Magnus was not sure how the hell did he actually managed to get Alec from the institute to his flat and he definitely was not sure as to why the hell Alec was clinging into him like his life depends on it. Every time the Alec's grip around his arm loosened, Alec growled. Alec Lightwood actually growled, and Magus was quick to make sure that the grip was not lose, no matter what he did. He also knew Alec's tight grip around his arm was going to leave bruise marks, but he couldn't care less. All he wanted was Alec to be okay, as quickly as possible.
He did not have time to think as to why his alpha was trying to sooth and protect the other alpha who was in distress. Just since when did an alpha want to look after another alpha? Weren't those are the feelings an alpha would feel towards the omega or the beta they were courting? But Magnus knew one thing. When it came to Alexander Lightwood, nothing made sense. Not the incredible attraction he felt, not how protective his alpha got over Alec or how his chest pained whenever he watched Alec walking away with yet another omega or beta Shadowhunter
As soon as Magnus managed to get Alec into one of the couches in his living room, he sent out a fire message to Catarina. If he had the choice, he would not have asked an omega to come over while there was a distressed alpha, but this was Catarina. She would kick Alec's and his ass if alphas made her uncomfortable in the slightest. Still, he made sure to mention the alpha situation as briefly as possible so she could decide for herself whether she wanted to be there or not. Been the nurse she is, Magnus knew she would be there as soon as possible.
"Wow, well, that stinks." Cat covered her nose with her handkerchief as soon as she reached Magnus's loft.
"What is going on?" Cat looked at Magnus, who was sitting on the sofa with Alec's head resting on his lap. Alec had his eyes tightly closed, but it was clear that he was not sleeping because of his growls and deep breaths. Thankfully, Alec did not react strongly to Catarinas' arrival.
"Something is wrong with Alec's alpha. Nothing is wrong with his body, but his alpha is acting up, and it has been half an hour since he lost control completely. Also, what are you doing here?" Magnus asked Ragnor, who was standing behind Catarina.
"Aren't you a delight." Ragnor shrugged, but he didn't seem upset.
"Sorry, it has been an extremely stressful day." Magnus sighed.
"Don't worry about that. When I saw the fire message, I thought I would come along in case you need any extra pair of hands."
"Thank you, my green cabbage." Magnus smiled at his friends.
"Well, at least he is not in his rut." Catarina opened all the windows in the loft with a flick of fingers.
"Let's get this scent out. I can't breathe, and chocking on Alpha stink is not the way I want to die. I lived far too long to die that ridiculously." Catarina said as she scrunched her nose and moved her hand near her nose. Ragnor and Magnus shared a smirk as Catarina tried to get rid of the pheromones in the air. As Ragnor is a beta, he didn't react much to the scent, and Magnus loved Alec's scent. If possible, he would have bottled it up, but for a mated omega, another unmated alpha scent can be disgusting.
"Now that is gone, walk me through what happened. I assume you were with his before this whole thing went downhill." Catarina sat a bit further away the two alphas.
"Yes, I was at the institute to open some portals, and nothing seemed out of place. He even welcomed me when I got there, and of course, he was his normal charming self throughout the whole time."
"Yeah, right." Ragnor scoffed in the background as he was checking Magnuss portion bottles. Magnus gave him a quick glare and turned back to Catarina.
"Once I was done, I said my goodbyes, and I was about to leave when I heard him falling down."
"Nothing else happened? Maybe you flirted with him so much that his brain cells fried." Catarina chuckled.
"Honestly!" Magnus pouted.
"As funny as that is, I dont think that's what happened. Was there an omega who was about to go on heat?" Ragnor was done with going through Magnus's portions, so he sat down next to Catarina.
"I didn't notice anything like that." Magnus was sure he would have noticed something like that.
"There was an omega. The one Alexander one was talking to during the party." Catarina and Ragnor nodded to show that they remembered who Magnus was talking about.
"But Andrew came to look for us only after Alec lost control. Thankfully, Alec did not make any advance towards Andrew. Since he lost control, he has been holding onto my arms." Magnus pointed at the arm, Alec was holding so tightly.
