Harder Than Steel

by Jacey Ward

  This doesn’t faze him in the least. Of course, he can walk through walls so maybe he’s got access to resources that I don’t…

  She didn’t want to think about the alternative—that maybe Roan was somehow responsible for her being the way she was…or worked for people who were.

  There was nothing she could do but trust him now. He’d had dozens of opportunities to take her or turn her over to someone else but he hadn’t. That had to mean something, didn’t it?

  “Kimberly, you’re going to have to learn to trust me. I’m the only one who can help you—but you need to help me too.”

  He stared meaningfully into her eyes. She read nothing but honesty within his gaze.

  “Before I go on, tell me who you were talking to in the cabin and what you were talking about.”

  “Coy,” he replied. “My cousin.”

  Her brow furrowed.

  “Is…does he…”

  “He’s like us too, yes,” Roan interjected and Kimberly exhaled in a rush of breath.

  “How many are there like us? Dozens? Hundreds? Why are we like this? Because of Oculus?”

  Roan held up a hand.

  “We need to do this my way,” he said softly. “You need to tell me what you know and I’ll fill in the rest for you, all right?”

  She looked at him hopefully, a spark of faith igniting her bones for the first time in her life.

  I’m not crazy. I knew there was more to my mother’s disappearance than just what the cops said.

  “Will you really help me even though I tried to kill you?” she asked, her face flushing with humiliation when she realized what she’d almost done.

  He laughed boomingly and stepped toward her, brushing a strand of auburn hair from her face.

  “I think we’ve cautiously moved past that, don’t you?”

  He kissed her gently on the forehead and embraced her with strong arms.

  “You were afraid,” he murmured. “I get it.”

  Kimberly allowed herself to melt into his hug, realizing that in spite of everything, she trusted him.

  “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

  He pulled back and grinned at her mischievously.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Chapter 10

  Kimberly laid out salad and pulled the chicken breasts from the oven, placing them onto the kitchen table before she sat and continued her tale.

  “My mother disappeared one night, without a trace. She left me alone in our apartment and I later found out that was something she wouldn’t have ever done. The cops thought she was the victim of domestic violence but she was never found.”

  “Was she seeing someone?” Roan asked with sudden interest. “Why did they think that?”

  Kimberly swallowed the lump in her throat.

  “Because I said something to them about a man I’d seen that night.”

  Roan stared at her expectantly and waited as she collected her thoughts.

  “I was four,” she reminded him. “And I only know what I remember. A man came to the door but Mom told me to hide before she answered it. She told him I wasn’t there and he got furious. He pulled her out of the apartment and that was the last I’d ever seen of her.”

  “Did you know this man? Had you seen him before?”

  “Eat,” she insisted, pointing at the food. “It’ll get cold.”

  He obeyed, less because he was hungry and more because he didn’t want to lose the groove of the conversation.

  “I don’t know,” Kimberly confessed. “He could have been around before but I don’t remember. My mom seemed to know him. He certainly knew her…”

  Kimberly trailed off and Roan leaned across the table, his eyes narrowing slightly.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” she said with some defensiveness and he wondered what she was hiding.

  I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to go back and forth with her on this. We either have to trust one another or not but I can’t keep second guessing everything that’s coming out of her luscious, luscious mouth.

  He wondered if he was being blinded by his attraction for her.

  Maybe I’m just falling into Oculus’ trap.

  The reality was, he had no idea what Oculus wanted anymore. He wasn’t sure that they were even after him or his family but this unexpected arrival had him feeling a lot less confident that they’d heard the last of the elusive group.

  “How did you find out about Oculus?” Roan pressed when she didn’t offer anything else. “They’re not exactly online.”

  “They are if you know where to look,” Kimberly countered and more alarm fused against Roan’s spine.

  She’s really not as vulnerable as she’s making herself out to be.

  “And where would that be?”

  Kimberly gritted her teeth and reached for her glass of chardonnay before answering.

  “It started as me looking for a missing person,” she rushed out. “I wondered about serial killers, about human trafficking. I looked into everything I could find that would make sense as to why my mother was taken and by whom.”

  She met his eyes.

  “She was in her thirties when she was taken, too old for trafficking. There were no string of murders at the time to connect her to but in my gut, I knew that it had to be something personal, even if the cops couldn’t find her.”

  She sighed.

  “The dark web is a terrible place,” she muttered. “I’m sure you probably know but it’s also filled with people who can help you—for a cost.”

  “You found Oculus on the dark web?”

  “I found a PI on the dark web,” Kimberly corrected. “One who said he knew my story. I wasn’t the first little orphan to abruptly have lost a single parent.”

  She paused and raised her head to look at Roan.

  “He asked me if I had any special talents. I thought he was being a pervert but that wasn’t what he meant. Somehow, he knew about my blood, even if he didn’t come right and say it.”

  Excitement filled his veins.

  “Who? What was this man’s name?”

  “I only have his alias. I never met him but he’s the one who told me about the warehouse in the woods. Apparently, it’s filled with documents about people who work for this company.”

