Harder Than Steel Read online

  Suddenly, a gust of fire emanated from the back of the Range Rover and the couple watched in shock as JC rolled from the back, bolting from the parking lot before either of them could react.

  “SUZY!” Roan choked unreasonably but he didn’t have time to mourn the loss of his beloved vehicle. He sprinted after JC, the injured man making a relatively easy target.

  Roan jumped on him, pinning JC to the road, his face twisted in fury.

  “You think you’re getting away that easily?” he spat. “You really don’t know the first thing about the Conways.”

  JC smiled cruelly at him.

  “I know more about you and your lover than you ever will,” JC jeered. “And if you don’t let me go, I’ll tell her everything too.”

  Roan snorted.

  “Is that supposed to be a threat of some kind, you idiot?”

  “That depends,” JC hissed. “Do you think Kimberly would like to know that her mother was never really her mother at all?”

  Roan felt a shiver of displeasure.

  “No, Marnie St. James was her handler. Your little Kimberly was bred purely by artificial means for Oculus, Roan. How do you think our lost little friend would like to know that she’s not missed by anyone except the faction which made her?”

  “I liked you better when you were unconscious,” Roan said and punched him in the face.

  He stared at the still man for a long while, his heart pounding at the last words JC had spoken.

  I’ve heard stories like this. Could Kimberly be one of those babies, conceived only for experiments?

  The thought made his heart hurt.

  “What are you doing?” Kimberly cried, hurrying to his side. “Get him up from there. We need to question him.”

  “No,” Roan said quickly. “Leave him.”

  “Leave him?” she echoed. “Why? We can’t! He knows things—about me, about you! He’s been following me for years!”

  “Just leave him,” Roan insisted, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the road toward the car. “He’s not of any value to us. Whatever we need to find out, we’ll find out together.”

  Kimberly pulled her hand back and eyed him in shock.

  “W-what? He hacked your cousin’s profile. He knows things about you! How can you be so flippant about this?”

  Roan put his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes deeply.

  “Do you finally trust me?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “Will you stop running away from me and looking to others for answers now?”

  “I-I- “

  “Look at me. I have never lied to you or put you in any danger. Even before I knew you, I saved you. You need to decide right now if you trust me or not.”

  She gaped at him but without speaking, she nodded slowly.

  “Are you sure?” he insisted. “Because I don’t want to find you in the back of a car again. You’re too important and I suspect that together, we’re more powerful than anyone can anticipate.”

  Kimberly visibly swallowed and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his chest.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Of course I trust you.”

  “Then I’m asking you to trust me now. We need to walk away from that man and take you back to the compound.”

  She pulled her head back to stare at him.

  “The compound?” she echoed. “T-to your family, you mean?”

  He nodded.

  “It’s the safest place for us right now. There’s something going on, a reason that Oculus is coupling us and if we’re together and out in the world, we’re at risk.”

  Roan met Kimberly’s eyes.

  “Do you understand?” he asked but she shook her head.

  “No,” she laughed. “I don’t understand any of this but I believe you.”

  Relief filled his gut.

  “And I’m trusting you too,” he told her softly. “Now let’s get out of here before I have to look at Suzy again.”

  Epilogue

  “It’s a combination of arsenic and anthrax, mixed in with a compound I can’t identify at all,” Sage Conway explained and Kimberly gaped at her in disbelief.

  “How am I not dead?” she demanded of Roan’s aunt. “How can this scientifically happen?”

  “Well,” Sage chuckled. “It’s as you already knew—it’s perfectly safe without being oxygenated. That said, if you were to ever bleed internally, it may kill you—unless you have an antibody which I don’t know about. It wouldn’t surprise me if you were engineered this way, like Drake was, but since you’re probably a second-generation wired, I could be wrong. Who knows? Whatever Oculus has been up to all these years, anything is possible.”

  “We need an antidote,” Roan told his aunt and Sage nodded.

  “Of course you do,” she agreed. “And we need to have one everywhere. I have no idea how you survived contact with this, Roan. It should kill someone in minutes – even the smallest drops.”

  “We’ll be okay,” Roan insisted, giving Kimberly a warm but worried smile. “Right?”

  “I don’t know how you can be so forgiving after what I did to you,” she muttered, looking away from him guiltily.

  “Well, you’re just going to have to think of an ingenious way of making it up to me. After all, actions speak louder than words,” he teased and Kimberly swatted at him.

  “Can you get your mind out of the gutter for once?”

  “Why don’t you go into the house and see if my mom needs any help?” Roan suggested. His face tightened slightly at the mention of his mother and Kimberly knew why.

  He’s worried that Danica is going to be afraid of me too.

  In the week since she’d been at the compound in Virginia, Kimberly had found Danica Conway to be nothing but pleasant to her but Roan didn’t seem convinced of her sincerity.

  “I want you to give her a chance – just don’t get too attached,” Roan warned.

  She padded into the house Roan’s family shared and found Xavier and his wife in the kitchen, locked in a warm embrace.

  Embarrassed, Kimberly stood back to watch them, feeling like a pervert but not wanting to ruin their idyllic moment.

