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Her fingers tighten around mine, and I pull her closer to me while we walk. “He told me he knew Nathan before.”

I tense. I knew that much, but I hadn’t thought about what that would mean to her. “…And?”

Zoey looks up at me with furrowed brows. “And what? He knew Nathan was going to attack my colony, and he didn’t try to stop it. Which, okay, he didn’t know me back then, but he still kept it from me. He still did things to me and made me fall for him and shit.”

“Is that all he told you?”

She lets out a sharp exhale. “No. He wanted no part in it. All he wanted was to live in peace and not get involved. I know it’s irrational to be upset, but knowing everything could have been prevented?—”

I pull her to a stop and turn to face her. “Look at me, blondie.”

She does, and her electric blue eyes search mine before the torchlight dims. “Your feelings are valid.”

Something shifts in her expression. Her shoulders slump, like she’s been carrying the weight of the world and can finally let it go.

“You also have to understand the reason we ended up in those cells is because we refused to go with Nathan,” I continue. “We refused to hurt people who we believed did nothing wrong. I wish more than anything we would have gone with him and then fought against him by your side, but our priority was to protect each other because that was all we had.”

Her lips part, and she watches me in the disappearing torchlight.

I take a breath. “I’m sorry we didn’t go with him to help you, but I’m not sorry we stayed out of it. The only people I care about are the ones closest to me. That was true then, and it’s true now. Except, back then, it was two people. Now it’s three.” I squeeze her hand. “Well, maybe three and a half. Avery’s growing on me.”

She laughs and squeezes my hand back.

I sigh and lower my voice even more. “The only regret I have is not stopping you from making that deal with Eugene in the first place. I should have?—”

Zoey cuts me off by pushing up onto her toes and kissing me. The torchlight is gone now and we’re engulfed in darkness. Her lips are soft, urgent, and needing. Without hesitation, I wrap my arms around her.

I pull her tight against me, feeling how good it is to hold her like this without those damn bars between us. My hand tangles in her hair. A shiver runs through her, and her heart pounds against my chest, almost in sync with mine.

We’re engulfed in darkness again, but for the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve found the light.

When we pull back, she’s breathless. Her fingers clutch my shirt, and I rest my forehead against hers, and breathe her in. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

“Damon…”

I cup her cheek, brushing my thumb over her skin, careful to avoid the bruise I know is still there. “I love you, Zoey.”

Her breath catches, and for a second, I think she might say it back. Then Lola’s frantic barks ring out down the tunnel.

A low, dragging noise.

Benji cursing.

An eerie moan.

34

ZOEY

The thick, guttural moans drifting through the tunnel send a chill down my spine, and I realize I’m unarmed. I don’t know about the guys, but I sure as hell didn’t think to grab a taser or weapon from the dregs we killed before escaping. Lola growls and stands in front of me. She feels it, too.

Benji lifts the torch higher, and the flickering flame stretches its light deeper into the tunnel. That’s when we see them.

A horde of rotters.

There are at least twenty, maybe more. Their twisted, decaying bodies shuffle forward. Their sunken eyes lock onto us like we’re a fresh meal laid out before them.

“Oh, shit,” Cole curses. The rotters lurch forward, and Benji swears next.