  “Oculus is not a company…not listed on the Dow Jones, anyway,” Roan corrected her. “It’s a subgroup, one which specializes in warfare…genetic warfare.”

  Kimberly blinked at him in disbelief.

  “Like…human experiments?”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that,” Roan sighed. “But it’s entirely possible that your mother was a victim of their work and passed down the mutated DNA to you.”

  “How?” Kimberly scoffed. “Are you serious?”

  Roan’s mouth pursed into a line.

  “Unfortunately, I am.”

  Kimberly stared at him and he grunted.

  “I’m a third generation wired,” he explained. Her mouth gaped in confusion.

  “Wired?” she echoed. “What does that mean?”

  “It means my DNA has been altered because of the experiments Oculus has performed on my grandfather.”

  He continued to watch her face, wondering if she was just acting surprised but she was more difficult to read than he had expected.

  Stop looking at her like a woman and start staring at her like a stranger.

  It was a lot harder said than done.

  “So…your parents?” she murmured. “And your cousins?”

  “And my uncles, yes,” Roan concluded.

  If she is Oculus, she would already know that…unless she was just looking for confirmation.

  Roan tried to reason with himself.

  He had found her hiding out at her friend’s house, not off in some secret meeting with a man in black somewhere. Roan had to believe she was just another unwitting victim of Oculus.

  Still, he was finding it diffic
ult to fully let go of his guard.

  “What can they do?” Kimberly asked and the question only sent more prickles of alarm through Roan. She shoved a forkful of salad between her lips and stared at him impassively.

  “We can get to that later,” he replied evasively. “Let’s talk about what you’ve found out about Oculus. Where can I get in touch with this PI of yours?”

  Kimberly didn’t answer as she pretended to chew longer than necessary on the piece of lettuce in her mouth.

  She doesn’t want to tell me.

  He placed his napkin on the table and rose, startling her as he stood behind her.

  “What are you—”

  He silenced her with a sweet kiss on her neck and he felt her shoulders relax beneath his strong hands.

  “I’m not trying to trick you,” he murmured in her ear. “I’m just trying to get to the bottom of this with you.”

  The hairs on the back of her neck rose against his nuzzling nose as his hands crept down over her shirt to cup her breasts, slowly sliding his fingertips on her rigid nipples. She hadn’t bothered to put her bra back on.

  “I know,” she whispered, her words rolling together in a near-slur. Kimberly cocked her head back to meet his eyes, the naked desire plaintive there.

  “I’m trying to help you,” he breathed, sliding his palms inside the stretchy material to feel the full heat of her skin against his.

  She sighed, falling fully back against him to allow his hands to roam lower, sinking into the waistband of her jeans.

  “I shouldn’t have put my clothes back on,” she muttered and Roan laughed.

  “Probably not,” he agreed, dipping his fingers along the cleft of her already drenched opening.

  “I don’t know what it is about you,” Kimberly sighed.

  “Maybe we’re fated to be together.”

  She jerked her head around to stare at him in disbelief but before she could utter a word, a groan of ecstasy escaped her lips. His fingers had found the spot and he worked his hand in small circles, savoring the small gasps falling from her lips.

  “Why are you having such a hard time trusting me?” he asked in a low tone, his mouth at her ear. “I haven’t done anything but try to protect you, to keep you safe.”

  Kimberly was becoming liquid against him and slowly, he withdrew his hand, causing her eyes to widen.

  “Where are you going?!” she demanded as he ambled back toward his spot. He eyed her innocently.

  “Hmm? I was just going to finish my dinner.”

  She growled, and in a flash, she was on him, knocking him back so that his chair hit the wall.

  “Are you going to make me starve?” he teased but her hands fumbled wildly for the buttons on his jeans and in seconds, they were both naked on the floor.

  “I would have thought you’d had enough to eat,” she purred, pouncing on him to keep him on the ground. Suddenly, she had become the lion in this game and Roan was at her mercy.

  Not that he was complaining.

  Her mouth was like hot ocean water, drenching his shaft in long, deep kisses.

  “Oh, God, yes,” he moaned, feeling the head of his cock dip into the crevice of Kimberly’s throat.

  Her mouth suctioned around him, reminiscent of her tight pussy and suddenly Roan knew that was exactly where he wanted to be.

  He lurched forward to pull her up and she gasped in surprise, her eyes watering as he propped her firmly atop his waist.

  “I wasn’t finished,” she chided him.

  “Neither am I.”

  Again, he was inside her, driving his hips upward to fill her like she’d never known. Her face contorted into a mask of awe and shock, his hands splayed against the curve of her waist.

  “Uhhh…” she groaned, her eyes glazing over her lithe frame falling forward to brace herself against his chest as he continued to pound into her from underneath.

  He caught her nipple in his mouth, latching on to suck at her as she cried out.

  “I-I’m coming….” She barely managed to gasp before he felt the explosion against him. He grunted, knowing he wasn’t far behind.

  His fingers dug into her flesh, pulling her sopping pussy down hard until his own body began to shudder, filling her with his burning seed.

