Harder Than Diamond

by Jacey Ward

  “Wha…?” Shay mumbled but he pressed his finger to her lips.

  “Where are you?” Coy replied softly. “And who are you with?”

  “Everyone. We’re all here at the compound. All of us. Come on, Coy. We have a mission to accomplish.”

  “What’s going on?” Shay mumbled as she rubbed her eyes but Coy shook his head.

  “Let me call you back, Roan,” Coy said, his heart hammering.

  “Don’t wait too long, Coy. We have a mission to accomplish.”

  Coy disconnected the call and sat up.

  “What’s wrong?” Shay demanded, wide awake now as though she sensed his uneasiness.

  “We need to get out of here,” he muttered. “Now.”

  “Why? What happened?” Shay demanded, the worry apparent in her voice. But Coy was already on his feet, scrambling for his clothes.

  “I’m not sure,” he replied. “But something’s wrong. I think they have my family.”

  “Who?” Shay was rightfully bewildered and Coy did his best to explain as he hastily threw on his clothes.

  “That was my cousin on the phone,” he said quickly, gesturing for her to rise. “He claims that we have a mission to complete.”

  Shay’s eyebrows raised.

  “Is that unusual? I mean, didn’t you tell me that your family has been searching for Oculus for years?”

  Coy paused, his jaw tightening.

  “Yes and no,” he conceded. “We have been. But my dad, uncles and grandfather have no idea that I’m still working with the family to find Oculus. They thought I had distanced myself from them a long time ago. I needed them to think that so I could… have my freedom.”

  “Okay…?”

  “Roan said they’re all at the compound waiting for me.”

  Shay didn’t seem to understand.

  “So your cousin ratted you out?” she asked uncomprehendingly.

  “I don’t think it’s that simple,” he murmured.

  It can’t be. There’s no way that something like this would happen…

  “Then what?” Shay was becoming exasperated.

  “I think something’s wrong and we need to move, Shay. Just trust me. I’ll find you some proper clothes…hopefully my cousin Audrey left something behind in the guest closet,” he mumbled. “We need to move, Shay. Fast.”

  “What? Why? What’s wrong?”

  He paused, debating how much to tell her now.

  “He knows about you. He said your name and he knows we’re together.”

  Shay’s face lost all color, the look of panic quickly replacing any sign of sleepiness.

  “How?” she whispered. “I didn’t even know about you until a few hours ago.”

  “Someone is watching us, Shay, and we need to get out of here.”

  “But who?”

  Coy’s sense of urgency was pounding at his skull, screaming at him to get out. He didn’t have time to continue this conversation.

  “Simon, come on, boy,” he gestured for the dog to follow him. He released the locking mechanism on the sliding glass door in his bedroom that opened into his backyard, shooing the dog outside.

  He would text his neighbor, Allice, as soon as they left, asking her to watch Simon until he returned.

  He was blessed to have met Allice the first week he moved into the house, when Simon had gotten out of the yard and promptly made himself at home on the edge of Allice’s pond in her front yard. The supposed “predator” had parked himself close to the water’s edge and was tapping the surface with his paw. The disturbance was just enough to interest the fish, who were rising to the top of the pond expecting to be fed.

  Coy was eternally grateful that Simon only seemed interested in baiting the fish, he hadn’t actually done any harm. He had, however, made a friend in Allice who often cared for him when Coy had to leave town unexpectedly.

  Turning back to Shay, he grasped her arm firmly, pinning her with his steely gaze, letting her know how serious this situation was.

  “I need you to trust me right now, Shay. I need you to stop asking questions and get into the garage while I find you something to wear. We’re going to a safehouse out of state and we’ll figure out what’s happening when we get there. Do you understand?”

  She stared at him, her eyes huge.

  “You think Oculus got to your family?” she whispered and Coy exhaled.

  “I have no idea what to think but I know when to trust my gut. Roan has never told anyone about the part I’ve played in searching for Oculus before and there is no good reason he would do it now. He sounds strange, like he’s under the influence or something.

  “Listen, I know you’re new to this but I’m not. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I’m going to find out – as soon as I make sure that you’re safe.” He brushed one of those feather-light kisses over her lips, totally distracting her from the seriousness of their situation as he turned her toward the garage and gave her a slight push.

  She turned back to him briefly and their eyes locked. For a terrifying moment, Coy thought she was going to refuse.

  “What does it mean if Oculus got to your family?” she asked quietly. “Does that mean your family is the enemy now?”

  Coy had no idea how to answer that.

  “I don’t even know if that’s what happened,” he reminded her. “But I’m not willing to put you at risk, all right?”

  Shay visibly swallowed and nodded slowly, lowering her eyes.

  “All right,” she breathed. “I trust you.”

  A sweeping relief passed over him but it was fleeting. He was going to have to protect and preserve that faith at all costs.

  God, please don’t make me have to chose between Shay’s safety, or my family’s.

  Chapter 7

  “I should call my father,” Shay said unexpectedly and Coy cast her a sidelong look from the driver’s side.

  “We can’t,” he sighed. “You can’t call anyone. Didn’t you see that I got rid of my cell and we changed cars? There are a million ways we can be tracked if they want to find us and if they know we’re together, they’ll be expecting you to contact your father.”

