A burden. A victim. A challenge. Someone to pity and coddle and worry about. Someone treated less than, even with the best intentions.

I took a breath. “I don’t know what to say. It’s late. I’m tired, and I have brains on me.”

“That’s okay. I know exactly what to say.”

“Goody,” I muttered.

“First off, I don’t give a crap about what some random person on the internet who appointed themselves the mouthpiece of everything thinks. You’ve proven a hundred times over that you’re independent and strong. You just jumped off that—” he gestured at the railing “—and didn’t think twice about it. Still wish you hadn’t done that, but whatever. You needing my help once or twice or five times in one night isn’t an indication of losing your independence.”

“Then what is it?”

His chest rose and then fell. “You’re doing the best that you can, Trinity.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. Those were the words I’d spoken to him when I’d told him about my eye condition. I’m doing the best that I can. I’d said that.

“You’re so damn amazing, and you don’t even know it.”

My wide eyes met his.

“And you’re also so freaking frustrating,” he added. The corners of my lips turned down. “You know, there’ve been plenty of times that I’ve forgotten you can’t see well and when I remember, I’m actually kind of shocked that you don’t need more help, and you have no idea how...how in awe of you I am, that you do what you do under these circumstances. That you’re carrying out your duty and not holding back or letting your vision limit you. So, dammit, Trinity, don’t let what others think or say or even what you fear hold you back when you need help. Don’t waste a damn second worrying about it. Let me help you—let anyone help you when you need it, and that’ll make you even stronger.”

“You...you’re in awe of me?” I asked, my voice sounding too small.

“Is that the only part of what I just said that you heard?”

“Well, no.” I rocked back on my heels. “I heard everything.”

Zayne leaned forward, his wings spreading out to balance him, and even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I felt the intensity of his stare. “You never cease to amaze me, Trinity. I don’t think there’ll ever be a time that you do. So, yes, I’m in awe of you.”

I opened my mouth and closed it. In my chest, there was a swell of emotion so powerful that I thought it might float me right up to the ceiling.

“But I still think you should drink more water.”

A shaky laugh left me. “That is all...really nice. Not the water part, but what you said. Thank you.” My cheeks flushed as I held out my hands. “Okay. You can take me out of here.”

Zayne stared at me, his face half-hidden in the shadows. “You drive me crazy.”

“Sorry?”

“No, you’re not.” Zayne sighed.

He didn’t take my hands. Instead, he folded an arm around my waist and pulled me against him as he lifted into the air, much like he had the night we flew as high as we could. On instinct, my hands landed on his shoulders. The full-body contact was as jarring as the landing I’d made earlier, because he was too warm and felt too good.

The trip to the pool deck was quick and when he landed, I took my hands from his shoulders. He didn’t let go, at least not immediately. He held me to him, and I didn’t dare lift my head to see if he was looking down at me. I also didn’t concentrate on the bond to see if I could pick up what he was feeling beyond my own suddenly pounding heart.

His chest rose against mine, and his chin grazed the top of my head. “Make me a promise.”

“Anything,” I responded, unintentionally parroting what he’d said when I’d asked for a favor.

Zayne’s arm tightened. “Promise me that whenever you need help, no matter what, you’ll ask for it.”

I closed my eyes, shaken, and the words left me without much effort. “I promise.”

“Good,” he replied, and then I felt his lips against my forehead.

A kiss so chaste, so sweet that it shouldn’t have undone me, but it did. The kiss rattled me to my core, just as his words had. I almost wanted him to take back what he’d said, and the kiss, too, because it was easier that way. So much easier. But I cherished it all, probably too much.

He turned suddenly, and then his grip around my waist loosened and I slid down onto my feet. The friction was a blast to my senses, and I took a step back.

“Sorry,” he said, voice raspy. “There was...stuff on the deck.”

“It’s okay.” I looked around, avoiding eye contact. Blowing out a long breath, I wiped my hands on my outer thighs. Time to get back to what was important. “I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

“As do I. A demon led us right to this place where a horde of zombies were conveniently waiting.”

I crossed my arms, glancing at Zayne. He was still in his Warden form. “Are there demons out there that can control zombies?”

