Page 62 of Hunted

I get up.

Clary’s eyes widen as he scrambles to his feet. “I know how it looks, but that isn’t what you think.”

“Then how is it?” Bennett’s voice is silky as he shoves himself up. “Because it looks an awful lot like you weren’t just sneaking around the backyard, you were also in town, watching Aerin.”

Clary holds both hands out as if to keep Bennett away. “I didn’t know what to say, okay? I thought at first that someone would have taken Aerin. But she was here, and I started thinking that maybe…” His voice trails off.

I cock my head as I ponder his reason for not looking any of us in the eye. “You thought what?”

“That you might be involved in whatever is happening,” he says in a rush, as if he’s worried we won’t give him a chance to finish speaking. “I thought I could hang around a bit, see for myself if I could find Leah, and then approach you. I didn’t mean to make you think I was involved, and I didn’t mean to scare her in the forest.”

I blink. “What do you mean, you didn’t mean toscareher in the forest?”

“It was you,” Aerin says quietly, not sounding surprised. “When I was walking back to the house after we saw the bear, I thought someone was watching me. It was you. Wasn’t it?”

No one speaks for a beat.

“Bennett, ensure he gets to his car and leaves Winter Lake,” I say coldly.

Clary steps forward. “But I?—”

“Aerinfell.” I talk over him. “She washurtbecause of you. You need to leave my town now.”

“But my mate?—”

“Is the only reason I’m letting you walk out of here at all. We’ve heard about what is going on, and wewillget to the bottom of it, but we’ll do it alone, without you sneaking around and trying to claim my territory. I don’t know you and I don’t trust you, not after everything you’ve done since you’ve arrived. Bennett.”

“But I?—”

“You’ve said enough,” Bennett cuts him off.

As Bennett grips him by his shoulder and marches him out of the room, I cross over to Aerin and sink to a crouch in front of her.

“This bloody nose. What happened?”

“Shouldn’t we talk about the missing omegas and the?—”

“Later,” I quietly interrupt her. “That can wait. Why were you bleeding?”

She stares at me for several seconds, then her eyes fill with tears, and like every single time she’s hurting, I hurt too. “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

“All of it. All my powers. Everything. Before, I could feel it a bit, sometimes. But it’s not there anymore, and I think it’s gone forever.”

She bursts into tears.

I gather her into my arms, feeling helpless, with no idea what to say to stop her from hurting.

21

AERIN

After Clary’s haunting words, and bursting into tears as I mourned my powers, getting out my frustration seemed to help me refocus.

Once I was all cried out, I realized what was truly matters.

Right now, what’s most important isn’t my malfunctioning powers. It’s that omegas are going missing. We need to figure out why and stop it.

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