by Jacey Ward
HARDER THAN DIAMOND
Chloe Fischer
Copyright © 2019 Jacey Ward and Chloe Fischer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written consent of the publisher. Thank you for buying an authorized copy of this book and complying with copyright laws.
This is a work of fiction. Resemblance to actual persons, things, living or dead, locales or events is entirely coincidental.
Contents
HARDER THAN DIAMOND
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
THE FAMILY:
CHLOE FISCHER & JACEY WARD
The Revenge Collection, by Chloe Fischer
BY JACEY WARD
PREVIEW OF DEMON TAKES ALL
HARDER THAN DIAMOND
Shay
I can’t trust him!
There’s something almost pre-destined about the way Coy and I keep getting thrown into each other’s lives.
And I don’t believe in destiny.
But damn, every time I stare into his dark eyes, I want to spill all of my secrets. Nothing good can come of this attraction – and I’m starting to think that he has more secrets than I do…
Coy
She showed up outside the compound I grew up in when we were kids, then almost 20 years later she showed up on my doorstep in the middle of the night, bleeding and scared, but unwilling to tell me what the hell was going on.
How am I supposed to keep her safe if she doesn’t trust me?
She’s haunted my dreams ever since we were separated as kids. And now… now I can’t get her out of my mind. Her scent drives me crazy, and every time we touch, it’s like a burst of power passes between us.
Just when I feel like I’m finally getting close to the organization that gave my family their superpowers, she shows up – again. And I’m so damn torn.
I can’t afford to get distracted by a woman.
And I’m starting to think that she’s involved with Oculus too. But is she part of their evil plot, or is she a pawn?
After training for combat since he was a toddler, Coy also became one of the world’s best computer hackers, and yeah, he has an extra ‘talent’ or two.
But it turns out, so does Shay…
Prologue
Electricity buzzed through his body as he scaled the high fence, his body spasming as the jolts coursed through him. Coy jumped down on the other side of the chain link fence, his skinny frame twitching. But the shock he had endured was short-lived and in seconds, the boy was on his feet, dashing toward the treeline. He needed to be out of sight before his family realized he’d breached the perimeter.
Again.
The one and only time he’d been caught, his mother had fussed over him for a week straight, almost tying him to a gurney to do a full work-up of tests. Of course there was nothing wrong. There never was, no matter how severe the injury seemed.
I’m invincible, Coy thought with the smugness only a twelve-year-old could have. It never occurred to him at his young age that everyone had a breaking point. Unfortunately, he seemed hellbent on finding it.
Through the thick trees he sprinted, glancing over his shoulder toward the compound. No one seemed to have realized he had scaled the fence yet.
So far, so good, he thought, grinning happily to himself as he bounded deeper into the woods. In just a few more steps, he’d see her again.
She was the first girlfriend he had ever had, other than his cousin Audrey, of course, and she didn’t really count. Coy was certain Shay was the prettiest girl in the world. She wasn’t really a girlfriend, of course. Just a friend who happened to be a girl. But it was still exciting. Because she was a girl – a real one.
Quit being an idiot, he chided himself. You don’t want her to know that you’ve never had a friend before – or met a girl either.
What are the chances that the most beautiful girl on the entire planet would be camping with her family right next to my compound? The universe likes me.
Soon, he was at the clearing and his eyes scanned the field, but to his disappointment, the area was clear. Gone was the camper and the family who had stayed there for the better part of the week.
Where did they go? She said they weren’t leaving for a few more days…
With a heavy feeling in his chest, he turned and looked back toward the compound, shaking his head in despair.
Unfortunately, even though he was still young, he suspected what had happened; his grandfather had figured out that there were outsiders on the land and done something to scare them off.
I was so careful! Coy thought, swallowing the lump forming in his throat. I made sure I wasn’t followed. I didn’t tell anyone about her, not even Roan!
The sound of twigs snapping caused Coy to spin around, his heart hammering as he looked toward the woods again. He half expected to see a critter scampering away but instead, he saw the lean figure of a young girl.
“It’s just me,” Shay called, stepping from the shadows, her pretty face lit with a smile. “I knew you’d come back today.”
His disappointment dissipated as soon as his eyes fell on her peaches and cream complexion. A wide grin split his face, and his body tingled with excitement.
It was absurd that merely seeing this girl could arouse such a feeling inside him. It was like nothing he’d ever felt before.
“Where’s your family?” Coy asked, hurrying toward her as relief flooded him. “I thought you said you were staying for another few days. I came back as soon as I could.”
Shay shrugged, her golden-brown hair falling loosely off her tiny shoulders.
