Harder Than Diamond

by Jacey Ward

  “What was she saying?”

  What could she possibly have been saying to cause him to act like this?

  He shook his head.

  “For me to answer that, you have to understand something else…”

  Shay stared at him, unsure of how much more she wanted to hear.

  “Your mother never wanted children,” he said again and Shay’s jaw tensed.

  “Yes, you said that,” she whispered, her heart cracking a little more, but Geoff shook his head.

  “But she’s the one who brought you home—out of the blue. One day she just walked into the house with a one year old in her arms and asked me if I was happy.”

  “What?” Shay choked. “She what?”

  Geoff couldn’t meet her eyes.

  “I knew there was something wrong, that people didn’t just walk into an adoption agency and walk out with a baby, but Shay, I was so happy she’d changed her mind…”

  “You never looked into where I came from?” she demanded. “You just accepted her word and raised me as your own kid without saying a thing?”

  “I did a missing person’s search. I was worried she had kidnapped you, but that didn’t make sense. Clara just wasn’t the type.”

  “But I came from somewhere, Dad!”

  Geoff was quiet for a long moment.

  “That’s what your mother said the night…that night,” he breathed, his voice barely audible.

  “What? What did she say?” Shay’s voice had raised and octave. Slowly, he met her eyes and exhaled.

  “She told me you weren’t even really human, Shay, and that’s why you are the way you are. Clara insisted it was time to return you to the people who had made you—and I snapped.”

  Chills raced through her but she could only gape at him.

  “Not human?” she echoed. “She said that?”

  “Of course that’s not true,” Geoff rushed on, his face as white as paper. “But I had no idea where she was going to take you…”

  “So you killed her,” Shay said flatly.

  “No,” Geoff muttered and Shay’s head shot up to glare at him.

  “No what? You just told me you did!”

  “I thought she was dead. She was here for two days before her body was taken away. Shay, I was sure she was gone.”

  “Dad, you’re not making any sense,” Shay insisted. “What are you trying to say?”

  “She’s alive, Shay. Somehow, she survived and she’s coming back for you.”

  He’s delusional. All the stress is finally getting to him.

  But he obviously believed what he was saying. Why else would he have hired Coy if he didn’t think it was true?

  “You hired Coy Conway to find her,” she said flatly. “Why him?”

  Geoff’s eyes were almost saucers.

  “You know about the Conways?”

  Shay nodded, impatient to hear more.

  “I’ve known Coy since we were kids.” Her father looked at her blankly and slowly, understanding filled his eyes.

  “The compound,” Geoff breathed. “He was the boy that you met on that trip.”

  “Y-you knew about their compound?”

  “None of it made sense at the time, Shay, but I’ve had years to go over it in my mind. Clara had a fascination with that area. She used to bring us there a lot on our camping weekends, do you remember? I thought she just liked Virginia but now I know she was looking for that compound.”

  “I guess she found it…?” Shay muttered, trailing off. Suddenly, fear catapulted through her veins. “Oh, my God! Is she going after the Conways?”

  “I don’t know what she wants with them or where you came from, Shay, but I was hoping Coyle would tell me. He seems to have disappeared and—”

  “He hasn’t disappeared!” Shay leapt from the table. “I have to get to the compound!”

  “No! Wait!” Geoff yelled out after her but Shay didn’t pause. She didn’t claim to comprehend what was happening in the least. All she knew was that her mother was likely still alive and targeting her lover.

  And it was all because of her.

  “SHAY!” Geoff howled, the panic in his voice stopping her dead in her tracks. Slowly, she turned to stare at him as he appeared in the doorway of the house.

  “Your mother is dangerous,” Geoff whispered, the alarm in his face almost tangible. “You can’t confront her.”

  “I can’t stand by and do nothing!” she insisted. “Whatever she’s doing has already taken effect. There’s something going on at that compound now.”

  Father and daughter eyed one another. “I’m going with you then.”

