Jace had needed to go in to town to do some grocery shopping—Isabelle usually did it for the household, given how fussy she could get with food, but she was off spending all her time with Simon lately—and Magnus and Alec had wanted to go as well. Problem when shopping with Magnus was that he was almost as bad as shopping with Isabelle. He was nowhere near as fussy about what brands they brought or all the details of what it was exactly that went into the product, but he liked to go up and down every aisle and looking at everything even if they weren't going to get it. In the end, Jace just carried on the shop without them and then headed up to the checkouts at the front of the store. There were whispers and looks as he passed by, just like there was everywhere that he went now, but he ignored them, refusing to listen in to what anyone was saying specifically.
People were scared, Jace could understand that.
And it was all when he and his pack had come into town.
People needed someone to blame.
Jace moved quickly through the checkouts, the girl behind the counter looking absolutely petrified as she gave him the total amount and asked how he was going to be paying.
Another reason why Isabelle usually did the shopping—people weren't as scared of his beta as they were of him, an Alpha. Isabelle also had a way about her that calmed people down, and she would smile and talk to them, good with the whole small talk thing. Jace wasn't any good at that, and even though he tried to give her a small, comforting smile, she just looked as though she was about to break her neck, baring it to him anxiously.
Jace was relieved when he left.
As he was heading toward the doors, he listened out for Alec and Magnus. He could hear them, now only just reaching the middle aisle, and Alec was patiently waiting as Magnus began talking about whether he wanted almonds or walnuts, and Jace couldn't stop his grin as he headed out of the store with the groceries. He would wait for them in his car, they knew where he was parked.
Jace was just taking his trolley back after unloading everything into the boot of his Camaro when his nose twitched, picking up on a scent that was slightly familiar. He looked around, and his eyes narrowed when he saw Sebastian standing on the other side of the car park. The blonde had clearly seen him and was heading in his direction. Jace couldn't help the way his skin prickled when he saw the young man—the man that he had turned into a werewolf—and he clenched his teeth together as he pushed his trolley into the bay and turned his whole body to face Sebastian.
"You're still in town," he nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.
"This place is home to me, just like it is to you," Sebastian replied easily.
"You said that you were back here to make sure Clary was okay," it hurt Jace to say those words. "She's fine. She's with me. She's protected by the Herondale pack. There's no reason for you to still be here."
"But it fucks with your head so much," Sebastian smirked. "It's entertaining." Jace tried to keep his teeth clenched together, because he didn't want to give Sebastian the satisfaction of seeing him get angry. There wasn't much he could do about the furious chemosignals that were coming off him, but at least he could contain his facial expressions. Sebastian was still smiling widely though, and Jace didn't doubt for a moment that the other were knew exactly how much he was fucking with the Alpha. "Anyway," Sebastian's head turned to the side and lifted his head, his nostrils flaring slightly. "I need to go. But I'm sure I'll see you around some time soon," Sebastian smirked again and then slouched away.
Jace wished he knew what it was that Sebastian could smell.
There were too many mingled scents though, and too many options of who or what it was that Sebastian was responding to, and after watching him turn at the end of the street, his eyes dropped down to the keys in his hand. Sebastian smelt the same, but different as well. Just the same way that he looked the same, but different as well. Jace didn't know how to describe it, and he didn't know what it was exactly that was different, and so he put it down to the fact that it had been a long time since he had seen Sebastian. A lot had happened since they had seen each other, including the death of their fellow werewolf.
That changed a person a lot.
"Jace?" Alec's voice broke him out of the trance that he was in and he looked up, blinking at Alec. "You good?" Alec raised his eyebrow at him as Magnus came up behind him with a few more bags of groceries. He thought for a moment and then his eyebrows pulled together in a frown. "Sebastian was here."
"Yup," Jace muttered as he opened the boot of his car for the other men to put their shopping bags in and then silently walked around to the drivers side. Alec and Magnus exchanged looks as they walked around to the passenger side. Alec opened the door and moved forward the front seat so that Magnus could climb into the back. Magnus licked his lips, his eyes sweeping over Alec and then in the direction that Sebastian had gone in. There was something flickering over his skin, making the hair on his neck stick up and it didn't like it. Alec reached out a hand to touch Magnus but he just gave him a small, reassuring smile and then got into the backseat of the car.