"Yeah, I was wondering about that. So, basically, Alec's alpha is not letting you go?" Ragnor looked at Alec , who still had his eyes closed.
"Something like that."
"Did you try moving away from him?" Catarina asked. To show what the response of Alec's would be, Magnus tried to slowly take his arm away, and without a second delay, a threating and dark growl left Alec's mouth. All three warlocks looked at each other with wide eyes. The growl was so powerful that it was definitely a warning growl. All knew they should not provoke Alec's alpha any longer.
"Okay, okay! Do not move. He will rip our throats off if you move away." Ragnor was quick to respond.
"Do you know what is happening? At least he doesn't seem to be in pain anymore, but he was hyperventilating earlier."
"I might have an idea." Catarina leaned back on the chair as she closed her eyes.
"And that is?" Magnus encouraged his friend to speak. Catarina opened her eyes and looked at Magnus, who was waiting for an answer, and then she looked at Ragnor, who was also waiting for a response.
"I talked to Alec yesterday, after you left the party." Catarina sighed.
"About?" Magnus squinted his eyes as he asked the question.
"More like I threatened him to stay away from you."
"When was he ever near me?" Magnus scoffed.
"Magnus!"
"Apologies, carry on."
"I told him to stay away from you if he didn't return your feelings back, and he said he wanted to stay away from you." Catarina stopped to look at Magnus. Magnus seemed as if he wasn't even surprised.
"Isn't that lovely to hear." Magnus fake smiled.
"But he said he couldn't because of his alpha."
"Because of his alpha?" Ragnor asked this time.
"He said his alpha protest whenever he tried to move away from Magnus and that his alpha has never been attracted to anyone else like that. He mentioned that his alpha tries to takeover whenever you are not around, and he said it scars him. He went on how he would lose his job and everything that matters to him if he could not control his alpha." Catarina took a deep breath.
"He went as far as to ask for my help, and I suggested we could try to mute his alpha until he finds a mate."
"Mute his alpha? That would crush his soul." Magnus protested.
"I am sure he knows the side effects of the procedure, Magnus. He said he wants to mate with someone else. He said he had thought about it so many times, but his alpha would not let him."
"He would go as far as to crush his own soul beyond repair so he could get away from me?" Magnus gulped. With Catarinas every word, he felt his heart getting crushed.
"Here, I thought I was the overdramatic one. Magnus laughed bitterly." Catarina felt absolute like absolute shit for being the reason for her best friends pain, but she knew Magnus deserves the truth.
"I am sorry, Magnus." Catarina was afraid to look at her best friends eyes.
"No, there is nothing to be sorry about, my dear Catarina. I needed that reality check. Thank you for looking after me and being the friend you are." Magnus smiled softly at her. He meant every single word. He felt so grateful for having friends who would go as far as to threaten an alpha so her friend wouldn't get hurt.
Catarina smiled softly at Magnus in return.
"What are we going to do about the Shadowhunter?" Ragnor finally asked.
"All I can think of is that we try and see if we can get Alec back on the wheel." Catarina responded.
"And how do we do that? Magnus asked."
"Sedate the alpha and hope for the best. We could try and call Alec back using his and Jaces parabatai Rune."
"That sounds less complicated than muting his alpha." Ragnor answered.
"Let me send a fire message to Jace and Izzy. Once they are aware, we can transfer Alec back to the institute, and we can go forward from there onwards." Magnus conjured himself a pen and a paper and started writing.
"Why dont we treat him here?" Catarina asked.
"Catarina, do you think he would be happy to hear that his alpha clung on to me, the warlock he disgusted with, and then followed that said warlock to his loft after he lost control? That would make him hate me even more. There is already so much tension between us and this would make things way too complicated. I think it would be wise to keep this from him. Considering its only three of us know what happened, I am sure if we dont say anything, he wouldn't know."
"Are you sure that is the wisest thing to do?"