  “No, Dad, you have to stay here. What if she comes here looking for me? You can finally…end all of this.” Shay didn’t know what she meant by that, but she knew that she had to convince her father to stay here. If her mother was as dangerous as she was starting to believe, she couldn’t risk losing her father too. He was the only family she had left.

  “Take my security team with you,” he pleaded. “You can’t go there blindly.”

  She scoffed inwardly. There was nothing that the hired goons could do against powers like the Conways. Hell, they were no match for her own powers. But the devastation on her dad’s face was enough to make her hesitate. She realized it was the only way he was going to let her out of his sight.

  “All right,” she mumbled. “I’ll take them, but tell them to hurry up. We might already be too late.”

  “Too late for what? What do you think she’s doing?”

  Shay could only shake her head.

  “I have no idea,” she confessed. “I guess I’m going to find out.”

  Chapter 14

  It had been years since he’d been in the barracks but it seemed his family had remodeled it to accommodate him.

  There wasn’t any light, except what emanated from the moon beams filtering through the bars of the antiquated cell. Someone had taken care to remove all sources of energy from the area, and even if he managed to pull a charge from the air, it wouldn’t be enough to free him from the iron bars of his prison.

  While they had disarmed him of his berretta, they hadn’t bothered to tether him, assuming that he would free himself at all costs, even if it meant taking off a hand.

  I guess they need me fully intact for whatever the hell they’re planning here.

  “All you have to do to get out of here is call Shay,” Audrey told him reasonably, her eyes gleaming almost maniacally as she padded around out front. “She’ll come running and we can all be together.”

  “What the fuck did that bitch do to you?” Coy growled at her, lunging for the bars. “Audrey, you can overcome whatever she’s done to you.”

  “Done to us?” Audrey laughed. “She freed us! Gave us our real purpose on this earth.”

  “She’s Oculus, Audrey!”

  Or at least I think she’s Oculus. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

  Not that anything really made sense anymore.

  “Honey, there’s no point in fighting it. We’ve been fighting it for far too long.” Paige appeared from behind her niece and placed a strong hand on Audrey’s shoulder. “Look at us. Do we seem hurt? No, we’re happy—happier than we’ve ever been.”

  They’re acting like a cult. How did Clara do this to them? And why aren’t I affected?

  “Aren’t you tired of fighting, of running?”

  “I won’t be brainwashed, I’ll tell you that much,” Coy growled. “And if any of you touch Shay, I promise, I’ll never forgive you.”

  Paige’s eyes widened.

  “Is that any way to talk to your mother?”

  “That sounds more like the way he speaks to his cousin, Roan,” Ryder agreed, ushering the women away. “Let me have a word with him.”

  Even their choice of words is weird, Coy thought to himself, dad would normally just say ‘Roan’, not feel the need to identify to us who Roan is…

  Coy looked at his father warily as his mother and cous
in disappeared into the darkness.

  “Dad, what the hell is going on?” Coy growled. “What does she want with us?”

  “You’re looking at this all wrong, Coy,” Ryder chuckled. “It’s what she can do for us, not what she wants from us.”

  “Whatever. What the hell is going on?”

  Ryder’s mouth curved into an almost serene smile and he sank onto the floor, extending his long legs.

  “For three generations, we’ve been fighting against Oculus,” Ryder explained. “And why? Because Drake told us they were the enemy.”

  “Dad, whatever this is—whatever bullshit she fed you, I want no part of it. You know I haven’t been involved with the comings and goings of your missions. You know I don’t care about Oculus or any of it.”

  He was never so glad for the lie.

  “But what if they aren’t the enemy?” Ryder continued dreamily, either ignoring Coy’s words or not hearing them. “What if Oculus has been trying to help us all along and we’ve been resisting?”

  Ice formed inside Coy’s veins.

  Oculus has managed to brainwash my entire family, but how?