It was the whole atmosphere of the town that put Magnus on edge. He hadn't really had any expectations when he had come here with Jace and Alec and the rest of the pack, but he really hadn't been prepared for the hatred that he felt in the people around them. He knew they were scared, he knew that they had good reason to be and he knew that they were just turning on the most recent people in town, the ones who fully had the ability to kill people in the way that these people had died.
They were nearly home when Alec spoke up.
"He smelt different," he said quietly.
"I know," Jace replied, his voice low. "But things like scent change as you get older and...And as other things change." By that, he was undoubtedly referencing the fact that Sebastian's eyes had changed because he had killed an innocent person. When they got home, they carried their bags inside quietly, Magnus and Alec exchanging looks as Jace dropped his bags on the kitchen counter and then headed upstairs without another sound.
"He alright?" Magnus asked quietly. He knew that Jace could hear them if he was listening, but he had a feeling that he wasn't, just wanting to get some space.
"Yeah," Alec looked over his shoulder, toward the stairs that Jace had gone up. "I think he's just finding it hard having Sebastian here. I mean, things are already kind of crazy here—with the deaths as well as Clary—and then he's got Sebastian here as well. It's just a lot going on." Magnus pursed his lips together and nodded. He knew that there was a lot more going on with Clary and Jace then they were letting on—they were mates. He wasn't sure if everyone else knew, he was assuming that Alec and Isabelle did, although he hadn't mentioned it just in case they didn't know. It wasn't his reveal to make.
A mate was a big thing for a human, and it was even a bigger deal for a werewolf or a warlock or any other supernatural character. But especially for a werewolf, because their entire being—their human and their wolf—mated with that person. If they mated and then for some reason something happened, like their mate died, werewolves had died before, their wolves curling up and mourning to the point where they starved themselves.
Upstairs, Jace was sitting on his bed. The room smelt like Clary and a little bit like Isabelle and Alec, and he could feel himself calming down slowly. He took in deep breaths through his nose and shut his eyes as he tried to block out Sebastian.
Things felt as though they were finally going right, and he wasn't going to let Sebastian ruin that for him.
He needed to work with Luke and with Sheriff Jeremiah to find out who was killing people, and then he would be able to focus completely on Clary, his mate.
It was getting late by the time that Clary got back to her apartment after teaching for the day. Simon was already there, making her dinner, and Clary let out a sigh of relief when she saw him. She walked over to the werewolf, resting her face against his back and wrapping his arms around his waist.
"Hey," she mumbled, slumping against him.
"I sort of got that from your texts earlier," Simon told her with a smile. He had been messaging her on her lunch break, asking if she wanted to go and catch a movie tonight. Clary wasn't sure why, but about halfway through the day she had just started feeling off. At first she had felt angry and then she had just felt weird, like she was emotionally tired. She had just shrugged it off, blaming it on the fact that there had been a lot of ups and downs recently and obviously it was just catching up to her. So she had told Simon that she didn't feel like going out.
And then she had come home, and he was making dinner.
"Everything okay?" Simon asked when she finally straightened up and went over to the fridge to get out a bottle of beer.
"Yeah," Clary sighed as she snapped off the lid. "I think I just need a really good nights sleep." She didn't mention to Simon that the best way to get that would be with Jace, because whenever she slept next to him, it felt as though she had rested for twenty-four hours. They hadn't really laid down any rules in their relationship, but they still spent most nights apart, and she didn't want to appear too clingy if she asked him over because she just wanted to sleep.
"Well, I've made you my famous spaghetti bolognese and we can curl up and watch one of your dumb movies and then we can go to bed," Simon told her with a small smile, and Clary couldn't help but smile again. She loved Simon. But then she processed what he had said and she narrowed her eyes playfully.
"My movies aren't dumb," she told him.
"If I have to watch Sweet Home Alabama one more time, I swear I'm going to throw up," Simon retorted and Clary rolled her eyes.
"Fine, we can watch Legally Blonde then," she replied as she dunked her finger into the pot that Simon was stirring with the bolognese sauce. He let out a dramatic moan that Clary ignored as she stuck her finger in her mouth, sucking off the sauce as she walked toward the lounge. She collapsed on the couch and tucked her feet up underneath her as she drank from her beer bottle and lifted up the remote. She turned on her TV and then switched over to her hard drive and skimmed through the titles until she got to the one that she was looking for.