  “She reminds me of you,” Xavier said.

  “God help all of us if that’s true,” Danica sighed and Xavier laughed.

  “She has a vulnerability about her but she’s tough too, you know?”

  “I’m scared, Xavy,” Danica sighed and Kimberly tensed.

  Roan was right. Here it is.

  “We’ve talked about this,” Xavier murmured. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Nothing will happen.”

  “How can you say that?” Danica whispered miserably. “So much has already happened.”

  “We are all well and accounted for, Dani. Please, don’t do this to yourself.”

  “I can’t help it. Now Kimberly…I don’t know how much I can take.”

  Anger flooded Kimberly and she stepped forward, unable to stop herself.

  “I’m sorry I scare you so much, Mrs. Conway,” she muttered. “I wouldn’t want my presence to cause you any more distress so I’ll be on my way. I should warn you—Roan will probably want to come with me but I guess that would probably make you happy.”

  The couple stared at her blankly.

  “What are you going on about, Kimberly?” Danica asked, shooting her husband a perplexed look. “Who said I was scared of you?”

  “You just did!” Kimberly snapped. “And I know you’re afraid of your own son. Roan knows it too. He always has. I can’t imagine what kind of parent—”

  “Kimberly, you need to stop right now,” Xavier growled, his eyes flashing. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Kimberly glared defiantly at them both.

  “I guess you can’t help it but at least have the balls to admit it.”

  “Roan thinks I’m afraid of him?” Danica choked. “He told you that?”

  It was Kimberly’s turn to be confused and for a moment, s
he wondered if she’d misheard what they had said.

  No! I won’t be gaslit. I heard what I heard.

  “He’s known since he was a kid, Mrs. Conway. There’s no point in denying it now. He knew you’d be afraid of me too.”

  “Oh, you foolish girl,” Danica cried, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m not afraid of you. I’m terrified for you. For you, and Audrey, and Coy, and Roan. My heart has not been still for a second since the day I met Xavier.

  “I know what forces are out there, waiting to suck you all in and I’m in a constant state of worry. When you’re a mother, you’ll understand. Yes, I’m scared all the time. Scared of the world outside the walls of this compound. I am not afraid of my son. Or of you.”

  She held Kimberly’s gaze until she looked down, her face flushed.

  “Now go find my idiot son and bring him back here so I can tell him those very words myself.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Kimberly breathed, spinning to rush away before they could take in the crimson of her face.

  “See?” she heard Xavier snicker as she rushed off. “I told you she reminds me of you.”

  Danica sighed.

  “What are we going to do with these kids, darling?”

  THE ‘HARDER’ SERIES…

  Stay tuned for Coy’s exciting story in “HARDER THAN DIAMOND” coming May 1, 2019

  And in case you missed it, here’s book 1 in the “Harder” series, featuring Audrey and Jameson’s suspense-filled story…

  Do you want to check out the first generation of ‘Bad-Boys with Superpowers’ series? Turn the page for an excerpt from Xavier’s story in the “HARD” series.

  The ‘Hard’ Series…

  Preview of ‘Hard Time’ (book 2 of The First Generation of Powerful Sons in the ‘hard’ series)

  XAVIER

  Oh my God. I am so fucked, he realized.

  A knock on his window caused him to jerk back. He looked up, expecting to see a police officer.

  Instead, a stunningly beautiful woman peered in at him, her grey eyes lit with concern.

  Embarrassment colored his face as he rolled down the window, struggling to breathe normally.

  “Are you all right?”

  He nodded quickly, averting his eyes.

  “Have you been in an accident?” she asked, her brow knit. He shook his head, hesitant to speak. He worried that whatever came out of his mouth would just get him in even deeper.

  “Are you hurt? Do you need me to call 9-1-1?”

  “No!”

  It was the first word he had spoken and it came out much too forcefully.

  She stepped back from the car, her eyes narrowing.

  “Then may I ask you what you’re doing outside of my house?” she asked coldly, folding her arms over her chest.

  Xavier lifted his head, taking in his surroundings.

  Shock wracked his body as he recognized the neighborhood.

  “I – I’m not sure,” he mumbled, glancing back at the woman. “I wasn’t feeling well and needed to pull over.”

  She eyed him suspiciously.

  “Have you been drinking?”

  Xave shook his head, scowling at her. Although at least that would explain his behavior, he thought wryly.

  Her eyes softened slightly.

  “Are you having a bad night?” she asked and there was a gentleness in her tone which Xave detected.

  “To put it mildly,” he grimaced.

  “Come inside,” she said suddenly and he stared at her, dumbfounded.

  “Are you crazy? It’s almost five o’clock in the morning and I’m some random guy parked outside your house. You’re going to invite me in?”

  She shrugged nonchalantly.

  “I have a good sense for people,” she replied. “Anyway, you’re not really a random guy, are you?”

  He gazed at her uncomprehendingly.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that you’ve been standing outside my house almost every day for the past three weeks.”

  Xavier began to deny her allegation, but she held up her hand.

