Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

One. Two. Three. Four.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Candace tried to focus on her basic workout routine inside the Raptor 600's exercise room. The music was pounding and the rhythm was perfect, but her timing somehow felt off.

It was impossible to do much of the more intricate moves within the small space that was the warship's exercise room, but she needed to at least keep her body at peak performance. She missed her huge dance hall in Dante's Moon.

Dante.

Candi sighed and continued through the motions of her workout. She had to figure out how to approach him now that Lucas was supposed to be her husband, and Slate had just made love to her.

It just all seemed so tangled and messed up and sordid when in reality, everything flowed so naturally that she simply moved with the flow of events around her.

One. Two. Three. Four.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Candi moved quickly to avoid bumping into the treadmill that was to her right.

She shouldn't have been that clumsy. She was a dancer and a martial artist after all, but ever since she had awakened, Candi had been feeling a bit off.

It wasn't as if she was sick. It was more as if she was—unbalanced.

Candi tried to ignore the feeling as she continued her basic workout, but it never truly went away.

By the time she was ready to hit the shower, the unbalanced feeling had returned full-force.

As Candi stood in the shower trying to wash away the sweat and grime of the intense workout, she mentally calculate her monthly days.

Maybe it was that time of the month. It certainly was very possible.

Candi pressed her lips together. She had also been with two men physically in the space of a single week. That was not only highly unusual, it was downright strange, because before Slate and Dante, she'd had nobody.

As she stood there, letting the water flow through her blonde hair, she closed her eyes and ran through all the events within the last month.

Strange didn't even begin to describe all the things that had happened to a normal Earth woman like her.

Who in the world wakes up to find a male bat sitting in their house? Being whisked away into another world to do battle after battle just to stay alive—that was so crazy that it boggled the mind!

A twinge coming from her belly startled her out of her reveries. It wasn't exactly pain but it was a little uncomfortable.

Candi turned off the water and stepped out. She couldn't stand in the shower all day.

Candi was dressed and in the middle of drying her long blonde hair when a knock on the door sounded.

She went to open the door and Leonardo's smiling face popped through the doorway.

"Hello there my Princess." He reached out to give her a hug. "How is my Lady doing today?"

"I'm good!" She smiled, wondering if she should tell him that she was feeling a bit strange.

"Come. Have a seat here. I want to check on you and see how you're doing. Is that okay?"

"Yeah." She smiled and followed his lead.

He sat her down on the bed and pulled a chair up next to her.

"Lie down, Love." He patted the bed.

Candi blinked. He really meant it when he said 'check on her, as in a doctor checking up on a patient.

She eased back onto the pillow as Leonardo began touching her body everywhere with his glowing hands.

"You seem to be in excellent health." He grinned. That's more than I can say for the vast majority of my patients."

"But I'm not your patient." She grinned.

"No, but it's my duty to keep you healthy since you will be the mother of my child."

Candi laughed. "Is that the only reason?"

"That, and I love you." He reached out and ran his fingers through her hair, not with a clinical touch but with the touch of a man who was deeply in love.

Candi smiled again. Of course she knew this. Leonardo was not one to play games. He was a very simple man. He had made it very clear to her, even from the start, that he wanted to marry her. He had never wavered from that.

He was touching her again. His hands kept running up and down her stomach, as if he was searching for something.

"Is everything okay?"

"Hmmm?" Leonardo's aqua blue eyes looked up from his ministration. "Oh yes. You're fine. Like I said, if you were any healthier, you'd be an immortal goddess."

They both laughed.

A knock on the door interrupted their gentle discourse. They looked up to Slate poking his head through the door.

"Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to know if you two want to join me for dinner in about half-an-hour."

Slate looked anywhere but at Leonardo and Candi. It was a strange feeling to see him suddenly so reticent to be in his own quarters.

"Are the others joining us?" Leonardo asked.

"Yeah. I know the twins are going to be back in time for dinner. I don't know about the others."

"We'll join you. I'm finished with Candace's health exam." Leonardo stood up.

Slate turned his brilliant blue eyes at Leonardo.

"How is she?"

Leonardo nodded. "Good. She's very healthy."

He turned to Slate with an almost imperceptible fluttering of his eyelids.

Slate gave the merest hint of a nod, acknowledging Leonardo's signal.

"In that case, let's move from here to the dining area. I think I'm seeing in my future a very nice fat juicy burger." Slate said as he held open the door for them.

"Make two of those and I'll be very happy." Leonardo laughed. "Come, Love. Let's go feed your little belly."

By the time they reached the dining room reserved for the Prime Warrior and his family, Jason and Jared had arrived.

"Honey I'm home." Jason laughed and leaned over to drop a kiss on her upturned face. Of course that also meant that Jared had to have his turn as well.

Of Lucas, Byron, and Dante, there was no sign.

They waited around for another ten minutes before Candi received a mental signal.

'Darling.'

It was Byron.

Candi held up a hand to signal that she was getting a mental message. All the men stopped their chatter and looked at her.

"It's Byron," she whispered.

The brothers glanced at each other with more of those faint acknowledgements that they all seemed to understand.

Candi's eyes glazed over as she turned into her mind to talk to Byron.

'Is everything okay?

'Everything is fine, Darling. You and the guys eat first. We'll be home as soon as possible.'

'What's wrong Byron? Please tell me that you, Lucas and Dante are not hurt or—'

'No, no. It's nothing like that. Don't worry. It's just something that's come up here on Erenveil that we have to take care of.'

'Will you be staying in Erenveil for the night?'

'No Darling. As soon as this gets resolved, we're coming home.'

'Home?'

'Home.' Byron's voice was firm.

'Anywhere you are—that's HOME.'