Moths to a Flame

"Leo!"

Dante's green eyes were murderous and his body was shaking with fury.

"You dare walk into my home and abduct my woman???"

"Dante. Get a hold of yourself." Leo raised a finger in warning. "This is not an abduction and she is not your woman."

"You!!!" Dante jumped at Leo, even as Jason and Jared held him back.

"Go!" Jason yelled at Leonardo, who turned away with his aide and left the room.

"Come back here, you asinine cretine! You bastard! Don't you dare leave with my wife!!!"

"Chill down, Dante." Jared growled, even as he held Dante's snarling struggling body back. "Leo's not a bastard, he's our Father's son. And might I remind you once again that Candace is not your wife?"

"At least not yet." Jason muttered in his other ear.

Once they were assured that Leonardo had left, the twins let go of Dante.

He turned back at them with rage boiling in his green eyes. His blue hair stuck out in porcupine spikes everywhere as he ruffled his head with frustrated hands.

"Aaarggghhh!!!" He roared and strode out of the war room.

Jason and Jared glanced at each other and ran after him.

Five minutes later, he was in the ballroom, shooting at the chandeliers hanging above the high ceiling and ripping up the floors he had so lovingly laid out for Candace.

CRASH!!! BANG!!! BOOM!!!

Dante roared like a wounded animal as he destroyed the ballroom within a matter of minutes. Of the elegant stately ballroom, there was not much left but dust and rubble.

Jason and Jared stood helplessly behind him. It was better to just let him take his anger out on the room than to keep it bottled up inside.

"Jonas!" Dante called out to his Assistant. "Get all my warships ready. We are making a house call to Emporia NOW!!!"

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Candi sat on the beige leather chaise lounge that looked almost like an examination chair and stared at the yellow tulips in a ceramic pot on the table in front of her.

The transport pod that she had been ushered to was very different from the almost sterile empty white transport pod that Slate always took her around in.

This one had pale yellow walls and cream carpeted floors, and living palms and fiddle-leaf figs in their own containers with real dirt in it.

The furniture placed around the pod actually looked like real furniture. There were real Van Gogh paintings on the wall, and the bust of Chopin was on top of a real black upright piano.

This was not the clean impersonal white functional piece that Slate used in all his living quarters. This was like a real room in a real chalet.

"I'm sorry it took awhile for me to leave. I had to convince Dante to let you travel with me." Leonardo's voice could be heard as he strode through the open sliding doors.

Candi stood up with a smile.

The man with the long blond hair and soft aqua blue eyes who swept into the pod was just as tall as all his brothers and just as handsome in his own unique way, but he had the one distinct difference.

He smelled of mint and sandalwood.

"I'm surprised he let me go. I know Dante, Byron, and Slate had insisted that I remain in his Moon for safety reasons."

"Well, he finally listened to reason. This is an emergency after all." Leonardo made his way to her and took her over to the command chairs.

"Let's strap you in so we can take off. We don't have much time."

Candace nodded and followed him to the egg shaped console chair. It was the only piece of furniture in the entire place that was hover-pod standard.

"Slate is in trouble." She said as the automatic safety harness slowly lowered, locking her in place.

"I can't just sit in a safe corner and watch when he needs me. He has rescued me from so many dangerous situations. It's my turn to be there for him. My turn to protect him."

Leonardo sat down in his chair and began punching codes into his armrest console. His eyes were downcast as he surreptitiously regarded her from under his long thick dark lashes.

He had not spent much time with this woman, but he was starting to understand why his brothers were all falling over themselves over her.

It wasn't because she was breathlessly beautiful. There were so many beautiful women everywhere he looked.

It was something in the way she moved and something in the way she smiled. It was something in the way she faced the world with so much bravery and heart that attracted them all to her like moths to a flame.

It had started when he first saw her vaulting onto his piano and whipping around that antique crystal lamp that had once belonged to Marie Antoinette. He had also seen how she faced her opponents when things were at their worst.

And now, her words were like honey dripping into his soul. This little tiny dancer was trying to protect a big strong man like Slate. It made him want to laugh.

It also made him want to cry.

As he completed entering the space coordinates into the pod, he turned to her.

"Just so you know I am not going to send you into the lion's den alone. My men are going to secure Slate and then someone from the inside will escort you back out."

Candi stared at him as the pod rose up into the air and shot out of Dante's Moon.

"You have someone from the inside?"

Leonardo nodded.

"I'm a physician, but more than that, I command the entire fleet of starship hospitals throughout the galaxy." Leonardo said matter-of-factly and without pride.

"As it so happens, several of the physicians working on the Emporia starships are part of my staff. They will find a way to escort you back out."

He turned back to the console with nervous fingers. What he didn't tell her was that the physicians who were embedded within the Emporian ships were mostly lower-ranked individuals and may not be able to do as much as he needed them to do.

Still, it was the best plan he could come up with on such short notice. He could not go against the Emperor's orders. Furthermore, his Baby Brother was in danger and she was the only one who could save Slate.

He could only hope her Avgo gemstone was as protective as his father had said it would be.