  “Well, gee, Dad. I don’t know. I find it hard to believe that a faction that would attack a house with four toddlers isn’t exactly on our side. They killed your mother right in front of you, Dad, and almost killed your father – how can you forget all that? You spent your entire childhood in hiding because of them!”

  “Yes, yes, that’s what Drake told us, but who really knows what happened? Isn’t it more likely that your grandfather was the one who went rogue, tried to steal proprietary information and got caught?”

  Coy would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so frightening. He had never seen his father like this—no one in his family, in fact.

  I guess it’s possible that she could have turned one or two of them, but all of them? They must be drugged. Their brains are just too dominant for all of them to be brainwashed.

  But then, why hadn’t he been drugged too? The other Conways seemed so compliant, so easy to bend. Why didn’t Clara simply give Coy a dose and order him to do her bidding?

  Maybe because I’m impervious to illness. Maybe my body would reject it.

  There was really no time for speculation. He needed to get out of there and warn Shay that she was also in danger.

  “Okay, Dad,” he agreed. “I’ll go get Shay and bring her here.”

  Ryder’s eyes brightened and he clapped his hands gleefully as he jumped to his feet.

  “I knew you’d come around,” he said happily. “I’ll let you out.”

  Alarm vibrated through him.

  It couldn’t be that simple, could it? Did she give them a lobotomy?

  But he watched as Ryder unlocked the door and nodded warmly.

  “Now hurry back. We’ve already wasted too much time.”

  Slowly, Coy took one step outside the cell, half expecting to be tackled again, but there was no one else in the barracks. Nothing happened.

  “You need to hurry,” Ryder told his son again. “Oculus is waiting for us.”

  He paused and looked at his father.

  “Who are they, Dad?” he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. “Who is Oculus?”

  Ryder smiled.

  “You’ll have all the answers you ever wanted in due time, my sweet boy,” Ryder assured him and the answer made Coy’s gut twist.

  “My sweet boy?” This isn’t my father.

  “We’re almost there, Coy. Isn’t this what we’ve been striving for all along? To get the truth and be free?”

  Okay, this hippie shit is freaking me out.

  “Of course, Dad,” he replied gruffly, shoving past him. “I’ll be back soon.”

  “Oh, I know you will,” Ryder replied with too much confidence and more uneasiness shot through his gut.

  It shouldn’t be this simple.

  “Off you go,” Ryder chirped. “See you soon.”

  He couldn’t move fast enough, but as he bolted up the steps and landed himself outside, that’s where he froze.

  The entire family stood together, spread out in front of him in an eerie half circle. They were just standing there, waiting expectantly, silently. His uncles, aunts, cousins and their spouses watched him with luminous, unblinking eyes. Clara stood in front of them, seemingly unperturbed by his lack of binding.

  Wait a second. Everyone was there—except his grandfather.

  What did they do to Grandpa?

  He thought about his father’s words, how somehow Ryder believed that Drake was the one at fault for all that had happened.

  This is creepy as fuck. And so, so wrong.

  “I’ll be back,” Coy muttered, although he wasn’t sure why he bothered lying. They didn’t seem at all concerned that he wouldn’t come back – even though they had to know once he left, he wasn’t stepping foot back on the compound, least of all with Shay.

  No one made a move, nor a sound, but Coy got the distinct impression that they were communicating amongst themselves.

  Without turning back to see if they followed, Coy sprinted through the clearing between the bungalows and toward the electric fence, scaling the border as he had hundreds of times before, but it had been disabled and for the first time, he wasn’t pelted by electricity when he made contact. He landed on the other side, unharmed, and, as far as he could tell, unfollowed.

  Suddenly, he was running, his heart pounding as he retraced his steps to the Corolla waiting a mile up the lonely roadway.

  My cell is in the car. I’ll call Shay and ensure she gets to safety, he thought grimly. I’ll meet her and we’ll figure out a plan from there.

  But what kind of plan could he concoct when he had no idea what the hell he was up against.

