Hi, my pretties! Updating only once a month feels so weird, I feel like it's been half a year since I've updated! But my life is starting to even out again, and so maybe next month or the one after I'll be able to go back to two monthly updates :) Now, something that I wanted to say, was that I've written up summaries for all the new stories that I'm working on, and I've put them up on my profile. So go check them out and let me know what you think of them! I'm always happy to talk about new stories if you guys have any questions or want to talk :)
The pack night went just like it usually did.
There was fighting between Simon, Max and Jordan over what movie they were going to watch, Jem and Alec wrestled over the comfy arm chair that they all knew Jace was going to kick people off because he always sat in it, and Isabelle burnt the dessert. Clary settled in the bean bag that she always sat in, between the arm chair and the couch, with Sammy sitting on her lap, a bottle clutched in her hands. The little girl had been playing with Maia, Alec and Simon most of the afternoon, her tiny fangs on display and her eyes flashing playfully, and she was most definitely ready to go to bed for the night.
"You looking forward to the full moon tomorrow, my darling girl?" Clary hummed against the girls soft, curly hair. Sammy popped the teat out of her mouth and tipped her head backwards, giving Clary a gummy, milky smile before shoving the bottle back in her mouth. Clary wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on around her, the whole room loud and rowdy while everyone got ready to settle down. Jace didn't say much either, he had glared at both Jem and Alec, who had grumbled under their breath and got off the La-Z-Boy, letting Jace sit there, and he had let one of his arms hand over the side of the arm chair, falling against Clary's shoulder and resting there.
"But I want to watch Iron Man!" Simon complained.
"I've already watched Iron Man ten times more than I every wanted to," Isabelle shot back as she dragged a mattress into the centre of the room, in front of the couch.
"You've only seen it ten times," Simon argued.
"Exactly," Isabelle growled as she flopped down on the mattress, pulling a blanket over her. Simon continued to argue for Iron Man, but Jordan had commandeered the remote and had scrolled right over it on the hard drive that they had plugged in.
"What about Batman?" Jem suggested.
"Ooh, the second one!" Maia piped up. "I'm always down for The Dark Knight." There were murmurs of agreement, Clary still not paying attention until Jace tapped her on the shoulder and raised his eyebrows in a question.
"Hit me with some Heath Ledger," Magnus smirked. "That beautiful, beautiful man."
"Sounds good," Clary agreed, Max and Simon now looking at her expectantly. That seemed to settle it, and Jordan turned the movie on. They had all eaten dinner before starting the movie, because whenever they were all there and ate in the lounge, the place would look like an absolute pigsty, given how much the werewolves ate. There were bags of chips being passed around and a cardboard box with donuts, and Clary knew that there was still going to be a mess to clean up.
The lights were all turned off, and the movie started. This was Clary's favourite out of the Batman trilogy, and she had lost count of the amount of times she had seen it, so she wasn't too focused on the screen, more on the little girl in her arms. Sammy finished off her bottle and Clary put it on the ground, rearranging the baby cub in her arms. Sammy buried her nose in Clary's shirt, folding her fingers in Clary's long hair that was falling over her shoulders, breathing in the scent of pack and home that Clary knew she carried. It didn't take her long before Sammy fell off to sleep, and Clary traced her fingers over the little girls cheeks and chin.
Sammy was pretty much the child of everyone in the pack. Clary only had a few friends who had children, and Jocelyn had friends who had babies that she used to see when she was younger, and even though the mothers and fathers always had support systems, it was nothing like the one that Sammy, Maia and Jordan had. Sammy was pretty much the most important person in the entire room, she even turned the big, bag Alpha to goo when she blinked her big, brown eyes up at him, curling her fingers into claws. It was another one of the reasons why Clary was glad that she had been brought into this world, into this pack.
As if knowing what she was thinking, Jace hand on her shoulder tightened and then shifted. He slid it underneath her long hair, carefully extracting it from Sammy's sleepy grip, and then cupping her neck. Clary let him, leaning into his touch. An Alpha's hand around the back of one of his werewolves neck was a move that was meant to be grounding, comforting. Clary wasn't a werewolf, but that touch had become invaluable to her, even if it didn't affect her quite in the same way. His fingers traced up and down the side neck, lightly playing with her hair, and Clary let out a slight hum of contentment as she leaned against the side of his arm chair, her grip around Sammy tightening to make sure the girl was safe and secure against her body.
After the movie, Maia took Sammy down to the other end of the house and tucked her into her cot. Usually on pack nights they would all sleep together, but given it was a full moon tomorrow, and they would all be puppy piling in a mess after they finished their run in the woods, so they would be going back to their own rooms tonight.
There was another argument over the next movie, but Clary wasn't paying too much attention again, but this time it was because she was almost asleep. Jace's fingers were massaging her scalp, and halfway through the movie, Jem had shifted over to lay his head on her lap and Max had rolled over so that he could lean against her legs. She was warm, surrounded by the people she loved, and so when a fight broke out over whether they were going to be putting Fight Club or Titanic on, she didn't have any input.
"Clary," Max was whispering and shaking her arm slightly. "Clary!" She blinked and opened her arms, seeing that the TV screen was now dark, and people were moving around her in the dark, light only coming from the stars and moon through the windows.