“I don’t know why,” she replied. “But my dad just packed up and moved us out in the middle of the night. When I woke up, I realized we were gone.”
Coy’s brow furrowed.
“How far away?” he asked. “How did you know how to get back here?”
Shay shrugged and her grin widened.
“I have a really good sense of direction…and I can move pretty quickly.”
The answer was as vague as it was enigmatic, and a cautious shiver went through Coy, but he was too happy to see her to give it much more thought. Hypocrite, he chastised himself. He was hardly one to question someone else’s abilities after all.
“Do you want to come and see where I live?” he asked without really thinking.
Shay nodded, her brown eyes wide with interest.
“Yes,” she agreed. “I would like that. Is it far? I don’t want my parents to worry if I’m gone too long.”
“It’s just through the treeline,” he assured her. “We’ll come back here before they even know you’re gone.”
“And your parents won’t mind if I come over?” she asked as Coy reached for her hand. She reached out to take it without hesitation.
As their skin touched, a jolt flowed through him and he pulled his hand back as though he’d been burned. He’d never felt such a sensation in his body and he had no idea what to make of it.
“Did you feel that?” he murmured, and Shay nodded, her eyes wide with confusion.
“What was that?”
A glint of fear lit her eyes and slow
ly, she backed up as if she was afraid to touch him again.
“That was weird,” she agreed. They eyed one another uncertainly, neither sure what to do next.
Coy forced a smile. He didn’t want to part ways with Shay yet, not when they were just getting to know one another. For over a week, he’d snuck to the site to visit, stumbling upon her on one of his many forbidden adventures outside the compound.
How often do outsiders come around here? He mused. I won’t have an opportunity to make new friends again until the family finally lets me leave the compound and that could take years.
But Coy knew it was more than just mere loneliness that drove him to keep Shay close. Somehow, he felt connected to her, almost as if he’d been guided toward her by an unseen hand. It was crazy. There were acres of unexplored terrain around the compound, but he had just happened to stumble upon her family?
“Do you still want to come over?” Coy asked hesitantly, just now realizing what a bad idea that may be. His family wasn’t exactly welcoming. But at the same time, he was loath to part ways with Shay.
Shay cocked her head to the side and peered at him speculatively.
“Why do you live all the way out here?” she asked as she seemed to weigh her decision on the matter. “Don’t you go to school?”
She asked me that already, Coy thought, a spark of inherent suspicion coursing through his veins. She’s asked me that a couple times.
“I’m home schooled by my mom and aunts,” he replied slowly, suddenly staring at her with new eyes. “Remember? I told you that.”
Twice.
She nodded quickly and flashed him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“Right. Right, I forgot. Sure, let’s go.”
But something had changed, as if that first touch between them had opened a gap of wariness, although Coy couldn’t understand why. Until that moment, they had been two kids, getting to know one another.
“Actually, maybe it’s not such a good idea,” Coy backpedalled. “If my family catches you…”
“What will they do?” Shay asked lightly. “Kill me?”
Coy didn’t answer and instead let the silence hang between them.
Grandpa wouldn’t kill a little girl…would he?
He hated that, once more, his family had managed to slay any chance of a normal friendship he might have made, if not for their unusual situation.
I never get a chance to make friends and be a kid. Why would it be any different with Shay? he thought morosely.
It was nothing more than wishful thinking. Bringing her back to the compound was far too risky for everyone involved and he knew it—no matter how much he tried to tell himself otherwise.
“You should probably get back to your family, Shay,” Coy told her, looking down at the ground. “Sorry—I didn’t really think it through but my family won’t be happy if I bring you there.”
“Okay.” Shay sounded as crushed as he felt but Coy knew it was best for both of them. To his surprise, she shuffled closer to him, her white runners turned inward with nervousness.
Coy looked at her, slightly startled by her nearness but before he could react, she quickly pressed her lips to his.
Instantly, Coy was consumed with another bolt of energy which sizzled through him. Shay gasped and stepped back, her brown eyes bulging.
“Wow!” she breathed. “That was…weird.”
He nodded numbly, his own gaze locked on hers. He couldn’t tell if he felt good or bad, only that whatever happened when they touched was foreign and unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
“I-I should probably go,” Shay mumbled, turning around. “I…I guess I’ll see ya around.”
“Wait!” Coy called after her before she could disappear. “Take my email address. We can still talk, can’t we?”
She eyed him over her shoulder and nodded slowly before angling her body back toward him.
“If you want…” she agreed, but there was a reluctance in her voice.
“My email is [email protected]. Will you remember that?”
“Junior Con?” Shay laughed. “That sounds dangerous. Are you a con?”
Coy chuckled and shrugged.
