Clary woke up very confused. She was laying in a church pew, staring up at the stained glass ceiling, with a very angry Jace looking down at her. She observed that angry was a very sexy look for Jace. His mouth got all pinched and he got this fiery look in his eyes that sent her heartbeat racing. She slowly sat up and tried to piece together what had happened. She and Jace and Isabelle had been going after three Ravener demons. Well, technically Isabelle and Jace had been going after them. She was there to watch. But watching was scary and it hadn't seemed to Clary that the fight was going very well. So she had intervened. Against Jace's explicit instructions. And Isabelle had almost been killed knocking Clary out of the way of one of the Raveners. Thus Jace's sexy irritated face.
Looking around, Clary saw Isabelle up at the front of the church, cleaning her weapons. Three ugly slices on her left arm were slowly closing. Clary's stomach twisted with guilt. She heard a sarcastic throat clearing noise, and she forced herself to look over at Jace. "Go get in the van. Don't talk to me right now; I'm too upset to deal with you." The words were growled through a clenched jaw. Oh. Maybe less angry and more furious.
On the way back to the Institute, Clary tried to explain. "It didn't look good. I just wanted to help. It isn't like I meant to make it worse." Jace turned from his spot in the passenger seat to look at her. "And you trusted your judgement, your uneducated, untrained judgement, over the direct orders of someone who's been slaughtering demons their entire life? You're going to have to learn to take orders, Clarissa and i'll do whatever it takes to teach you." His tone was determined, and Clary began to get nervous, like when she'd been in elementary school and her mother was too angry to deal with her, so she called Luke over, and Clary had to wait standing in the kitchen corner to find out what her punishment would be.
When they arrived, Isabelle and Luke were unloading their gear, and Clary stood anxiously, unsure what to do. Jace finally looked at her. "Get upstairs and go to the weapons room to wait for me." he told her. Clary obediently rode the elevator upstairs and wound through the halls to the cavernous room filled with every type of blade and whip and shield imaginable. The surroundings didn't exactly ease Clary's fears. What kind of discipline did demon hunters use? She doubted she was going to be grounded or given a firm talking-to. But then, this was Jace, not a parent. He had no authority over her. He sure had sounded authoritative when he'd told her to come up here though. Clary shivered and crossed her legs on the little wooden bench, not sure whether that made her scared or turned on.
It seemed like hours later when Jace walked through the big wooden doors. His jeans were still bloodstained but he'd pulled on a fresh white t-shirt. Though her mind was all over the place, Clary couldn't not notice his muscled arms and perfectly tousled hair. He walked to the wooden bench across from her and sat down. "Do you want to be a Shadowhunter?" he asked calmly. "Of course. It's in my blood." she replied. Jace blew out some air, then looked her in the eye and said, "Alright Clary here's the deal. Today you almost got my sister killed. You have to be taught a lesson and, since you want to be one of us, I'm going to punish you the way I would if Alec or Isabelle or Max did something that prideful and idiotic. Either you can take my punishment and let me train you to fight my way, or you can go home. I can make it like this never happened and you never met me. Your choice." Clary's stomach flipped. What on earth was he going to do to her? But she knew what she wanted. She was, after all, Jocelyn's daughter. The redhead set her jaw and looked at Jace, "Whatever it takes."
"Go get that bamboo switch and bring it to me." Jace ordered. Clary's eyes got wide. She'd been spanked as a kid but never with anything but her mom's or Luke's hand. And this was Jace. She hesitated. "Now Clary." he left no room for argument. She went and lifted the implement from its hook on the wall and brought it to Jace. Her face had to be as red as her hair. He took it from her and stood up. "Pants down, hands on the bench. Maybe experiencing a fraction of the pain you put Isabelle through today will make an impression." he said in a stern tone. With shaking fingers Clary unbuttoned her jeans, grateful her underwear were cute and lacy, and slid them just past her bottom. Jace shook his head. "Around your ankles, Clary." He really needed to stop using that tone with her; it was way too much of a turn on. She slid her jeans all the way down to her sneakers and slowly bent forward and placed her hands on the bench. She had never felt so exposed.
Jace laid one hand on her back, making her shiver, and then she heard a swishing sound followed by a crack as the switch connected with her backside. Ow. Ow. Ow. She couldnt help but give a little whimper. It was like there was a line of fire across her ass cheeks. And another one, and another one. Then Jace moved down to the backs of her thighs and that vulnerable strip of skin right beneath her bottom. There were tears running down her cheeks but she was determined not to make a sound. She wanted this. She wanted the life to be a Shadowhunter and when a Shadowhunter screwed up, this was what happened.
It was literally all Jace could do not to wrap her up in his arms the second he walked in the room. He had steeled himself the whole way up here to do what needed to be done and the sight of her teeth pressing nervously into her bottom lip was almost enough to break his resolve. Damn he cared about this girl. But he also respected her, and he knew that she would not appreciate him treating her more gently than he would have someone else. This life was not for the faint of heart, and if she wanted to be a part of it, she would have to learn to take orders and, if not, take punishment. He could feel her pounding heart through the hand he had placed on her back, and he tried to focus on that instead of the lace trimmed blue underwear that seemed to be demanding his attention. Jace had punished his siblings for years. He knew when a person had had enough. When they broke down and stopped fighting, he would stop swinging. But Clary still hadn't cried out, though the switch had come down more than twenty times now, and he could see the wet spots from fallen tears on the bench. How stubborn could this girl be?
Jace paused his onslaught and slowly rubbed his thumb across Clary's back, feeling her silently shake. Then he gritted his teeth and brought the switch down one more time. "Jace!" she finally sobbed. That was all he could take. "Come here." he told her and those little arms were around his neck in an instant.
Clary was clinging to Jace like he was life itself. Sure, he was the one who'd just switched her like a schoolgirl, but now those big strong arms were picking her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he sat down on the bench with her in his lap, careful of her tender bottom. He held her tightly, one hand in her hair, the other makings slow circles on her back. She was in pain, and embarassed, and scared, and sorry, but all of those emotions disappeared when she felt Jace nuzzle her neck, then softly press his lips against her collarbone. She slid one of her hands into his hair and cautiously moved her hips against him. His sharp intake of breath was all the encouragement she needed.