“Not that I know of, but all you’d need is to have a Poser bite one human and then bring more to be infected.”

“Some of them looked like they were a second away from being nothing but a skeleton.”

“They decompose fast. The rough-looking ones could’ve just been here for a few days,” Zayne explained.

That sounded terrible. People snatched off the streets to be turned into the walking dead, left here where there wasn’t even something to eat. Well, unless there’d been any homeless in here, seeking shelter from the heat and the storms.

And that sucked more.

“Dez is here,” Zayne announced.

I turned just as a part of the wall swung open, a hidden door screeching on its rusty hinges.

The dark-haired Warden was in his human form, and I could tell the moment he saw the mess in the pool and on the deck, because he drew to a sudden halt. “You weren’t exaggerating.”

“Unfortunately not.” Zayne moved to stand beside me.

“Hi.” I waved a bloodied hand at Dez. “Ever seen anything like this?” I gestured behind me...and around me.

“I’ve only seen five zombies in my life, and each sighting was years apart.” He lifted a hand and thrust it through his dark hair. “You said you sensed a demon and it led you here, where these poor SOBs were waiting?”

“Yes,” Zayne answered. “We’re thinking it—”

“—was a setup?” Dez cut in, and the unease resurfaced with a vengeance. “You didn’t see the demon?”

“We didn’t.” I stepped forward. “Why do you think it was a setup? Because we were starting to think the same thing.”

When Dez spoke, his voice was as tired as any battle-weary solider. “Because about ten minutes ago, Greene was found dead. Eviscerated and hanging inside the damn Eastern Market.”

“Where?” Zayne asked as my stomach dropped.

“Eastern Market Metro platform,” Dez confirmed. “Only a few blocks from here.”

* * *

Based on the way Dez was eyeing me as I climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV, I figured he wanted to crack open a fire hydrant and hose me down but was resisting.

As Dez jogged around the front of the vehicle, I stared out the window. All I saw were the vague shapes of trees, but I knew Zayne was still in the building and within minutes, other Wardens would be arriving to help clean up the mess and scour the rest of the building to make sure there were no zombies left.

I hated to leave Zayne there by himself after learning that one of his clan had been murdered, and right where we’d just been.

The demon leading us to this abandoned building couldn’t have been a coincidence. Had the Harbinger been out there, stalking Greene, and we’d had no idea? Or had Greene been in another area of the city and was brought there as a twisted message to let us know that we’d been seen?

That we’d been played.

The SUV rocked as Dez folded his long body into the driver’s seat. I looked at him, able to make out his profile in the streetlamp. Dez was young, only a handful of years older than Zayne, and he was already mated, with two adorable twins who were just learning to shift.

A lot of Wardens grew up parentless, having lost either their mother during childbirth or to demon raids and their father to the never-ending war. The statistics weren’t in the twins’ favor, but I hoped Izzy and Drake didn’t meet that same fate as so many others.

“I’m sorry about what happened to the Warden,” I said as Dez hit the ignition button.

He glanced at me, expression hidden in the shadowy interior as he pulled away from the curb. “Thank you.”

I wanted to ask if Zayne had known him well, but that seemed insensitive. “Had he been with the clan long?”

“Yeah, he’s been here for several years,” he answered, and my heart squeezed. “He wasn’t mated, and I guess that’s a blessing.”

How sad that had to be tacked on, as if the reminder that it could’ve been worse needed to be spoken. “But he’ll still be missed.”

“Of course. He was a damn good fighter and an even better friend. Greene didn’t deserve to go out that way.” He sighed. “None of the ones who were killed before you got here did.”

A knot filled in my throat as I turned back to the window, unsure what I could say or if anything other than I’m sorry could be said. I went to chew on my fingernail but stopped when I remembered my hands were caked with zombie blood. “We were right there, no more than thirty minutes ago. That part of town was virtually empty, and we didn’t sense anything other than the demon. If we had, or had known what we were looking for...”

“But you didn’t know,” Dez finished. “You’re in the dark as much as we are, and I don’t mean that as a criticism. Whatever this thing is, it’s clever. It waited until you and Zayne had moved on.”