Meet the bad guys from For Women Only. In this scene, Empress Rheyn Destoiya is planning a pleasant night when her evening takes a most unexpected turn. There’s a reason a reviewer said this book had “complex, scary and slightly disturbing bad guy sidekicks.” These characters also appear in other books. For Women Only is free on Kindle Unlimited.
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Rheyn Destoiya opened the Stable book and made her choices for the night. She turned the pages slowly, enjoying the holographic views of the Jades. She stopped at the picture of Alitus Vivaldi, her personal assistant and no longer a slave, yet she kept him in the book and housed him on his own floor in the Stable. Beautiful, blue-eyed, blond Alitus. Her former Jade always remained within easy reach, ready to accommodate her desires and whims. His Better pheromones had thoroughly addicted her.

She perused another page. Her Jades all gave her pleasure. Which should she choose? Well, who said she had to stop at one?

She tapped two pictures, requested dinner, decided which pleasure room to use, and closed the book. The Stable groom would have everything ready by the time she got home. She stood and placed the book in its holder behind her desk.

Her office door flung open. Destoiya jerked back.

A hooded and cloaked man dragged Alitus backward into the room.

A strangled gasp left her assistant’s mouth.

The man gripped him by the throat with one hand while the other jammed a burn-gun against his temple. The intruder towered over Alitus, held him as if he were not a grown man taller than herself, or a Better whose touch immediately captured a human’s will and brought them under his spell.

Who is that? What is he, that he can resist Alitus?

Time perception slowed. Red dots from laser sights crawled across Alitus and the intruder. Two Kin Praetorian Guards took up vantage points in her office door. Two knelt inside the doorway, hands bracing multi-barreled guns aimed at the man’s head.

Staccato voices. Guns humming into full power. Boots on the tiled floor. More Praetorian swept into her office from a different door and surrounded her.

Captain Dhia Ruh, the senior Praetorian, shielded Destoiya while she hustled the empress toward the exit. The Kin officer already had her claws out, ears laid back and fangs bared.

“Vaara.”

Destoiya held her breath and turned toward the sound of the man’s rich tenor.

“Vaara,” he repeated.

It meant peril, in a language no one in this room knew. Except her.

He tossed his head, shook off the hood, and revealed his face. Long white-blond locks spilled against a black leather cape. He had the face of a fallen angel. Perfect beauty, flawed by its own perfection.

The Conqueror fell back a step. “You!”

Dhia Ruh flashed her a sharp look. “You know this man, Your Majesty?”

“Yes.”

The universe knew him by many names. Impaler. Hammer of God. Marauder. Soul Ripper. Destroyer of Worlds. Slayer of Innocents. The Hound of Hell.

All names of a man centuries dead. Dead to all but a few. The few who knew he could never die. Never be killed. Never surrender his soul.

Never reach heaven.

Destoiya knew him. Knew him as well as her own dark soul.

Her opposite in everything. His silver hair contrasted her black. True turquoise sparkled in his eyes. Colorless gray marked hers. He exemplified beauty. She reflected dignity and power. He slaughtered. She executed righteously. He judged. She redeemed.

Pietas. Her twin.

“Let Alitus go.”

Pietas flicked his brilliant turquoise gaze down her body and back up, sneering.

Her assistant’s face tightened with fear. He grasped at the hand crushing his throat.

Her brother glanced toward the uniformed soldiers. The gold fist emblazoned on their black jackets marked the Kin as the elite squad that enforced her will. One small nod, one gesture, and they’d shoot, even if it cost Alitus his life.

“Let him go. Please.”

Pietas cocked his head in their direction. “Call off your dogs and I will.”

At the insult, a collective hiss escaped the Kin. Guns hummed to full power.

Pietas grimaced. “Hmm. Bad choice of words.” He tugged his captive closer, pulling Alitus off his feet with one powerful hand.

Destoiya motioned to the Kin with both hands. “Stand down.”

Dhia Ruh stepped between the Conqueror and Pietas. “Your Majesty, we can take him out.”

“Back off, Ruh. Now.”

Alitus choked, but he shook his head, pleading with his eyes for her not to comply.

“At least let him breathe.”

Pietas loosened his grip slightly.

Alitus gasped for air.

“I said stand down!” The Conqueror clenched both fists.

The squad lowered its weapons. Ruh shot her a questioning look.

Destoiya nodded an assurance. “Get out, Ruh, and take them with you.” She jabbed a finger toward the Praetorian. “Now.”

They went, noisily sliding clips and holstering guns. The doors closed.

Pietas released Alitus.

Her assistant positioned himself between her and imminent danger, withdrawing a gun from inside his coat. He aimed at Pietas with both hands. Steady, calm hands, though he gulped air.

