His eyes narrowed on me, then flicked to the man I held. “Don’t say a word,” he snapped, his steps never slowing.

“I wasn’t.” I shook my head for emphasis. “You look great. Really.”

“How. The hell. Could you stun me?” The words left him haltingly, filled with the dark edge of his fury. He stopped just in front of me, our noses touching. Hot breath fanned my chin.

Better to go on the offensive, or he’d stomp all over me with guilt. “I think a better question is how could I not?” I released my burden, and the body thumped to the floor. I wagged a finger at Rome. “You came at me as you would a target. You should be commending my excellent reflexes in taking down an assailant.”

His nostrils flared. “Commending? Did you just say commending?”

“Your hearing is excellent, Cat Man.”

His pupils elongated, the black growing thinner, pointing on top and bottom. “What happened to waiting outside like a good little girl?”

“Tanner and I wanted to protect you. You’re not invincible, Rome.”

“But I’m damn close.” He spread out his arms, motioning to the bodies lying around us. “You wouldn’t have almost gotten yourself killed if you’d stayed where you were told.”

“And you might have died if we had stayed. There was a man about to shoot you.” I rose on my tiptoes, putting us on more level ground. “And like it or not, you’ve got partners now. We’re supposed to look after each other. That means we look after you, just the way you look after us. Don’t try to do this all on your own.”

“If stunning me is how you look after me, I’d rather you didn’t.”

The man behind me moaned. “Look. I brought you a present. Two, actually. A live body and a note from the doctor.”

Rome brushed past me, crouched beside the man and hefted him effortlessly over his shoulder. “Lock all the doors,” he grumbled. “We might be here awhile. And what do you mean, a note from the doctor?”

I fished out the paper and held it toward him. “It was stuffed in a vibrator, of all places.”

Rome reached for the note, but suddenly stilled. One corner of his mouth lifted, as if to say are you kidding me? Then he shook his head, muttered, “God save me,” and grabbed the paper. He shifted the body over his shoulder as he read it. His expression became grim.

“You wanna put him down?” I asked.

“That bastard knew what he was going to do to you, and he did it anyway,” he said, ignoring me.

“What do you think he left me in the office?”

“I don’t know, but we will find out.”

His voice was so ominous, I shuddered.

“What if someone called for backup?” I asked, only then thinking of the possibility.

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take, rather than drag this guy with us.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Stand watch at the back and have Tanner guard the front. We’ll do this quickly and get the hell out.”

“Tanner,” I called.

The kid trudged down the steps. “There’s nothing else, just like I feared,” he said, throwing his arms in the air. “No papers, no diary. Nothing. Hey, did you guys decide to stop arguing?”

“Yes,” Rome said at the same time I said, “For the moment.”

I opened my mouth to give Tanner his new orders, but his eyes lit on the unconscious man, and he clapped excitedly. “Is he breathing? Awesome. We get to question him, don’t we? We’ll torture some answers out of him for sure.”

“I need you at the front, since you’re our expert marksman,” Rome said, hefting the body into the living room. “Stop anyone from entering.”

Tanner’s grin widened. “Did you see me take down that guy? Did you know I took him down in one shot? Just one shot?”

“You did real good,” Rome praised. “If I hadn’t been immobilized, I would have told you sooner,” he added darkly. “Belle, right a chair for me.”

As Tanner strode to the front door, I grabbed an overturned chair from the kitchen and dragged it to the center of the living room. Rome plopped the man in it and strapped him down with strips from his torn clothes.

“Should I turn on the lights now?” I asked.

“No. I don’t want anyone outside to be able to see in or to know there’s activity in here.”

“The neighbor is awake. He was surprised by the snow.”

“Did he seem suspicious?”

“Not at all. He just thought I was one of Dr. Roberts’s regular hookers, and that the two of us were having one hell of a party.”

Rome pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just… ” he waved a hand through the air “… get me a glass of water. Please,” he added after a moment’s hesitation. “And hurry.”

Okay, so I was no longer Wonder Girl. I was Errand Girl. That was fine. I didn’t want to torture the guy, anyway. “You don’t want me to put poison in it, do you?”

“Just water. Cold water.”

“Why not just have Belle conjure some raindrops?” Tanner wondered aloud from his post at the door.

“We don’t want to emotionally exhaust her,” Rome said. “We should only use her powers when absolutely necessary.”

Amen to that. I quickly found a glass in one of the kitchen cabinets, filled it at the sink and rushed back to Rome. “Here.”

He tossed the contents in the man’s face. Sputtering, our victim began to stir, blinking open his eyes. Rome and I leaned toward him expectantly. Seeing us hover around him must have shocked and frightened him, because he belted out a little-girl scream.

I winced. Rome grabbed a pillow to stuff over his face, and Tanner ran into the room and slapped him. “You should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Don’t hurt me,” the man cried. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“I locked the front door,” Tanner told Rome. “Can I stay?”

Rome rolled his eyes. “Why not. Why stick to plan now?”

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” the terrified guy said.

I’d never been to a torturing session before. I’d seen several on TV, of course, so I had kind of expected resistance. Maybe threats, maybe cussing. Instead our guy blubbered like a baby. “Is he faking?” I asked, confused.

“No,” Tanner said with disgust. “He really is this much of a pussy. No offense,” he added wickedly, looking at Rome. Then, exasperated, he threw up his hands. “How are we going to work in these conditions?”

Rome looked like he wanted to flip Tanner off, but instead crossed his arms over his chest. “What are you doing here?” he asked our victim.

“Waiting for Dr. Roberts,” was the hasty reply.

Rome gave Tanner a pointed look.

“What?” Tanner said.

“Is he telling the truth?”

“How the hell should-oh, wait.” Tanner hopped to the man-who screamed again-and placed a hand on his shoulder. He closed his eyes. “Yes. Truth.” His lips stretched into a full grin. “This is so cool. I’m a human lie detector, just like Lexis said. I mean, once I opened the gate to my superpowers-”

“You’re an empath, not the Hulk,” I said. Jeez. “And we need to get on with this.” I admit, I was nervous and wanted to leave ASAP.

Tanner splayed his arms, an action that said, Look at me and look your fill. “Don’t pretend you don’t like the Tanner flavor. Like I was saying, once I opened the gates to my powers, it’s been a constant stream of emotions and new abilities. The guy spoke and I could totally feel his fear recede.”

“Good,” Rome said. “Now, if you two don’t mind, I’d like to resume my questioning. That is why we’re here.” He frowned at each of us before turning his attention back to the man. “Does Vincent know where Dr. Roberts is now?”

“No, no. I swear he doesn’t.”

Tanner nodded. “Truth.”

Finally taking up my post, I walked to the nearest curtained window. I sank to the floor and crossed my legs, propping my elbows on my knees. There was a slight crack in the brown material, and I was able to see outside. The men had the interrogation under control, and we needed a lookout. Thankfully, everything appeared calm.

“What are Vincent’s plans for Belle?”