𝑶𝑭 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑹𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑳

Ꮨ ᎠᏘRK RᏋFLᏋᏨTIᎧᏁ

"What other time could you..."

"One word, Renwick's."

"Okay, fine. I see your point, even if I don't agree with it." Jace said, wrapping an arm around her with a smile, placing a kiss to her temple.

"Well, I don't. I'm not overconfident." Clary said.

"Really? Should we talk about the time Cleophas came to Jade Wolf?" Alyssa asked. Clary rolled her eyes, caught, making all of them chuckle.

"As much as I would love to hear that story, I have to get going for Max's training." Izzy said, nodding at Alyssa who gave her a knowing look and smile, then she walked away from them.

Later....

Alyssa and Alec were standing by a table in the ops center, looking over mission reports and memos from the Clave.

"So, why did I smell lobster tails and butter in the office earlier when I came in? Did you order takeout or something?" She asked.

Alec looked up from his tablet, avoiding her eyes, fighting a blush from appearing on his face.

"I missed dinner with Magnus. We were supposed to go to the Cape, but I got caught up in work and forgot. So we had dinner there."

"Aww, that is so sweet and romantic. I remember the last time I tried lobster tails on one of my high school dates. It didn't go well."

"Why, what happened?"

Alyssa grimaced as the memory came to the surface. "We discovered that I'm allergic to seafood and something else the restaurant put in the food, some spice that I've forgotten the name of. It wasn't pretty."

"Ouch." Alec said as the two of them chuckled.

Hearing footsteps coming their way, the two of them lifted their heads and turned to see Clary and Jace walking over with a woman whom Alyssa recognized.

"Dot?"

"Hi, Alyssa," the woman said, smiling slightly, though Alyssa could see she was forcing it. Worry and fear were written all over Dot.

"What are you doing here? What's wrong?" Alyssa asked.

"There's a situation," Jace said. He and Alyssa shared a look, and she let out a sigh.

"And by the looks on your faces, it concerns Jonathan and his father, doesn't it? Looks like we can't catch a break these days. Let's take this to the office." She said.

As they walked, Clary began to explain the issue and why Dot was at the Institute. Antonio joined them along the way.

"After Elliot opened his own shop, we lost touch. But when I was little, Elliot was one of my mom's best friends." Clary informed them.

"He introduced me to Jocelyn," Dot added.

"And now you're concerned that he's in trouble?" Alec asked as they entered the office.

"The mark on Dot's arm is part of a protection spell," Clary said.

"What mark?" Alyssa asked. Dot lifted her arm and showed them the mark on her wrist. Seeing it, Alyssa's eyes widened as she and Antonio shared a look. "Oh boy." Dot nodded, knowing what the dark-skinned shadowhunter hybrid was thinking.

"Yeah. It's a sigil. It only transfers to another warlock if something terrible has happened."

"That's a nice way of putting it." Antonio muttered.

"Whatever he's guarding must be pretty important." Alec said, which made Clary and Dot share a look, then Dot nodded. Alyssa saw this exchange.

"Hello, care to share with the rest of the class?" She said sarcastically.