Simon took about another twenty minutes in the kitchen before dinner was ready, but it was so worth the wait. He made his own bolognese sauce and it was always absolutely incredible. Clary had been planning on making two minute noodles for her dinner, so anything was a step up. He came over to her just as Elle Woods was sobbing in her bed about her break up with the very eligible Warner Huntington III. Simon didn't criticize her movie choice like he might usually, just settled back in the couch and swirled his fork around in the spaghetti in his bowl.
After they finished eating, Clary sunk down in the couch with her head on Simon's chest and his arm around her. They were quiet throughout the movie, Simon not even bothering to check his phone when it vibrated a couple of times from incoming texts. Once the movie finished, Simon didn't argue when she put on the second Legally Blonde and they were only about half an hour in when she fell asleep with her head in his lap. When Clary woke up, it was dark in the room and the TV was off and Simon was washing their dinner dishes in the kitchen. Clary sleepily got up and walked into her bathroom. She brushed her teeth and braided her head and then went to the bedroom. She undressed and pulled on a sleeping singlet before getting into bed.
"You need anything else?" Simon asked as he came into her room.
"Nah," Clary mumbled as she made herself comfortable, folding her arms underneath her pillow and burying her face in it. She could hear as Simon moved around the apartment checking that the windows were shut and secured, and then he came back into her bedroom. He took off his sweatshirt and jeans and got into bed with Clary, laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. He let out a couple of heavy breaths, shifting around after a few minutes. "I can hear you thinking," Clary's voice was muffled against the pillow.
"Sorry," he muttered.
"What's up?" Clary asked, turning her head to the side. "What's going on?"
"You know this whole room reeks of Jace," Simon stated with a laugh and Clary just rolled her eyes. "Like, not in a sex way or anything, just...Like him, you know?"
"Okay?" Clary raised her eyebrow in the dark, not too sure where he was going with it.
"It's good," Simon said with a shrug. "You smell like...Pack. I mean, you always did, but with Jace here now, it's real, you know?" Clary wondered if she should be offended by the statement, but she knew what he meant. They were an actual pack now, and her position as the Alpha's mate solidified who she was in their pack. It wasn't as though she had ever really questioned it before, but it was definite now.
They didn't know that she was Jace's mate—she wasn't quite ready to talk about that just yet, but even if she wasn't Jace's mate, just being his partner made her second-in-charge. She knew what Simon meant, saying that she smelt like pack, and that made a warm feeling stir in her stomach before she rolled back over and fell asleep with a smile on her face.
Um...My song recommendations for this week would be Hitchhiker by Demi Lovato, All You Need To Know by Gryffin featuring Calle Lehmann, Rollercoaster by The Jonas Brothers and All This Time by Drax Project, which has just officially been released. The studio version doesn't quite hold up to the live version, it's like there's too much synth and they tried to downplay how powerful the sax it's, which is the best part of the song. I've got this recording of when we saw them at smaller concert, at a club, and the whole atmosphere is fucking amazing when this song comes on, if we're friends on Facebook or Snapchat and you want a copy, let me know and I'll send it through :) But I still recommend the version that's out there on Youtube and Spotify.
Moviewise...John Wick 3 was incredible, as expected. I bawled by eyes out in Rocketman, but it was so, so good. I adore Taron Egerton and Richard Maddon, and they played their roles so well. I don't recommend the new Ted Bundy film, tbh. I was looking forward to it, I love Zac Efron and Lily Collins, and Ted Bundy is a fascinating study subject, but...I just felt like it glorified him so much, and it honestly made me feel a bit sick. TV shows I would recommend would be Madam Secretary, Harlots and High Seas. Also, did anyone watch the first episode of Euphoria? It is absolutely fucking amazing. I bawled my eyes out and my heart hurt and there were parts that hit a little close to home, but shit, it's so fucking good.
Lyric of the week...'My daddy put a gun to my head/Said if you kiss a boy, I'm gonna shoot you dead/So I tied him up with gaffa tape and I locked him in a shed/Then I went out to the garden and I fucked my best friend'...
