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?”