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We sit silently for the next five minutes.

“Can you see anything?” I ask.

“Nothing. You?”

“Not a damn thing,” I mutter. “Just trees. I can’t even tell if that’s a tree off in the distance or a piece of a building.”

“A tree,” Clary says. “We need to get closer.”

When his seatbelt snaps, I twist to face him, frowning. “We’re just here to watch. We need to know what we’re up against before we charge in there and get everyone killed.”

Before we left the house, we discussed the aims of tonight. Just reconnaissance. We weren’t here to act. We were here to learn, because moving too fast and without a plan in place would put Aerin and the other omegas in jeopardy.

“But we’re too far away,” he says. “No one is around. All we need to do is?—”

“Walk right into a trap, or possibly capture the attention of an enforcer hidden in a tree with a cell phone who reports back to the others?” Douglas asks mildly. “Had you thought about what exactly you would do after that creeping?”

Clary doesn’t respond.

He’s been looking for his stolen mate for two weeks. This is probably the closest he’s come to getting her back in all that time, and it can’t be easy to sit on his hands.

“We’ll get her back,” I assure him. “We’ll get them all back.”

He nods, still looking out of his window. “Sure.”

I study him for a beat, wanting to confirm he’s not going to get out of the car.

Then I twist back around, curl my fingers around my steering wheel and go back to staring through gaps in trees. “There have to be more than twenty if they’ve been building homes.”

“Unless they’re efficient,” Douglas says.

“Or unless?—”

A door swings open, letting in a blast of cold air as Clary scrambles out.

Cursing, I throw my door open and follow him out, needing to get him before he doesn’t just get us killed—he gets Aerin killed.

Douglas beats me out of the car by seconds.

If anyone sees him, they’ll know we’re here, and they will lock Aerin down so tight, we’ll never get her out.

I’m a couple of steps behind Douglas when he grips Clary with one arm, hauls him back and punches him in the face.

He’s out cold instantly, and I stare as Douglas tosses him onto one shoulder and leads the way back to my car.

“What?” he asks, shooting me a rapid glance.

“Was it necessary to lay the guy out?”

“It seemed the more efficient way of quietly stopping him rather than arguing with him where someone might overhear us.” Douglas throws Clary in the back seat, slams the door shut and slides back into the passenger seat.

I can’t bring it in myself to argue because he has a point, so I get in as well.

Douglas has his phone in his hand as I slam my door shut.

He speed dials someone and my dad answers.

“What?”

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