Lina's POV
The sound of his voice made my entire body freeze.
Adrian's arms tightened protectively around me. "Damon. You're running a bit late."
"Not late at all," that velvet-edged voice replied. "Just in time to run into my little Rose."
*My?* The possessive pronoun made my skin crawl.
"Lady Aurum is dead," Adrian said deliberately, his tone casual but calculated. I could feel the tension in his chest even as he kept his voice steady.
"I'd have thought you'd be upset. She was one of Gehenna Tower's most valuable assets, wasn't she? Selling both her skills and her body for your cause..."
I felt Damon's presence shift, sensed rather than saw the contraction of his pupils.
"That beautiful viper? I never touched her." His voice dropped lower, intimate and disturbin
