ADINNA’S POV
For a heartbeat, it's like I forget how to breathe.
Then I turn, and there he is.
Hunter.
The crowd parts around him as if instinctively afraid to stand in his way. His hand clamps around the stranger’s wrist, twisting it hard until a sharp cry breaks through the music that hasn’t yet started again. The sound echoes across the ballroom, cutting clean through the golden air.
Hunter doesn’t say a word at first. His expression is pure, full of a cold, steady, dangerous fury. His eyes burn a shade too bright, like molten gold barely holding shape. The stranger tries to pull free, but Hunter’s grip only tightens.
“What makes you think you can touch her?” Hunter’s voice is low, controlled, but the threat in it hums through every word. “You think that card gives you permission?