  Shay’s eyes were huge and Coy felt a stab of guilt.

  This is too much for anyone to deal with, he thought miserably. She’s handling it well under the circumstances.

  “What are we going to do when we get to this safe house?” Shay asked. “If we can’t contact the outside world and your computer is at your house…”

  “Leave that to me,” Coy told her with more confidence than he felt. “I’ve dealt with worse circumstances than this.”

  The truth was, he had been wracking his brain for a plan of his own.

  Audrey. I have to get in touch with Audrey.

  But if Roan was compromised, there was a good chance that Audrey was too.

  And Dad? Uncle Xavier? The twins? Grandpa? Where are Mom and my aunts?

  The idea was horrific and one that Coy had never considered before. They were a fortress, the Conways, weren’t they? They had been prepared for every Oculus attack since the one which had separated his grandfather from his four powerful sons.

  Or did we just get too confident?

  More shame filled him as he thought about how he should have been there, at the compound to combat any unforeseen events. Instead, he had gone silent, pretending he didn’t care about the family and Oculus.

  This is my doing. I left them vulnerable.

  A hand slipped over his on the steering wheel and Coy saw that his knuckles had gone white. He was flying across the interstate.

  Instantly he felt his body relax under Shay’s touch and he met her eyes.

  “Maybe you should slow down,” Shay murmured. “Getting pulled over isn’t exactly inconspicuous.”

  He lifted his foot from the gas of the Corolla and the vehicle instantly lost momentum. He managed a sheepish grin but his heart was still heavy.

  “I don’t claim to understand half of what is going
on,” Shay told him softly. “But whatever it is, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Coy mumbled. She cocked her head and looked at him pensively.

  “You know what my…abilities are,” she said with curiosity. “But I don’t know what you can do.”

  He cast her a lopsided grin.

  “I thought I showed you what I could do,” he teased. “Or wasn’t that enough of a superpower for you?”

  To his amusement, she blushed. Fuck she’s adorable.

  Until Oculus kills that in her, Coy thought bitterly, his smile fading slightly.

  “You know what I mean,” she chided him, pretending to scowl. “You know so much about me, stuff that I never even imagined and yet I don’t know anything about you.”

  He scoffed lightly.

  “I just told you the entire history of the Conways in the Cliff notes. You literally know everything there is to know.”

  “Except what you can do. And what your family can do. You only said that you all had abilities like me too.”

  A familiar sense of defensiveness shot through him but instantly, he told himself to stand down. She wasn’t some stranger asking to pry into his personal life.

  This was Shay.

  “You don’t want to tell me?” she asked, sounding slightly hurt. “That’s okay – I understand.”

  “I don’t feel pain. I’m impervious to sickness and I heal fast – I mean fast,” he blurted out before he could change his mind.

  Her eyes widened.

  “Seriously?” she gasped. “Isn’t that dangerous? I mean, if you can’t feel pain…”

  “It’s kind of the opposite of dangerous, isn’t it?” Coy mused. “I mean I can’t really get hurt. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

  “But…but you can still die, can’t you? I mean, you have pain receptors as your body’s warning system. How would you know something was wrong if you don’t feel pain?”

  The question hung inside the car like stale cigarette smoke.

  “No idea if I can die,” Coy sighed.

  Not that I haven’t tried to push my limits.

  “What?” Shay said in disbelief. “You’ve tried to kill yourself?”

  His mouth gaped and he stared at her in shock. He knew he hadn’t spoken the words aloud and yet she seemed to have heard them as if he had.

  “I’ve never tried to kill myself,” he replied slowly, wondering if that was entirely true. He’d never swallowed a bottle of pills or slit his wrists but how about all of those aviation stunts or the fast cars on icy roads?

  Are you reading my mind, Shay?

  Her lips parted and a slight gasp escaped as she realized she had heard him but he hadn’t spoken.

  “Am I?” she gasped and he laughed shortly.

  “Looks that way,” he said, exhaling.

  This happened to Audrey and Roan too—they became interconnected with their…mates?

  “Mates?” Shay repeated. “Is that what we are?”

  She sat back, stunned. “God. I suppose that makes sense,” she took a deep breath and didn’t say anything for a moment. “After all, aren’t we like lab experiments, or something? Animals that Oculus is testing?” she said with disgust. “Oh God, I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “My grandfather was like an experiment, I think,” Coy conceded. “Or at least, that’s what the working theory is. As far as I know, neither my father nor my uncles ever had any dealings with Oculus. So, no, we aren’t fucking lab rats, Shay. We’re something else. We’re us. And they can’t control that.”

  “You’re a third-generation lab rat,” Shay rasped and Coy knew she didn’t mean to sound as cold as she did. “And I have no idea who I am. Is my father part of Oculus too? His father? Jesus, how far back does this go?”

  That’s the golden ticket question, isn’t it? How far back does it go and where the hell did it all start?

  “Has your father ever showed any signs of any abilities?” Coy asked instead. “Anything like what you display?”

  Shay shook her head.

