Hey, beauties! Here's an update for the week :) Also, we are very close to the end of this one!
Jace wasn't sure what he had expected, but he sort of thought that there would be some kind of discussion before anything too bad happened. He wanted to focus on Max, and if that meant listening to someone babble away for a bit, then he would accept that. He thought that maybe there would be words exchanged—especially between Clary and her father, or even Clary and her half brother, who Jace had managed to pick out quickly. He could smell the magic stronger around a tall blonde man, and he was staring at Clary as though she was the only one there.
Jace didn't like the way he was looking at her, and he could barely recognize him from the older boy that he remembered standing in the room with him and Clary the night that his father had died.
But Jace hadn't expected for everyone to just fly into action, for the attack to just explode.
The vampires were fast—and given the fact that they were sharing power and drawing from Valentine, they were faster than the werewolves. They had hundreds of years of experience behind them and they were using them to their advantage. Jace didn't have time to worry about his pack, though, because the Alpha werewolf lunged at him.
Hodge Starkweather's eyes were glowing red, and the circular mark on his neck was burning red as well, and Jace had to focus all of his attention on Hodge. This was the same man who had attacked him, who had slashed at his side and who had injured Isabelle. Jace could feel his anger in his throat, choking him, and he knew that he needed to swallow that back, because he couldn't keep a clear head if his eyes were clouded with fury. The older Alpha had more power than him, that was obvious in the strength of his fist as it came in contact with the side of Jace's face, but Jace was quicker and lighter on his feet.
The Alpha lunged and swiped at Jace's face but Jace ducked and the claws only just managed to slice a few, shallow slashes across his cheek. Jace lurched forward, his head dropped and his shoulder set solidly, and he caught Hodge in the stomach, shoving the Alpha backwards, caught off guard.
Jace could hear swearing and grunting and yelling around him, and given he had managed to throw the Alpha off balance, he reached out in the pack bond for Max, and he felt a rush of relief.
Max was alive.
He was hurting, and he was barely conscious, but he was alive.
Then Jace had to withdraw from the bond and focus back on what was happening because Hodge was charging again.
His body was shifting.
It was distracting and it meant that he stumbled when the Alpha charged at him and kicked out his legs, jabbing them behind the knees and forcing Jace to fall forward. His fangs and his claws were already sharp and showing, but his inner wolf was scratching and whining and asking for more. Jace didn't know what more he had to give, but he felt himself letting go.
Maybe it was the demon blood.
Maybe it was the magic he could feel coming off Clary.
He didn't know what it was, but he gave it permission.
Instead of fighting the growing feeling in his stomach, stretching his skin, expanding in his stomach, he let it grow. He twisted and turned and he could actually feel himself getting stronger and stronger. He could feel his pack fighting, he could feel their strength as well—not just their physical strength but their emotional strength.
He didn't think he had ever been prouder.
And he could feel Clary.
It wasn't quite through the pack bond, but it was there, and it was strong, and he could feel the pain that was inside her but her determination to right a wrong was stronger than that and she was pulling up all the power that she could. He knew that the fact that there was demon blood in her hurt her, it made her different from her mother, something he hadn't quite understood when she had been talking to Isabelle at the warehouse and explaining the difference between a Spark and a warlock. But she was using everything she had, calling it all up to the surface.
He had to do the same.
It was almost as soon as he admitted that to himself—as soon as he admitted that for Max, for his pack, for Clary—he needed to be as strong as he could be, and that meant letting the demon blood work. Letting that feeling inside of him take over.
One moment, Jace was lunging at the Alpha, sharpened teeth and claws were slashing. The Alpha was retreating, as though knowing that something was happening, something dangerous was happening.
And then the next moment, his whole body was changing.
It wasn't painful at all as his bones morphed, shifting under his skin, fur suddenly spreading over his body, his nose was lengthening and his ears pointing, and his eyes burned and felt as though they were the only thing that stayed sort of the same. He felt the world become bigger than him, but then he felt this spear of invincibility fire down his spine and he was jumping forward, higher and faster than he ever had.
He grasped the Alpha's arm and tore at it, biting and slashing at anything he could get his hands on, and it wasn't until the Alpha was on the ground, bloody and barely breathing, that he realized he could taste and smell the blood.
Not just a whiff of it or the passing taste like he would when he was a human, shifted into his usual werewolf change.
It felt as though it was in his throat and fueling his anger and it was stuck to him...
Stuck to his fur.
He felt the surprise from his pack, and the thick smell of fear that came off in waves from their assailants—from The Circle.
He was a wolf.
An actual wolf.
Transformation into an actual wolf was rare—there had only been fifty or so in history that had been reported.
Jace's whole body shook once over as he stared down at the broken body that had stopped breathing on the ground in front of him. He felt absolutely no remorse as he looked down at the Alpha werewolf, the circle on the side of his neck just a dull, gnarly scar that now just looked faded, as though it had been there for years and years.