"I'm awake," she mumbled out and she saw a flash of teeth as he smiled at her.
"You're getting old," Max teased her. Clary narrowed her eyes at him and lazily pulled the fingers. Simon and Max both laughed, and Simon reached out a hand, helping her to her feet.
"C'mon, girl," Jace murmured, putting one hand underneath her elbow and steadying her on her feet.
"I can walk," Clary protested tiredly as she tugged her arm away. Isabelle and Simon were heading upstairs to their bedroom on the third floor, Jem and Max were doing the same thing, their rooms on the second floor, and Maia and Jordan were walking toward the back of the house. Originally their bedroom had been on the second floor, but after having Sammy, they relocated to one of the spare bedrooms downstairs, not wanting to trek up and down the stairs in the middle of the night when Sammy woke up. Alec and Magnus were up on the third floor as well, down the opposite end from Isabelle and Simon.
Apparently the Herondale home used to be a whole lot larger than this, when Jace's parents were alive, before the house had been burnt practically to the ground. Jace and his pack had rebuilt the home from the ground up, using as much of the original structure as possible. All of this was before Clary and Simon had come along. Clary remembers driving past the house when her and Simon were exploring the township and wondering just how many people lived in the house. The house was built big and spacious to make room for pack and their families, and also for visiting packs when they stayed.
Jace had literally built a home for his pack, somewhere for them to be safe and loved, and Clary couldn't stop the stupid smile on her face everytime she thought of that.
"You're tired," Jace stated, his voice low as he walked after Clary. The spare room that she stayed in was on the second floor, opposite Jace's room. "Are you sleeping okay?"
"I'm fine," Clary answered, rubbing her eyes. "It's just been a long week, you know?" She sighed as she walked down toward the end of the hall. She hoped that downstairs where Maia and Jordan's was, the door would be shut. As much as she loved Sammy, she just wanted to sleep through the night, without any interruptions from crying babies. Another plus side to Jace rebuilding the house was he made sure each of the bedrooms were sound proof. Clary remembered living in the tiny apartment with Simon, and even with their human hearing at the time, they could hear one another through the wall. Clary could only imagine just how awkward things could get between the were's if they heard one another at night.
"Was it Helen who fixed your shoulder?" Jace asked as they stopped by the door for the spare room, which should really just be called Clary's room. She had spare clothes in there, a couple of photographs and books, and other things that had just slowly migrated from her home.
"Yeah," Clary admitted as she leaned against the door frame and looked up at Jace.
"Well, at least you let someone help you," Jace muttered and Clary rolled her eyes up at him, looking up at the Alpha through her eyelashes.
"I don't need to rely on you anymore than I already do," she mumbled. Jace frowned, she could see his expression even in the dark hallway. Jace's eyes glowed slightly, just a faint crimson colour, and he reached out to rest his hand on her hip.
"You don't rely on me enough," he murmured, his voice quiet. "And even if you did, that's what I'm here for. I'm here to look after you." Clary's heart started beating a little faster at that, and Jace's fingers tightened at her hip, obviously able to hear the increase in her heart rate. His face was only a couple of inches away from her own, and she could see his eyes burning a little brighter. "You're more breakable than the rest of us, and I need to make sure you're always okay." Clary couldn't stop herself from letting out a shaky breath at the intensity of his words, and the way that he was staring at her, and she looked down.
The exhale seemed to break the moment, and Jace dropped his hand from her hip, leaning forward to press a soft kiss against her forehead.
"Get some sleep," he whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Sooooo...I saw The Hitmans Bodyguard last weekend with the man and a few friends, and it was fucking hilarious. I definitely recommend. Another movie I watched a week or so ago was Below Her Mouth. It was on Netflix and yeah, okay, it's about 80% sex scenes, but I absolutely fucking loved it. Erika Linder is just...Holy shit, she is fucking beautiful. So both of these, I recommend! One that I'm a little iffy on is Friends From College. My husband and I watched it all in the space of one weekend. The cast was incredible, they're all good actors and they all had so much chemistry with each other—Felix was my absolute favourite—but I felt so, so, so angry at the end. I won't explain it on here because I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but shit I was angry at the end!
Now, song wise...Lili Reinhart's cover of Wicked Games. Holy shit. It's absolutely beautiful, and I have played it so many times on Youtube, it's insane. The other songs I've had on repeat recently are Havana by Camilla Cabello, Fight Like A Girl by Zolita and Bird by Billie Marten. I've also put some of my old songs on my phone to play at work, and so I've been listening to Flyleaf—my favourite by them is Marionette.
Also, has anyone listened to the song 1-800-273-8255 by Logic, Alessia Cara and Khalid? It's absolutely heart breaking and completely beautiful. Their performance at the VMA's had me all tearing up. Holy shit.
As usual—recommend songs, movies, fics in the Riverdale, Teen Wolf and Mortal Instruments categories! Sometimes I do take a while to get around to all your recs, but I do get there! And don't forget to check out the summaries on my profile, and let me know what you think!
Pleeeease leave a review, my beauties! They make me super happy, and I've got a preview for anyone who wants one :) xx