  “But I know now that my father is excellent at being secretive. I mean, he might have had an ability all along and hidden it. Or maybe he has an ability that you can’t see,” she trailed off, the rest of the color draining from her face. “You don’t think…”

  She swallowed quickly, not allowing herself to utter the words, but Coy read her thoughts easily.

  “I don’t think that any parent would willingly experiment on their own children, Shay. Your father wouldn’t have done that.” Coy said quietly.

  But even as he spoke, he thought about Kimberly, his cousin Roan’s wife.

  I wonder if Roan is ever going to tell her the truth about herself.

  “Who’s Kimberly? What’s the truth about her?”

  Coy bit back a snort, meeting Shay’s eyes with a resigned smile on his face.

  “She’s Roan’s wife and her situation doesn’t matter here. It’s not the same thing.”

  Coy reminded himself that Shay could easily hear what he was thinking and managed to keep his mind blank, even though a thousand doubts were threatening to plague his thoughts. How could he be sure that Kimberly and Shay weren’t in the same situation?

  She looked at him uncertainly, then seemed to agree to let it drop for now.

  “Okay, so tell me something about the rest of your family then…I mean, if you trust me?” she hesitated. “You don’t have to…I probably shouldn’t have asked.”

  “Nah, you’re right. I know damn near everything about you – including how sensitive you are just underneath your left butt ch–”

  He chuckled as she jabbed him in the ribs, rolling her eyes dramatically.

  “Okay, well, my dad can take over your mind, which I gotta tell you, as his son, sucked.” She giggled at his disgust. “One of my uncles can control the weather – a lot better than I can anyways,” he paused at her gasp.

  “Jesus, you can control the weather too?” she gaped, incredulous. “And I thought I was strange…” she teased.

  He chuckled, glad that she had let the tension go.

  “So where is this safe house?” Shay asked.

  “We’ll be there in another hour or so,” he promised her. “There were closer places we could have gone but I want to put as much distance between us and the compound as we can.”

  “Like a country between us? We’re headed to Canada!”

  “North Pennsylvania,” he corrected. “Why don’t you take a nap? I’ll wake you when we get there.”

  She chuckled.

  “And what if I try sleep walking and overtaking the wheel?” she teased. Coy’s grin was genuine.

  “I’m pretty sure I could take you,” he teased, squeezing her fingers which were still pressed to his. “In fact, I know I can.”

  “It’s not fair—you have no fear,” she complained and Coy’s smile faded slightly.

  “That’s not true,” he growled.

  I’m terrified for you and my family right now.

  Chapter 8

  It was almost dark when the car pulled up to the non-descript wartime house in Scranton. Shay had fallen asleep despite her best intentions to stay awake and Coy couldn’t help but study her face as she slept.

  I probably shouldn’t have dragged you into this, he thought regretfully. You probably could have gone through your entire life without ever being the wiser about Oculus or the dangers enshrouding it.

  Then he remembered that they had constantly been pushed toward one another. One way or another, Shay would have been brought into his world.

  And it’s better I warn her about Oculus before she finds out the hard way, he reasoned.

  “Shay,” he whispered, leaning over to give her a sweet kiss on the cheek. His nose trailed along the softness of her skin and again, he felt a burst of heat spring through him. Gone was any distrust between them. Now he clung to the sensation of her touch as it released a shot of dopamine through his body.


  “Shay,” he breathed again, kissing her lips. “We’re here.”

  Her eyes fluttered slightly and she met his gaze sleepily.

  “I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she sighed and he smiled, his mouth inches from her.

  “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

  She slid her arms around his neck and pulled him closer for a kiss. Their lips met, igniting a now-familiar bolt of electricity between them.

  “I know this probably isn’t the best time to say this, given the circumstances,” she said, her voice still laced with sleepiness. “But despite all this craziness, I feel really safe with you.”

  The words warmed him, but then his heart clenched. It took Coy several seconds to understand why.

  What if I can’t keep her safe? What if I’ve dragged her into something I can’t protect her from?

  It felt like the first time in his life that he’d ever been unsure of his capabilities and the foreign feeling made him sick to his stomach.

  “Come on,” he urged. “Let’s go inside before someone calls the cops on us for making out.”

  She giggled and reluctantly, Coy pulled back to open the driver’s side door. As he made his way to the passenger side to let Shay out, a neighbor appeared at the house next door.

  “Hi there!” the man called, waving. “Just moving in?”

  Coy’s back tensed but he maintained a smile as he opened the door for Shay to join him. She looked like she was drowning in one of his track suits and a pair of socks. He hadn’t been able to find anything of Audrey’s at his place, so he’d promised to buy her clothes when they got settled but he was cursing himself for not having stopped on the way.

  “We’re just staying for a few days while the Hennesys are out of town,” Coy replied smoothly, watching as the neighbor’s eyes took in Shay’s attire with mild skepticism.

  “Oh. They didn’t mention any visitors,” he replied. “I’m Luke.”

  “I’m Sara,” Shay said before Coy could respond. “And this is my husband James.”

  She smiled sheepishly and leaned forward conspiratorially.

  “May I make a suggestion, Luke?” she asked and the man nodded cautiously, his eyes darting back toward Coy.