Pietas unpinned the leather cape and dropped it on the floor. He tucked the gun into his belt. “I’m impressed, Rheyn. Out there, in his office, this one looked like nothing more than your usual toy. Does he know how to shoot that thing?”

Until this moment, she’d had no idea Alitus owned a gun, let alone knew how to hold one.

“I never miss.” Alitus thumbed the weapon, and it hummed, charging to full power. “Put your gun on the desk. Use two fingers.”

A dozen Praetorian had failed to disarm her brother and Alitus thought he could do it?

Pietas tossed his head, sending a long lock of silver hair over his shoulder. In this rebirth, his face was that of a man in his mid-twenties. Easy to underestimate his power. His ruthless determination.

Pietas shrugged, lifted the gun with two fingers, and dropped it on the desk. “Or what, boy? Are you going to kill me?” He leaned against the wall.

Nothing could kill her brother permanently. If he was shot through the heart, before Alitus could check for a pulse, Pietas would revive. And then kill Alitus for soiling his shirt.

“Say the word, Your Majesty, and he’s a dead man.” Alitus never looked her way, never lowered his weapon.

Destoiya laid a hand on her assistant’s shoulder. She touched the red splotches that marred the skin of his throat, the underside of his smooth jaw. They’d be bruises soon.

“Don’t be afraid, Your Majesty. I won’t let him hurt you.”

Pietas observed them both like a brooding angel of death, awaiting the chance to strike.

She had to get Alitus out of here. “I know you don’t understand, love, but believe me, I don’t need protection. I’m safe with him.”

Her brother turned his face skyward, smirking.

Alitus still did not so much as glance in her direction. “He’s dangerous, Your Majesty. I can feel it.”

“Yes, he is, but not to me. Remember the task I asked you to perform for me tonight?”

A frown crossed his face. He watched Pietas, gun still pointed at her brother’s head.

“Alitus, I need you to keep that appointment. It’s imperative. The timing must be perfect.” She squeezed his shoulder. “I can trust you to do this, can’t I?”

“Of course you can trust me, Your Majesty. But I don’t trust him.”

“He won’t hurt me, love. I’m safe. Trust me. Lower your weapon.”

The struggle on his face softened. He lowered the gun and looked at her. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

The fact that he’d used her full title was not lost on her. He called her Majesty in private, and never neglected to show her full respect before others.

It took a bit of time to assure him she’d be safe without him. Even longer to convince him to release the Praetorian waiting outside, but Alitus went, taking his leave with worried backward glances while he shut the door behind him.

Destoiya steadied herself, pulled out the chair behind her desk, and sank into it.

Pietas remained where he was, unmoving except for a glance toward the door. “That one worships you. He’d have died rather than let me near you.”

“I know. Thank you for letting him go.”

“Does he know you’re immortal?”

“He knows I’m different. Knows I heal faster than others. Not why. I don’t advertise it any more than you do. Why the drama, Pietas?”

“He 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.”

“I’ve come to see your only child.”

For Women Only – Antonello Brothers 2

Publisher Romance Lives Forever Books
Author Kayelle Allen
Genre science fiction romance, space opera, military science fiction, sweet romance
—

When Mehfawni Ruh, a Kin ambassador, visits the capitol planet of the empire, she meets security expert Khyff Antonello, a human. A death in her family forces Fawni to return home, but she can’t bear to part with Khyff and takes him along. Her family demands she cast out the human, or abdicate her future rule.
When Fawni searches for an alternative, she stumbles upon Khyff’s secret. The cover-up, if exposed, will betray her world to its enemies and bare her family to open shame. Her duty is clear. Yet how can she leave Khyff to suffer in the darkness that binds his heart?
His secret truth is her people’s darkest lie.

This book is free on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon https://amzn.to/1f7Ge0P
Amazon (print) https://amzn.to/2eFKee5
In print from Romance Lives Forever Books https://bit.ly/bro-womenprint-kl
The prequel for this book is At the Mercy of Her Pleasure.
Bro is a free short story set before this book opens. Download it here. https://kayelleallen.com/bro/
Grab both At the Mercy of Her Pleasure and For Women Only plus a third book all in one boxed set.

Giveaway

Download the For Women Only Wordsearch Puzzle https://kayelleallen.com/media/forwomenonlypuzzle.pdf
The wordsearch puzzle prints on two pages, with the answers on page two. You’ll find words from the series hidden at all angles.
Download the first chapter of the book on my website.

Video

https://youtu.be/ghb2ueiRJ6s

About Kayelle Allen

Kayelle is a best-selling American author and a graphic artist. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.
Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
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