, MFRW, Senth Antonello |

Note? What note? #SciFi by Kayelle Allen #MFRWhooks #MFRWorg

Updated on 09/25/2023 by Kayelle Allen

Royal District, Royal Arms Hotel Suite 1221

NarrAy tipped the hotel android and tucked the note he'd delivered into the pocket of her robe. "Senth?" She walked back into the bedroom, heard water running, and poked her head inside the bathroom. Steam frosted the glass-enclosed shower. "Senth, honey, there's a--Whoa!"

Senth was pressed against the glass from his firm behind all the way up to his shoulders.

NarrAy gulped against a rush of pheromones. "Uh, there's a...a note."

"What?" Senth stepped away from the glass and came to the opening, both hands in his soapy hair. Shampoo bubbles trickled down his upraised arms, onto his shoulders, and down across his chest. Senth's nose wriggled. He'd done that several times during the night, inhaling her scent. It shot a tinge of warmth down her body. "I couldn't hear you, sweetie. There's a what?"

"Nothing." NarrAy cast off her robe and stepped into the shower, right into Senth's slippery, soapy, slick, sexy, and open arms.

Posted in Blog Hop | Tagged Antonello Brothers, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, Blog Hop, Bro, Kayelle Allen, Luc Saint-Cyr, MFRW, Senth Antonello |

Advanced abilities – just what a thief needs #SciFi #MFRWhooks #Excerpt Bro by Kayelle Allen

Updated on 09/25/2023 by Kayelle Allen

Advanced Privilege

Senth pounded up the stairs, feeling the judgmental stares of hundreds of pairs of eyes on his back. He stepped up to the desk. "Morning. Here for my cloak."

The worker looked up, raked a glance down him. "Listen, kid, this is Advanced only. There's a line. Wait your turn."

"Yeah. I get it." Letting his fangs show, Senth gestured to himself. "I have a 'baby face.' I hear that every day, but I'm no kid. I'm old enough to join the Armada and vote."

A mocking smile painted itself across the worker's face. "If you were human."

Could he not get one day without being reminded he didn't belong?

"Plus," the worker continued, "in case you're new here, you should know you have to be a Level Fifteen or higher to get a cloak."

Oh, he was one of those? Judge the face and not the person. Time to pull out the big guns. Not his favorite way to deal, but if you had a tool that worked, you yanked it out of the bag and used it. Wasn't that the point of having a tool?

Senth leaned one hand on the desk and bent closer as if sharing a secret. "Speaking of being new here... When did you arrive?"

The guy drew back. "Transferred in from Tarth to help with the cloak distribution."

"Shh." Senth made a show of glancing around. "Quiet like, what level are you?"

The man gave him a smug smile. "My Guild ranking is Thirteen."

"Wow. Impressive. And how old are you?"

The worker frowned. "Not that it's your business, but I'm thirty."

"Yeah? You know when I hit Level Thirteen?" Senth picked lint off the man's jacket, dropped it onto the floor. "When I was nine."

The man scoffed. "Nobody's ever done that."

"Look it up. I hold the record for youngest ever reaching it." He stood straight, squaring his shoulders. "I'm a Level Nineteen now. You'll find me under Antonello, Senth, Advanced Interior Security. Or you can try Harbinger." He flashed his father's hand sign, showing the back of two fingers together straight across his waist. "Son of."

"The Harbin--" The man pushed back from the desk and tripped getting to his feet. "Oh, you're the-- You're the--" He muttered an oath. "I'll be right back with your cloak, sir. One moment." He hustled toward the storeroom.

Yep. Daddy had clout.

While Senth waited, a few other thieves in Advanced nodded to him. One of his professors, in full Guild robes and regalia, passed by. When Senth bowed, the man bowed in return. Respect. Mutual. What was so hard about showing it?

A couple females picking up their cloaks shot looks his way.

Had the women overheard his relationship to the Man?

Not that he could take up anyone's offer anyway. His father made sure of that.

Saint-Cyr didn't trust a male Kin, halfbreed or not, to wander around unShackled. Females could, sure. Females could control themselves. The drug his father injected him with kept Senth's feral side at bay, but that didn't mean he was kitten material.

He might not be able to--um--extend his claws, so to speak, but he had other...abilities. Too bad as a HalfKin he hadn't been blessed with his race's real claws. He had to make do with fingers. No advantage over humans.

Unless you knew how to use them. A thief had to be good with his hands.

He sent a slow smile back toward the women.

Posted in Blog Hop | Tagged Antonello Brothers, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, Blog Hop, Bro, Kayelle Allen, Luc Saint-Cyr, MFRW, Senth Antonello |

How odd that idBot never sees Luc #SciFi by Kayelle Allen #MFRWhooks

Updated on 09/25/2023 by Kayelle Allen

The façade fooled anyone who lacked entry codes.

Senth pressed his palm against the lock plate and the idBot security system scanned him. Locks clicked open.

Not a sound in the house, and when Senth checked the security panel, it showed the staff had gone for the day. No one home.

"Riiight." That reading meant the Man was here, because idBot never saw him no matter where he went. How he managed that was beyond Senth, but hey--the guy owned the company, right? Must be nice. Whatever this was about, Saint-Cyr wanted privacy for it, which couldn't be good for Senth.

He swept off his cloak and hung it on a peg. "Hi, Daddy, I'm home!"

Luc Saint-Cyr rounded the corner. Built like a towering god of war, his father filled the small entry.

Senth took a step back.

Saint-Cyr's impressive height forced Senth to look up in order to meet his gaze. Solid-black eyes made the black-skinned man resemble a giant bird of prey, and he had all the warmth of one.

"I am not Daddy, Senthys. We've discussed this." Saint-Cyr adjusted a white cuff on his dark business suit. "If you must use a familial term, use Father."

"Been thinking about changing it to Pops." Senth rocked on the balls of his feet.

His father about choked. Those black eyes narrowed. "You most certainly will not. I have asked you to--"

"Yeah," Senth interrupted. "And I've asked you to call me Senth. Not Senthys."

"Nicknames lack dignity."

"Father sounds like a priest. Which you aren't."

Saint-Cyr took one step closer.

It took all Senth's considerable will not to back up, look away or otherwise submit. How many people wilted before that black-eyed gaze? He swallowed, focusing on the reflections of light in the man's glassy stare.

If he held on for a few more seconds...