  “No need to deny it. I’ve seen you almost every day now.”

  He didn’t know how to answer her since he wasn’t even sure yet why he was drawn to her. Or maybe it was this house?

  “Don’t you think that there’s a reason that you’re here right now?” she asked quietly. “Don’t you wonder if you were brought here? By…something?”

  Xave studied her lovely face.

  Am I buying into this? He asked himself, but he found that the answer was yes. What other explanation was there for how he had ended up here tonight, in front of the very place he had been drawn to for weeks?

  “What is your name?” she asked, drawing closer to the car again.

  “Xavier Sinclair.”

  “My name is Danica Cortez.”

  She offered her hand to him through the window and Xave reached for it.

  A surge of electricity coursed through them and he was sure she felt it also as they stared at one another. Their eyes locked and held for a moment, and time seemed to stand still.

  “Won’t you come in?” she asked a little breathlessly. “I would love to do a reading for you. I feel like you have a lot to…unburden yourself of.”

  Xave almost shivered, knowing that she was a scam artist, but wondering if she had something, some kind of ‘power’ that helped her run her scams.

  “You could say that,” he murmured, removing the keys from the ignition.

  Danica’s smile widened as he exited the car.

  “Welcome to my home and reading room,” she said as they mounted the short steps to the doorway.

  Xave paused at the threshold, glancing back at the Mercedes.

  You shouldn’t be going with her! For fuck’s sake, you have a dead body in the trunk of your car that you need to deal with!

  The voice in his mind was hollering, but he silenced it instantly. He didn’t want to hear it. He just wanted to follow the woman who was offering him a helping hand out of the darkness. There was something about her…something that called to him, to his soul.

  “Don’t be alarmed,” Danica called, waving him inside. “Your car is safe out there.”

  He turned back toward her, entering the doorway.

  “Welcome to my shop,” she said cordially, closing the door in his wake. “You have nothing to fear here but awakening.” Her smile told him that she knew how corny that sounded.

  “Is that so?” Xave asked wryly.

  She nodded and smiled.

  “Yes, it is so. That’s why I call my place Oculus.”

  She gnawed on her lower lip as was her habit when she read palms but this time, it was more than simply a flair for the dramatic.

  Danica was picking up something from the strange man who had been haunting her for weeks, something genuinely troubling. She was having a hard time pinning the feeling down though.

  “I don’t buy into this,” Xavier told her and she smiled, her luminous grey eyes shining in the dark living room.

  “You don’t have to,” she replied, her face shadowed by the flickering lights of the candles she had lit. “The spirits will get you whether you believe or not.”

  Xave chuckled lightly.

  “I thought that you had to believe in vodou for it to work,” he countered and Danica was surprised by his response.

  “You know about vodou?” she demanded, her eyes narrowing. Most people in this part of the world only knew the dark art as ‘voodoo’. She suddenly wished she was wearing her violet contact lenses.

  They did more than simply add to her mystique; they served as a barrier between her and the odd someone who could look into her soul.

  Someone like the dark man sitting before her.

  She could not say why he made her so pleasantly uncomfortable except that there was a magnetism about him which she found irresistible.

  Maintaining her pretense of spirituality was proving more d
ifficult than she could ever remember, but she could tell that the man before her was massively distracted by something other than her reading.

  “I can read,” Xave replied flippantly, his sea green eyes boring into her. “But I have to wonder how much you really know about it.”

  Again, she grinned, winking conspiratorially.

  “I guess you’ll have to stick with me and find out.”

  She pushed his hand aside and stared at him, folding her arms across her chest.

  “You really didn’t know you had parked in front of my house, did you?” she said and noted with satisfaction that color painted his face.

  “It’s a coincidence,” he muttered, shifting his gaze finally. But Danica could see he didn’t believe his own words. “Like you said, I come by here a lot. It must have been ingrained in my subconscious.”

  “Of all the places to wind up in Amarillo,” she laughed.

  Xave shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant but she could see he was struggling with the issue as well.

  “I don’t even know what I’m doing here,” he said, standing suddenly. “I have somewhere I need to be.”

  “Does it have anything to with why you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” she asked softly, also rising.

  He’s acting like he’s going to leave but…I feel like…like he’s bound to me. He can’t go anywhere.

  It was a bold thought to have but it was not out of the realm of possibility. At least, not in Danica’s realm.

  Clearly Xavier Sinclair had felt the connection before she had been aware of his existence but there was no doubt that the handsome, dark haired man was meant to be here, in her house, at this moment in time.

  “You don’t even know me,” Xave retorted. “You have no idea if this is my usual look.”

  Slowly, she sashayed toward him, her sooty eyes meeting his again.

  “I feel like I do know you,” she replied quietly. “I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

  He lowered his head to peer into her face but he didn’t immediately respond.

  “You can’t tell me you don’t feel whatever this is between us,” she insisted, placing her hands on his forearms and pulling his palms onto her slim waist. Yet at the same time, Danica recognized how outside of her normal character her behavior was. What was it about this man that made her feel like she needed to be touching him?