Alec didn't believe in love. The whole notion of it just confused him.
He knew other people had found love. So let's rephrase that first sentence: Alec didn't believe in love for himself. He didn't believe he could ever fall in love.
That he deserved someone who loved him. He couldn't understand how anybody could love him at all. He was boring, uninteresting. He didn't play football or soccer. No sport that others would call particularly manly or interesting.
He liked reading but he didn't even read interesting books that everybody liked. He read old books like the odyssey or the edda. One time he even started reading the bible. Everybody had thought him crazy back then. He didn't read it because he was religious or anything like that. He liked those old stories and tales that were sometimes long forgotten and ancient. They talked of heroes and cowards, kings and servants, success and defeat. He liked to loose himself in those ancient worlds full of mythical creatures and magic.
But coming back to the subject at hand: Love was not meant for Alec Lightwood and Alec Lightwood was not meant for love. It was as simple as that!
He had of course heard of the union. He knew what it meant. It was such a strong kind of love that it was bigger than any earthly love anybody ever experienced. It united two people not only emotionally but also mentally and physically. It connected two people's thoughts as if they were one.
At least that's what he'd heard about it. Only very few people ever experienced it. It was seen as a blessing to be granted this gift.
It happened at the age of eighteen. Then you would either have that gift or not. Of course it was only triggered if you saw that one person you were meant to be with. Alec didn't think this would ever apply to him. He was gay. There was no way this could happen. He had never heard of two males being united.
Which was why he certainly wasn't as thrilled as all the other students from his class to turn eighteen. Everybody else wanted to know if they would ever be united. If they would have that one soul mate. If they had the physical ability to be united.
The following day would be the day on which the school doctor would inspect all the students that had already turned eighteen. This time this would also include Alec Lightwood.
However, he was fairly certain that he wouldn't be able to unite with anybody.
Boy, was he in for a surprise!