"Love!" Leonardo gasped as he saw Lucas run back with Candi in his arms.
"Oh my God, you're hurt!" He cried as he took off his outer Royal robe and spread it on the floor in the hallway. "Put her down and let me take a look at her wound."
Lucas placed her gently on the ground and also took off his black outer robe and covered Candi's body. Beside them, Slate positioned his hover chair so that no one could come near them or even see what was going on.
Meanwhile, Candi was still awake and alert. She could feel her hot blood gushing from her neck area but Leonardo had already begun the healing process and within seconds, had stemmed the blood flow.
Out in front of the curtains, the party continued unabated. Not even Lorem Ipsum had any idea things had devolved to the extent that it had. This was within the inner sanctum of the Royal Palace after all. It should have been one of the safest places to be.
"I've stopped the blood loss but she needs more healing." Leonardo spoke as he continued cleaning the blood from Candi's neck. "We have to get her to the Alpha Indigo Hospital."
"Really, I'm okay." Candi tried to reassure, but none of the men were listening to her.
"Have her sit with me." Slate gave a motion with his hand. "This hover chair can take her there quickly. You two follow behind as fast as you can."
They nodded as Lucas picked her up and placed her on Slate's lap.
Candi reached out and grabbed onto Slate's neck as he pulled her into his embrace.
She truly wasn't feeling that badly. It was just a stinging cut on her neck and it wasn't even bleeding any more.
Still, she wasn't going to turn down catching a ride on Slate's lap and cop a feel of his muscular body.
The Princes tucked her extremities in, tucking Lucas' black robe around her body.
As Slate held her within the shelter of his arms, a clear shield formed around the hover chair, enclosing both of them within its sphere. The chair had turned into a mini-transport pod.
Slate extended the harness belt over both of them and gave the mini-transport pod a quick gesture, sending it off to its destination.
Within seconds, Lucas and Leonardo were looking at the mini-pod as it raced away towards the hospital.
Without a word, they raced for their own transport pods. To hell with the Royal Ball. Candi was in trouble!
Alone with Slate, Candi smiled into his neck. She'd missed him so much ever since he had been on enforced bedrest.
"How are you feeling?" Slate rumbled in his chest at her.
"I'm fine. I told you I was okay and didn't need to go to the hospital. I just need a change of clothes."
She looked down, horrified as she realized her bloody dress had completely ruined Slate's perfect white suit.
She looked up into Slate's eyes with a grimace.
"Ugh. I got blood all over your white suit. I'm so sorry."
He reached out and touched her face, as if he hadn't heard anything as mundane as a dirtied suit.
"I've missed you so much." His eyes focused in on her lips. "I've been thinking about nothing but you the entire time we've been apart."
"I've missed you too." Candi breathed. "I'm glad you're better."
"I'm actually mostly healed." Slate smiled. "We've been trying to keep that from leaking out so that we could have a bit of a surprise military advantage."
His eyes grew bleak.
"I almost blew that secret when the attacker threw that shuriken at you and you took off to chase after him." He shook his head ruefully. "Leonardo had to hold me back."
"The Avgo would have protected me from the shuriken. I just happened to have instinctively kicked it away as it was flying at me." She said with a lightness that belied the gravity of the situation.
"You still got injured anyway." Slate's bright blue eyes were tragic.
He leaned down to kiss her neck where she had been hurt. Leonardo had healed her almost perfectly. There was only a faint red line where it hadn't completely healed over.
"I don't trust that Avgo power at all. I'd rather protect you myself." He muttered into her ear as he continued his licking and nuzzling.
His lips continued their exploration, trailing up and ending at her lips.
"You're driving me crazy, woman." With a sharp hiss, he took her mouth.
His crushing mouth assaulted hers, devouring her with greedy lips and tongue. He suckled her tongue and explored every inch of her mouth until she could barely breathe.
Unable to hold back, Candi returned his kiss with fervor, tangling her fingers into his long dark hair and pulling him closer to her.
Their kiss deepened until Slate felt control of his desires slipping. If he didn't stop now, he would not be able to stop at all.
He took a deep breath and with great effort, pulled back.
"We're five minutes away from the hospital or I would take you right here, right now."
Candi's eyes widened as she realized his manhood had gotten rock hard from her sitting on his lap.
"See what you do to me?"
"I—" She squirmed around, trying to avoid his hardness.
"Sit still." He rumbled. "This chair is only meant to hold one person. You're able to ride on me because you're such a tiny woman, but there is nowhere else for you to sit."
He reached out and interlaced her fingers with his own.
"I've been thinking of nothing but kissing you the moment I saw you standing there in the middle of the ballroom with your frilly bug wings, wide open."
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her sensitive fingers. "Since we're both in a tiny little pod chair in the middle of space, you'll just have to put up with my desires for now."
His voice turned serious.
"Next time, don't run after your attackers. We will continue to have guards shadow you so you can let them do their job of keeping you safe."
Candi bit her lip.
"Dante had Coral shadow me, but she couldn't be onstage with me for that Face to Face so when the attack happened, she was too far away to do anything. Next time—"
"There won't be a next time. I've replaced her."
"Wait. What? No! This wasn't her fault. She was waiting for me at the Royal Banquet Table."
"She should have been waiting for you backstage, but there was a huge security breech and there was not a single royal guard in the back. They had all been placed in the front, where all the guests were."
"But it's not her fault."
"You got hurt on her watch even though she had been specifically assigned by Dante to watch over you. She is not worthy to be your personal guard."
"Please. Let me talk to her."
Slate narrowed his gaze and then gave a nod.
"We're almost at the hospital. I'll have her join us there so you can talk with her."
Candi nodded.
They hadn't even reached the third event yet and things had already begun to heat up.