Jace blinked slowly as he breathed in the smells around him. He tilted back his head and he felt wind running through his fur, ruffling it gently. There was so much going on around him that it felt strange to be having a moment of complete and utter peace. He felt complete, he felt as though he was finally who he was meant to be, and his wolf was so happy that it had finally had the chance to come out, in the way that it had been trying to for weeks now, ever since Clary woke up that part of him that had been locked away.
He was closer to the ground than he usually was, and he could feel the earth shifting under each of his four paws. He could still understand and comprehend everything that was happening around him, there were shouts between his packs and orders that were flying from Valentine to the rest of his gang. He could smell everything so much stronger than he usually could, all of the fear and the anger that was rolling off everyone around him. His body shuddered again, and he dropped his nose, trying to accept the fact that he had been evolving this whole time he thought that there was something wrong with him.
Things felt as though they had slowed down around them, but Jace didn't doubt for a second that they were still moving fast for the rest of his pack. Magnus was shooting out whips and whirls of green that were sending the vampires into a frenzy, although with both of them advancing on him, he was lucky that he had Alec at his back. Clary was facing off against Jon, whose power was completely out of control now, and it looked as though there were flames flying off him. His eyes narrowed on Jon, and he could feel how out of control he was.
Clary had been right when she had said that he didn't have his magic under control.
It was similar to a werewolf who couldn't control his wolf, who wouldn't let his human half and wolf half come together, or if their human half wasn't strong enough to compete with the human half. They could become out of control, they could lose their mind, and they would turn on anyone and anything.
Jace felt this connection to Clary, and it was though he was in her head. He wasn't sure if it was Clary putting these thoughts in his head, connecting with him, or if there was actually something inside himself that was reaching out for her and creating some kind of psychic link between them. But he was suddenly assaulted with all this information that she seemed to be sending him, or feeding him, or that he was taking from her.
The Alpha on the ground in front of him, it was Hodge. There was another werewolf, not an Alpha, but still strong and experienced, and his name was Alaric Rodriquez. There was a scent he recognized, and he knew that it was a human, and it was the scent of the person who had thrown the knife at him when he had first been attacked by Hodge—Sebastian Verlac. Yes, he was human, but obviously he was an extraordinary human, given he had the same mark on his neck that was glowing red. Then there was a blonde girl that Isabelle was going against—she was a werefox, her name was Kaelie Whitewillow. Werefox's were generally smaller and more delicate than werewolves, but because they were smaller, they were usually faster, more agile, able to duck and weave easier.
There were another two humans, but like Sebastian, they must have extraordinary strength and abilities to be able to operate with the power that Valentine was undoubtedly feeding them. There names were Samuel Blackwell and Emil Pangborn. Then there were the two vampires—Raphael and Camille—both of who seemed to have a pretty good idea of who he was, maybe there was more history with them. Maybe when this was all over, Clary could help him unlock some more of those memories. And last there was Jon and Valentine.
Clary knew a lot about these people.
She had been hunting them for years, but she had also been hiding for years.
She knew how powerful her father and the Circle were, and yet she had risked herself to come and fight at their side.
Jace snapped out of his trance as he saw the fire that Jon was shooting out suddenly catch, grasping onto a low hanging branch and the tree almost immediately burst into flames. The loud cracking of the flame seemed to surprise Valentine—which just went to show how little control he had over Jon. Valentine took a quick step backwards from the flames that had exploded on the tree near him, finally taking his eyes off the fighting that he was overseeing like some high commander, but he let unconscious Max drop to the ground by the fire.
Jace let out a loud yip, drawing the attention of Isabelle, but she was too far away to get to her brother, who was laying on the ground, motionless. Clary saw though, and she made a move toward Max, which distracted her from Jon. Jon turned to her, eyes filled with fire, and Jace could feel the unhinged power coming off him.
Without thinking twice, he threw himself into the fray, crossing the clearing in a few bounds and just as the flames flew from Jon's body—more scattering the leaf litter on the ground and others clinging to the trees around them—he ripped out Jon's throat.
1) Wrong Direction - Hailee Steinfield. 2) Walls - Louis Tomlinson. 3) Alanis' Interlude - Halsey and Alanis Morissette. 4) See You Again - Carrie Underwood. 5) Brooklyn Baby - Lana Del Rey. 6) Blood - In This Moment. 7) Casual Sabotage - Yungblud. 8) She - Harry Styles. 9) Living Proof - Camila Cabello. 10) Monsters - James Blunt.
My husbands favourites change all the time, but he has said that today the ones he played the most are Adore You by Harry Styles and First Man by Camila Cabello. I think my playing of the HS2 album on repeat has gotten to him, and he wasn't too big of a fan of First Man by Camila, probably because I played it so much when the song first came out, it always just made me so emotional. After her Grammy performance last night, though, he was an absolute wreck, and he said he played it all the way to work, so I think he's finally on board with that song!
We had a How To Train Your Dragon binge in the weekend, which was amazing, and I've just started a new showed called Reprisal, which seems pretty good.
Also keep in mind, I am sending you guys PM's in response to your reviews! Please don't think I'm ignoring you guys! I absolutely appreciate all your beautiful words and support, just currently has the alerts turned off for any PM's, which is incredibly frustrating, so you're just not getting alerted by them when I send one!
Much love xx