“Not really. I’m just the youngest in my family. So I’m Junior Conway, I guess.”
Shay nodded, laughter flickering in her eyes.
“I’ll remember that,” she promised before pausing.
“Maybe you’ll come back next summer and we can hang out again.”
“Maybe,” she replied but there was little conviction in her voice. “My parents travel around a lot though. I don’t think we’ve ever been to the same place twice.”
“Oh.” More dissatisfaction laced his last word to her.
“Bye, Coy.”
She was gone before he had a chance to answer, vanished into the woods without so much as a backward glance and Coy felt a deep sense of loss.
I’ll see her again, he thought with childish optimism, touching his fingers to his lips where his first kiss lingered.
Maybe not next year but again.
“If you keep this up, your mother is going to lock you up in the barracks.”
Coy spun to see his father approaching and his heart leapt into his throat. Cautiously, the boy looked toward the area where Shay had gone but to his relief, he saw she was nowhere to be found.
“What’s the difference if I’m out here?” Coy sighed. “It’s not like I’m wandering around in town where there’s CCTV everywhere. And Grandpa owns all this land.”
“I agree,” Ryder Conway conceded. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t keep putting your body through electrocutions to scale the fence.”
Coy looked down and shrugged.
Is that what this is about?
“I don’t even feel it.”
“That’s the problem,” Ryder said patiently. “You have no idea how badly you’re hurt internally if you don’t feel pain.”
“Dad, I’m really not in the mood for a lecture,” Coy sighed, turning back toward the compound.
“Because your friend is gone?”
Coy froze before slowly spinning back around.
“You followed me?” he demanded.
Ryder sighed heavily and strode toward his only son, his face showing his concern.
“You’re too young to understand this now, Coy but one day, you’ll realize that everything we do is to keep you and this family safe. There are dangers at play here, ones that you can’t imagine.”
“Shay is not a danger!” Coy snapped defensively. “You don’t even know her!”
“Maybe not,” Ryder agreed. “But we’ve all been fooled before by seemingly innocent people. I wouldn’t want you to make the same mistake.”
Coy thought about the feeling that had surged between him and Shay just moments before and considered asking his father about it but something stopped him.
I can figure things out for myself. I’m not a child anymore, he thought firmly.
“When can I leave the compound?” Coy asked sullenly, not wanting to hear another suspicious word about Shay, not when the memory of her kiss was still so fresh in his mind.
“That’s a discussion for another time,” Ryder told him, brushing past his son to head back toward the compound. He stopped and turned to look at Coy, a look of regret filling his gaze.
“Coy…”
“What?”
“You can never bring anyone to the compound,” he said, and Coy felt his cheeks flush crimson.
He really was following me!
“I didn’t!” he protested. “I swear.”
“I know you didn’t but you almost did.”
Did he see the kiss too?
Humiliation coursed through his sinewy body and he dropped his eyes.
“Geez, Dad,” Coy muttered furiously but Ryder held his gaze evenly.
“Coy, look at me,” the older Conway insisted. “I want you to hear me very clearly now.”
Begrudgingly
, Coy met his eyes.
“What, Dad?”
“If you ever bring an outsider onto the compound, I can’t guarantee their safety. You know your grandfather. Do you understand?”
A chill shot through Coy as he stared at his father.
“No,” Coy replied sharply. “I don’t understand at all.”
“Fine,” Ryder said coldly. “Then let me spell it out for you. If you ever bring anyone onto the compound without invitation, their blood may be on your hands.”
Coy’s mouth gaped open but no sound came out. It was a dark and terrifying thought to drop on a child so young but Coy didn’t doubt it’s truth. That’s just the way his family was, how he had been raised.
“Do you understand now?” Ryder demanded, his eyes unflinching. “I need to make sure you do, Coyle.”
Slowly, Coy nodded but he couldn’t meet his father’s eyes.
“I get it, Dad.”
I get that I belong to a family who wouldn’t think twice about ending the lives of others to protect whatever secrets they think are so important.
He wondered what that would mean for his future, for his relationships, if he was ever permitted to have one.
Or will I always live under the reign of the Conway curse?
“Coy, when you’re older, you’ll understand that this family is all you can trust in the grand scheme of things. I know it’s hard to see that now but you will.”
“Sure, Dad,” he mumbled, but Coy was thinking something very different.
For the first time in his young life, Coy considered that maybe he didn’t want any part of this family, or his powers, after all.
Chapter 1
The plane nosedived, the altitude dropping at an alarming speed as the vessel torpedoed toward the earth. All around, lightning cracked as rain pelted against the aluminum of the plane, endangering the integrity of the body without mercy.
