The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

each other, the partners become distracted whenever one or the other gets into danger. Because of that, I don’t date fellow Ascendants.”
    “You are dating Farshot!” Carrie hissed, incensed.
    “I am not! We’re just friends,” he whispered back defensively.
    “Oh, friends, really? Then why is it she keeps coming on to you like a love-struck puppy? Or didn’t you notice that, Mr Touch-Telepathic?”
    “She’s not in love with me. She’s in love with Oversight. But he’s gay!” Wincing, Steelhand covered his masked face with his bared hands. “Oh God, I did not mean to reveal that. God, this is another reason why I don’t date people ...” Dragging his hands free, he sighed. “Look ... I like you. A lot. Too much to treat you as anything more than a colleague, because League policy prohibits partners from dating. I’m good at my job. I love my job. I will do whatever it takes to adhere to the rules.”
    She eyed him askance. “The League prohibits partners from dating? Since when? Where did you hear that piece of drivel?”
    “When I first joined the League as an active-duty Ascendant, I was given the lecture that League members on the same team do not date each other,” he explained patiently. “Adding a relationship to the situation is too much of a distraction, given the potential danger in our line of work. That means that, no matter how attractive, intelligent, funny or competent I find you - and you have no idea how much I do — I cannot date you. Statistically, it increases the danger on the job, and it puts a dual strain on the Ascendant in question, because if their date and their partner are ever both placed in peril, they’ll be torn in two different directions as to who to go help first. The partnership has to come first!” Steelhand seemed to know the entire League manual by heart.
    Memory of the study came back to her. Foresight rolled her eyes. “Did your superiors ever tell you about the second study they released? The one encouraging partners to date? Yes, to date someone who isn’t your partner is a potential problem in an emergency, but if you’re dating your partner, the study found that you tend to fight harder to protect them. The Spartans at Thermopylae were all lovers as well as partners, and they held off a massive invasion force for days back in ancient Greece -and I’ll remind you that very few of them were Ascendant heroes! If it works for regular citizens, it’ll definitely work for us.
    “Look, why else would Oversight go to all the trouble of pairing us up male—female, if not to encourage dating opportunities? With your steel-skin ability, you’d actually be a better partner for Bomber, but he didn’t pair you two together,” she said. “That’s because the League’s policy is to encourage Ascendants to date, marry and produce more Ascendant-potential offspring. Stable families come from couples who have a long-term friendship and know how to work well together in times of adversity. Teammates who get along well fit that bill very nicely.”
    He frowned at her, confused. “If that were so, then why didn’t I hear about this?”
    “Maybe your former supervisor just didn’t want to deal with the headache of couples dating and breaking up, and partnerships constantly having to be rearranged. Did you ever think of that?
    “Backhand is patrolling the Riverside where Nearsight is working undercover. Between his super-strength and his ability to turn invisible, he can keep an eye on her at least part of the time. He wouldn’t do any less for an assignment because they’re dating each other. And Oversight knows it. That’s why he has never reassigned Backhand to partner with anyone else.”
    Steelhand gave her a puzzled look. “Backhand and Nearsight are dating? Are you sure? They act so ... professional around each other.”
    “You knew that Oversight is gay — which I didn’t even know — but didn’t know that Backhand and Nearsight were going out?” she asked.
    A blush spread across his lightly tanned skin. Steelhand cleared his throat. “The only reason I know is because I caught him leering at me in his thoughts at my interview.”
    “Well, you are rather handsome,” she told him. “And I have been flamingly jealous of Farshot because you’ve flirted with her, but not me. That’s why I didn’t want to be partnered with you any more. Because you weren’t interested in me. And it’s been killing me.”
    He moved closer to her,