ADINNA’S POV
“Hunter?”
The name slips out before I can stop it. My throat is raw, my lungs are still burning, but I know that face even through the haze. Hunter crouches beside me, one knee on the ground, eyes steady and cold like the chaos around us doesn’t touch him.
For a second, I think I’m hallucinating. I blink, trying to focus, but he’s still there—real and impossibly calm while I’m gasping like I’ve been drowning.
I drag in a shallow breath, clutching my chest. “What are you doing here?”
He doesn’t answer right away. His gaze flicks over me like he’s checking for damage, not out of concern, but out of curiosity. Like I’m some experiment that almost exploded.
Finally, he says, “You breathe too loudly.”
I cough, my chest seizing. “You nearly watched me die, and that’s what you
