First name / Darlings!

 

 

How’s everyone doing? Have you finished reading The Capo yet? Opinions on chapter 25? 😈 Or are you waiting for book two…?

 

I have news about that. A little secret. Between you and me. 😛

The Angel (yes, that’s the title of the second book!🎉) is up for preorder and it will be coming your way April 10th! YAY!! 

That means I need to get my butt in gear to finish that final read-through so that it’s perfect when it hits your kindle! 

In other news, last week was also my birthday. Right as The Capo was releasing… and the funny thing was I agreed to the date! LMAO. Anyhoo, great b’day food, great company and some rest… just what the doctor ordered to disconnect from the stress of a release and a dual celebration that part one of the final duet of the Valentini Family Series is now out in the world. <3 

Before I let you go, I’m working with The Author Agency for this release, so if you’re a bookstagrammer, a booktoker, Booktuber etc and would like to read and review The Capo and The Angel, here is the sign up sheet: https://www.serenaakeroyd.com/influencers/ Much love and thanks to anyone who wants to help me get the word out ❤️

’Til next week… (when I will have a naughty image of The Capo for you to enjoy! 😉) Happy reading!

 

"Slowly put your weapon down," the female voice commands from behind me. Her tone has a pretty music to it, but it’s rough with adrenaline.

I comply, muscles moving with deliberate slowness as I lower my rifle to the ground. "Take six steps forward."

Specific. Tactical. Keeping me at a distance gives her time to react. I count each step in my head as I move forward, hands still raised. Behind me, I hear her retrieve my rifle. The sound of metal scraping against dirt. The slight adjustment of weight as she picks it up.

I take a risk, turning slowly to face whoever's got me in their sights.

The bright orange fabric, unnatural out here in nature, catches my eye first. Prison scrubs, filthy but unmistakable. She's wrapped her top around her head like a makeshift bandanna, blond hair spilling out beneath it. Her ribbed white tank top clings to a frame that's curvy yet also contains lean muscle and tension. Her face is streaked with dirt, eyes wide and alert, scanning me with the wariness of a cornered animal.

My mind catalogs those details automatically. The necessary ones. But it’s the inconsequential ones that hold my attention.

She’s beautiful.

As exhausted and scared and maybe injured as she is, dressed in an unflattering prison uniform, it barely dims how attractive she is. Her eyes are ice blue, almost gray. The wisps of blond hair delicately frame a face with high cheekbones and a strong yet feminine jaw.

She holds my rifle with competent hands. And she said weapon. Not gun. Military terminology. Or law enforcement. Immediately, I know I'm not dealing with a standard criminal.

Possibly someone much more dangerous.

I stare at her, measuring distance, calculating angles. Six steps. It would be far enough to be out of reach of a normal man—even one my size. I'm a big guy, towering over most people at six foot four.

But she doesn’t know that she’s not dealing with a normal man. I could possibly cross that gap before she steadied her aim, before her mind could convince her finger to pull the trigger. “What the fuck are you doing out here?” she grits out.

The truth is easy enough. “I’m hunting.”

Her eyes dart around. “You’re alone?”

I nod. But her tone holds some strange note. Like she’s not just checking if I’m alone. But like she has reason to believe that I can’t possibly be. Her eyes return from scanning the trees around us to me. She squints, clearly weighing whether she believes me.

I suddenly realize my pulse is jumping. Skittering. Racing.

Which it can’t be.

What the hell?

I've stared down the barrel of weapons that could have turned me into mist. I've faced trained killers in pitch-black rooms. I've had knives pressed against my throat hard enough to draw blood. My heart rate never changes.

But now it's hammering against my ribs like it's trying to break free.

She’s no calmer than I. Her ample chest is heaving. But even through the rain and the dark, my life threatened, it’s alluring. It’s not the threat that’s making my heart hammer.

It’s her.

She’s more than beautiful. She looks like a goddess. Not the clean, round-edged fairy tale version. No, the dark, messy, ancient kind. The girl who dances around the moon, and you can’t tell if her hands are soaked with blood or wine. She is a desperate force of nature. And it doesn’t quicken my pulse because I fear it.

Just the opposite.

I’m drawn to it.

Drawn to her.

"I need supplies.” Her voice is hard. Firm. "Food. Water. First-aid kit if you have it."

"My camp is about a half mile back that way." I point a thumb over my shoulder, my eyes not leaving hers.

"Lead the way."

My heart won't settle down. It's been quiet for so long that this sudden awakening feels like a betrayal. I don't do this. I don't react to people. But the ember of something inside me that I thought went cold years ago flares.

I raise my hands higher, using my quickened heart and breath to play the part of the terrified hunter caught off guard. "This way."

It's a good thing I'm in front of her. Because I can't help the rueful smile. A nice, pretty girl at a general store wasn’t enough to attract me. I guess it had to be a beautiful woman threatening to kill me.

 

Listen to chapter one HERE.

Listen to chapter two HERE.

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