Elara's hand tightened on Hale's. The tightening was sharp, involuntary, carrying a spike of panic that the matebond delivered to Hale's chest with the precision of an arrow.
Hale looked at Elara. Elara looked at Hale. The look lasted two seconds and communicated entirely different things to each person.
Elara was thinking: He moaned Serena's name. If Hale connects this to the mark, the secret is over.
Hale was thinking: She is panicking. She is panicking because the man she has feelings for just moaned another woman's name in his sleep, and the panic is jealousy, and the jealousy is proof.
Both of them were wrong about each other. Both of them were certain they were right. And Gavriel Sterling, unconscious, dreaming, oblivious, had just made everything worse.
Gav settled back into stillness. The name dissolved into the room's silence, leaving behind a residue that both Hale and Elara were processing in completely different directions.
Hale stood.