  He jumped into the unlocked car, but before he could make another move, a strong hand encircled his throat.

  “Don’t make a sound,” Drake hissed in his ear. “Just drive fast and far.”

  He met his grandfather’s eyes in the rear-view.

  I should have known they wouldn’t let me go so easily, Coy thought furiously. I let my guard down.

  “Coy, you need to trust me,” Drake growled, sensing his grandson’s reservations. “Just drive.”

  There was nothing spacey about Drake’s tone, nothing that indicated he was anything but the hard man he’d always been.

  Slowly, Drake removed his hand from Coy’s windpipe and the younger Conway whipped his head around to look.

  “What the fuck is going on, Grandpa?” he snapped.

  “You need to get moving before it’s too late,” Drake hissed. “And whatever you do, stay away from the girl.”

  “What?” Coy demanded dubiously. “I can’t! They’re looking for her!”

  “I know. They’re looking for both of you, together. The minute they get you, you’re going to be in exactly the same place as the rest of them.”

  “I don’t understand,” Coy insisted. “How did she get to them? What the fuck kind of power does Clara have over them?”

  “Clara Collingwood is an agitator, Coy. She’s been onto this family for at least two decades.”

  “Yeah, I got that part,” Coy snapped. “I just don’t understand how.”

  “Obviously through Oculus,” Drake replied dryly and Coy bristled.

  “Grandpa, can you give me a straight answer please? I need to warn Shay that they’re coming for her.”

  “You’re not listening to me,” Drake sighed. “They’re coming for both of you. Apart, there’s nothing Clara can do to you. Together, you’re going to be a part of the mind-fusion.”

  “The what now?”

  Drake exhaled in a rush of breath and sank back against the seat.

  “The mind-fusion. I think that’s been the plan all along. Oculus has been creating teams of superhumans who are interconnected both telepathically and telekinetically. This last generation, you and your cousins…you’ve had mates genetically engineered to be with you.”


  Coy’s skin prickled at the idea.

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that Kimberly, and Jameson, and now your Shay, are not hard wired like you and your cousins. They were designed for you and your cousins. Oculus has been creating a force stronger than anything this world has ever seen, and now, Clara has been sent to activate us all.”

  “Activate us?”

  “Yes. In order for this plan to work, everyone needs to be together with their mates. That’s why you need to get Shay as far away from you as possible. The minute she has you two together, it’s game over for all of us.”

  “She didn’t get to you?”

  “I’m the last piece of the puzzle,” Drake growled. “The minute you go under, I’ll have no choice but to fall in line. I’m the original link, Coy, and you’re the only one stopping our entire family from falling victim to Oculus – but only if you abandon your mate,” he hesitated, as if trying to drop the bomb gently. “You can’t be with Shay, Coyle – ever.”

  Coy shook his head disbelievingly.

  No! How could that be? Dammit, he needed Shay. They couldn’t expect him to give her up when he had finally found her again! And what about his family – he hadn’t protected them…

  “What about the rest of our family though…they’re already…changed,” he whispered. “What about them?”

  “Eventually, the effects of Clara’s hold will wear off – as long as you and Shay don’t fall into line. I don’t know how long it will take, but short of killing her, there’s no other way to break the hold she has over everyone.”

  “Fuck, that’s Shay’s mother,” Coy protested. “We can’t kill her.”

  “We don’t really have a choice right now,” Drake muttered. “And trust me when I say, she was no mother to that girl.”

  Compassion and fury shot through Coy as he realized that Shay had just been one more pawn in the never-ending chess game that Oculus had instigated.

  “Go. Now,” Drake snapped. “You’ve already been here too long.”

  “But…they just let me go,” Coy protested. “They have no idea if I’m coming back.”

  “They know you’re coming back,” Drake sighed. “For a computer genius, you really are gullible. Did you think they would just let you go? There’s a tracker on your car. The minute you get within ten feet of Shay, you’re done. We’re all done.”