  Kimberly released a mewl and fell forward as if she could no longer support her own weight and he wrapped his arms around her protectively.

  She’s not a threat, he told himself. She’s not out to harm me.

  Kimberly raised her head and stared at him.

  “I’m not out to harm you,” she said, sounding surprised and he tensed as she rolled off him.

  “I never said you were,” he replied slowly but she shook her head, her face painted in confusion.

  “But you thought it,” she insisted.

  Roan’s eyes narrowed.

  Audrey said something about this. Her and Jameson were connected this same way…

  “Who is Audrey?”

  Wariness overtook her face and Roan shook his head.

  “How are you doing this?” he demanded. “You can read my thoughts?”

  “You can read mine too.”

  They gaped at one another as Roan tried to make sense of what he was hearing. Suddenly, he thought back to Cleo’s apartment.

  She did seem to understand what I was saying there. This is one of her gifts. She’s telepathic.

  But Kimberly shook her head in denial.

  “I’m not. I’ve never been able to read anyone’s thoughts before.”

  Were we really meant to have found one another? And if so, why? How?

  “I think it’s time you told me what you know about Oculus,” Kimberly said quietly. “And maybe start trusting me too.”

  Roan nodded slowly.

  “I think it’s time we started trusting each other, don’t you?”

  Slowly, she nodded, feeling the guard she had kept up so rigidly starting to crumble inside her.

  “Yes,” she murmured. “I think you’re right.”

  Chapter 11

  It was a strange tale but somehow it didn’t shock Kimberly as much as it should have.

  “So your grandfather hid your father and your uncles away because Oculus was after them and they weren’t reunited for almost thirty years?”

  “Like you, my father grew up in the foster care system but he had no idea who his parents were,” Roan explained, his tone compassionate. Every word he spoke, regardless of how strange, somehow calmed her. Never could she have imagined that someone like him could have existed.

  And yet here we are, discussing our superhuman abilities.

  “It’s a shitty way to grow up, foster care,” Kimberly sighed, shaking her head at the memory. “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

  “I wouldn’t know. All I knew was my family and a bunch of combat training that has done me little good.”

  She didn’t need to read his thoughts to know what it was he had silently added.

  Until now.

  Kimberly understood his reservations. It was a hell of a coincidence that they had broken into the warehouse at the same time, almost like someone had planned it.

  But why? What did Oculus want from either of them?

  “Me and my cousins decided to come out of hiding, even though our parents wanted us to stay. Audrey went first, tested the waters a little.”

  “I guess it was safe enough for you to follow,” Kimberly offered but Roan grunted.

  “We thought so but we were wrong. By then, it was too late to go back into hiding. Oculus knew about us. There was nothing we could do but keep trying to track them and bring them down.”

  “Who are they?” Kimberly wanted to know. “Government, I assume?”

  “Once upon a time they were,” Roan agreed. “But now they’re something much darker, much more sinister. We think they went rogue but it’s been so long since anyone has had any intel on the inside.”

  “I’d say they went rogue. If they have no problem kidnappin
g and murdering…”

  Roan looked at her, a bemused smile on his face.

  “They are capable of much more than that,” he replied quietly. “But just how much more remains to be seen.”

  A shudder of worry flooded Kimberly but she didn’t answer. He reached out to pull her against him and the warmth of his body instantly put her at ease. There was safety in his arms.

  “You need to tell me the name of your PI, Kimberly. He could be working for Oculus.”

  She gritted her teeth.

  He’s never done anything but try to help me find the truth, she thought worriedly. If I out him to Roan, who knows what trouble might find him?

  “If he has nothing to do with Oculus, you have nothing to worry about,” Roan told her gently. She could feel her resolve melting.

  “I’ve been working with JC a lot longer than I’ve known you,” she reminded him, but even she could hear the lack of conviction in her voice. “I don’t mean to sound bitchy but I need to think about it.”

  “You’ve been working with him longer, and yet I’ve given you more information,” Roan reminded her, impatience in his voice. “I’d say you have more of a reason to trust me than you do him. For all you know, he lead you right into that warehouse to get caught – and you almost were.”

  “Because of you!” Kimberly cried. “I would have been in and out before anyone had noticed me if you hadn’t come bursting in there.”

  “I have no idea how you managed to get in there but there was no way you were getting out.”

  “I would have,” she protested. “The same way I got in!”

  “There are alarms on every one of those doors, Kimberly. However you got in, you already sounded the alarm.”

  “What are you talking about? No alarms were sounded.”

  “They were silent. Why do you think the guards came in with such a purpose?”

  “Because they heard you!”

  “Kimberly,” Roan groaned in exasperation. “I’m not tricking you. I scoped out that warehouse properly. This is not my first rodeo with Oculus.”

  “Mine either!”

  She didn’t know why she was fighting him so intensely except that everything was so foreign to her. She wanted desperately to trust him.

  Roan clamped his mouth closed as if he suddenly realized that arguing with her would be an exercise in futility.