"Yes, also I don't want to be accused of taking advantage of him when he was not in control. "Magnus scoffed. Ragnor noticed that Magnus was not holding Alec's hand as before. Instead, he had his arms crossed around his chest while Alec still clung on to him. Thankfully, the alpha looked calm, and he definitely was happy to be around Magnus. Ragnor noticed that as Catarina explained the last night event, Magnus's body language got colder and colder towards Alec.
"He wouldn't." Catarina protested, to which Magnus scoffed. As Catarina was about to open her mouth to say something, a burning paper appeared out of nowhere. Magnus caught it without much trouble. His rings and nail polish shined as the sunrays hit his hand when he caught the fire message. It was getting close to the sunset, and pink and red sky looked magnificent from Magnuss flat. One of the reasons why he loved his Brooklyn apartment.
"Both Jace and Izzy are on their way to the institute. Let's get this over with." Magnus carefully got up from the sofa as he made sure Alec won't get hurt in any way.
"Sounds like a plan." Catarina and Ragnor got up from the sofa.
"I will open the portal." Ragnor stopped Magnus from using any more magic than he had already done for the day.
"Thank you." Magnus smiled.
"Before we leave, do you know why exactly Alec's Alpha responds to you that much?" Catarina turned to Magnus.
"Because you mentioned before that your alpha also reacts strongly to Alec."
"Honestly, after hearing about your conversation with Alec, it is not something I want to understand or even explore. I just want to be over with this and move on."
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Alec felt extremely tired even before he opened his eyes. He felt as if his whole body had been drained forcefully. He groaned as he sat up on the bed.
"Alec!" Izzy's voice made him aware of his sisters' presence.
"Izzy?"
"Thank the angel you are fine." Izzy, who was sitting by Alecs bedside, held his hand as she closed her eyes.
"What happened?" His voice came out rough and groggy.
"Alec, your alpha took over your body yesterday, and you lost consciousness for a whole day."
Alec felt mortified.
"Did I?" Alec gulped. "Did I do something stupid?" He was scared to even hear the answer.
"No, thankfully, no. Magnus was by your side when that happened, and he swore that nothing happened."
"Magnus?" Memories from the day before hit him like a brick. It didn't take long for him to realise he lost control when Magnus started walking away from him.
'Shit!' Alec cursed.
'Did I say anything stupid?' The last thing Alec wanted was him saying something to Magnus that he could not take back.
"Magnus left yesterday. He had asked Catarina to come over as soon as you lost control. He let us know as well. Once your body took control back from the alpha, he left."
"Oh." Alec felt a bit disappointed. For a second, he selfishly wanted Magnus to be next to him when he woke up.
"You have no idea how worried I was. You stupid big brother. Izzy pulled Alec for a hug." Alec could not help but smile softly as he patted Izzy's head.
"Thank you for worrying about your stupid big brother. I really appreciate it." Alec chuckled.
"See? Stupid!" Izzy tightened the hug.
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After the long couple of days he had, the last thing he wanted to do that afternoon was talk to anyone. So, he decided to watch a movie and call it a night. He dressed up in his favourite cobalt blue silk pyjama set and decided to leave the top unbuttoned. He conjured himself seafood risotto, roasted vegetables, and poured himself a white wine glass before he sat down for the movie. Movie selection for the night was the infamous French movie. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.
As he took a sip from his wine glass, he sat on the sofa and sighed contently.
"The perfect way to end the day."
He was about to press play when he heard a knock on the door.
"That's odd." He thought as he looked at the time and saw it was just after 8 p.m. For a second, he was tempted to not open the door, but as much as he wanted to be a jerk to whoever showed up unannounced, he decided to open the door.
"Come in. I am in the living room." Magnus didn't bother getting up from the sofa, especially considering he just sat down. He took another sip from his drink when the sharp, woody amber fragrance wafted through the loft. Magnus closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the familiar and calming scent as his alpha vibrated in happiness. But soon enough, the conversation he had with Catarina day before came to mind, and he could smell his own scent started turning bitter in unhappiness.
"What do you want, Mr. Lightwood?" Magnus looked up at the alpha who seemed lost in his living room.