“Harper…” He gave her a crooked smile and twisted his hand to grip hers back. “I won’t leave you again.” He tugged her up to face him and grabbed her other hand as well. “I won’t leave you.” He leaned forward and planted a feathery kiss on her forehead. “But we do need to leave. Before more of these guys come.”

“They’re already here,” she said dryly, peering past him to see a group of similarly equipped men pacing toward them with definite purpose. Rome turned to see them just as they broke into a jog, aiming their guns.

“Shit!” He pulled out his gun and dragged her to the nearest cover, behind another warehouse. “Can you stop them again?”

“I think so,” she answered slowly, giving him a look she hoped conveyed a confidence she wasn’t sure she had. He nodded at her.

She stepped out from behind the wall to face the oncoming group, noticing they were a bit bigger and bulkier than the other three. Like the men she’d escaped from at the facility. Uh-oh. They probably had powers, too. That could make things interesting. She moved forward a few more steps into the last rays of the setting sun and extended her arms.

The heat cascaded over her. Reliving the rush of power in her mind, she called upon it once more and pitched the energy toward them.

The lead man raised his hand, shooting a murky barrier ahead of him. He ran through her wave of energy unscathed. But two of the men behind him were knocked to the ground. She couldn’t tell whether they were unconscious or dead, but they were still. Only four more to go.

She sent another pulse of power their way. One more down. The other three ran through it like going through a waterfall, slowed but ultimately unharmed. She peppered them again and again, cutting up the air as if sending harsh ripples through a serene pond.

Just before the leader reached her, he was attacked by a different power source: Rome.

But before she could do anything to help Rome as he grappled with their attacker on the concrete ground, the air was knocked from her lungs. She hit the ground hard right next to Rome. Another body piled onto the one already on top of her. The harsh ramming forced a grunt from her lips as she struggled to breathe.

The tussling to her left paused for a moment, then resumed.

A strange sensation flushed over her, a weight heavier than the two men, as though a solid screen pressed against her. Trying to crush her.

Her body strained against the unseen force. After unsuccessfully shoving against the obstruction with all her strength, she suddenly recognized what was happening. These two men were propelling an energy force at her, just like she had at them. Her breath came in strained spurts as panic and anger invaded her senses. Every wrenching intake was tinged with dusty asphalt.

Tilting her head, she saw Rome fighting two men now. They had him pinned and were delivering vicious blows to his body while he flailed and kicked at them.

No. She couldn’t let them take Rome. He’d sacrificed too much for her. She had to do something.

She focused her energy while the men who held her captive tried to force her to turn over, facedown. Molten heat roared through her body, blazing in her blood. Prickles of fire danced under her skin and flashes of gleaming white light sparkled in her vision. An inferno of force swelled from every corner of her mind, racing to her limbs and surging outward, heaving her enemies off her.

They landed several feet away, against the wall of an adjacent warehouse, stunned but not out for the count. Harper shot to her feet and stalked toward them. Angry. Primitive. Hating them with every fiber of her fiery being.

One of the dazed men reached behind his back and pulled out a gun. A cracking sound reached her just before the bullet snapped into the muscles of her shoulder. Harper flinched from the sharp contact but ignored it, continuing to close in on the shooter and his woozy partner.

Stopping mere feet from the two of them, she held out her hand and channeled the power once again without hesitation. She wanted this. Wanted them dead. Surprise was the last look on their faces as the pure energy from her mind crested and tore through their cloudy shield of resistance, killing them easily.

Harper spared them one last glance; then she whipped around, cutting the distance between her and Rome with determined strides. His assailants had frozen momentarily to follow her approach.

The two men shoved away from Rome and stood to face her, obviously regarding her as the bigger threat. Good. She was.

They raised their hands and she felt the displacement of air as their combined power rushed toward her. Unlike her clear wave, theirs was definitely visible. Curious. Spreading her arms palms out, Harper met their energy head-on with her own. A moment of forces colliding, creasing the space between them in nearly invisible wrinkles-then hers ripped through theirs, decimating the two men in an instant.

Blinking the stinging sweat out of her eyes, she tried to take a deep breath of the light evening breeze into her heaving lungs. Looking up, she saw the sun had set and the clear sky behind the trees was daubed in brilliant pink hues.

Her strength drained and she bent over, resting her arms on her thighs. The fierce exertion had finally caught up with her.

A slight pain in her shoulder claimed her attention. She peered at the spot, seeing a small bloodstained hole in the gray sweatshirt.

Harper tugged at the neck of the shirt, exposing the wound, wincing at the pinching sensation that crawled over her shoulder. Her bloodied skin started to itch something fierce. As she scratched it, a tiny object spurted out and dropped on the concrete with a light clink.

It was the bullet. The shell was stained with a rusty liquid. Her blood.

Harper took a closer look at where she’d been shot. Though a tiny red spot marked her skin, the entry hole was very shallow. Poking at it with her index finger, she felt the tingling under her flesh seep away. After a moment, the tissue wasn’t even tender and the skin was almost whole again.

She shook her head, lacking the energy to even try to process this newest development.

Rome lay on the ground. Blood ran from his nose and a mean cut across his forehead. “Thanks,” he rasped, splaying his hand across his right ribs as he tried to roll over. “Again.”

She gave him a crooked smile in answer, relieved not to see any censure in his eyes. Though fully exhausted, a curious sensation of exhilaration coursed through her, prickling her muscles. Their attackers had the same kind of powers she had, but hers were somehow stronger. And purer. Dominant. She felt empowered. Invincible. And she liked it.

Rome grunted and leaned on his side in an attempt to get up. Harper straightened and took the last couple of steps to his side. She bent down, placing her hands under his arms to help scoop him upright. His grunt turned into a deep groan as he stood, a bit wobbly. She leaned close, allowing him to slide his left arm across her broad shoulders to steady himself. Their glances brushed over the bodies that scattered the warehouse site like driftwood on the beach.

He reached over to touch the red splotch on her sweatshirt. She watched him stare at the fabric, examining it from every angle with a frown.

“This shot wasn’t meant to kill,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s not good.”

That wasn’t a good thing? They weren’t trying to kill her anymore?

Wait, she knew what that meant now. They didn’t want her dead because they wanted to do more experiments on her.

“I think you’re right,” she agreed. Big bullies. Well, it wouldn’t be long before she turned the tables. She had Bobby’s data now. Soon she’d have the information she needed to take down her enemies. And with Rome’s help, they’d be darn near unstoppable.