Smokescreen 》Alec Lightwood

11.

Adelaide nodded at Luke. She had decided she liked him. 'What the hell am I supposed to say to her Magnus?' She asked as she looked to her friend.

'I don't know Addy, that's up to you. Saying hello usually works.' Adelaide rolled her eyes at the cheeky response.

Adelaide groaned, peering at her rune in the front facing camera on her phone. The usually dull rune was angry and red and every few minutes it would throb painfully.

'They're here.' Luke commented, drawing Adelaide's attention.

Adelaide took that as her cue to make herself scarce, placing herself in the room connected to Magnus' living room that was situated closest to the front door, so she couldn't be seen by anyone entering the lair.

'Hi Magnus.' Clary smiled at the warlock as she entered his home.

'Hello shadowhunters. There seems to be one of you missing.' Magnus commented as he shut the door behind his guests.

'Alec was busy, he'll be here later.' Clary commented as she pulled away from Luke's hug.

'Alright, onto the first order of business then.' Magnus clapped his hands together.

'Wait, I just came to talk to Luke?' Clary questioned.

'I know, but before you do that within the privacy of my home, there is someone here who needs to be clued in on our little secret.' Magnus' tone was thick with implications.

Jace swallowed, trying not to meet Isabelle's confused eyes. Slowly, Clary, Luke and Magnus all turned to Isabelle, who had her back facing the front door.

'Okay, why is everyone staring at me? What did I do? If this is about Meliorn –'

'Izzy?'

Isabelle's words cut off in a gasp as she whirled to face the owner of the voice that had spoken behind her, her whip automatically unfurling at her side.

*****

Alec nodded to his parents one last time as he left the main office of the institute.

A sigh of relief left his lips as his rigid shoulders slumped. He was in a sour mood that he wasn't sure anything but training could bring him out of, and he still had to go and find Jace, Clary and Isabelle. The meeting had been less of a meeting and more of an interrogation. The clave and his own parents had questioned his knowledge of the whereabouts of the mortal cup. They seemed to think he was hiding something from them and it annoyed him to no end. They had little faith in him as a leader and a son, though as of late he really couldn't blame them.

Everything, everything he'd ever known had started to crumble in front of him after he'd lost Adelaide. Alec didn't see the fun side in anything anymore and he knew him putting his trust in the law annoyed both Isabelle and Jace. Even though Alec had changed, the two of them remained constants in his life and for that he was beyond grateful. Without her knowing it even Clary had become somewhat of a constant in his life, a constant pain in his ass sure, but a constant nonetheless.

Alec didn't like Clary much. He didn't hate her but he did find her remarkably annoying with her constant chatter and her inquisitive nature. Up until recently he'd thought himself in love with his parabatai, who in turn seemed to have strong affections for Clary who was Valentines daughter. At first he'd been jealous of her and the way Jace clearly felt about her but he was beginning to realise that while he loved Jace, he wasn't necessarily in love with him. Jace was safe and familiar and Alec could use someone like that in his life. No, his feelings for Jace were purely that of family, Atleast they were now anyway.