When Clary's eyes opened, Jace was giving her a soft look. She blinked at him, yawning and lifting a hand to rub it over her face.
"Not been sleeping, huh?" Jace asked quietly, a concerned look on his face, and Clary sighed. There really wasn't much point in disagreeing with that, because these past five and a half hours was the most sound sleep that she had had in over a year. Jace just gave her a gentle smile before resting back in his own seat, looking toward the front of the plane. They were on their downward descent, and Clary felt her stomach twist into knots.
They were going to be back in Los Angeles.
They were in Los Angeles.
She hadn't been back in two years, and even when she had gone back then, she had only been there for three days, and she had flown into one of the smaller airports of a city nearby and then driven to her destination. Pretty much anything to avoid not getting in contact with Jace.
When they landed, they all filed off the plane, Jace taking her bag out of the overhead and walking behind her, close enough that she could feel the heat coming off him, but far enough back that she wasn't crowded by him—and also not crowded by anyone else, which she was thankful for. They went through the security check points and were then making their way through the terminal. Alec and Maia were leading the way toward some pay machines for parking, and Clary couldn't help but think about what was happening next.
Were they going back to Jace's place?
She wasn't prepared for that.
Her heartbeat had obviously picked up, due to her nervousness, because Jace gave her a look and she tried to slow it down, breathing in and out slowly. Jace didn't say anything, although Alec looks back at her before he fishes his wallet out of his back pocket and takes out a parking ticket. He puts it into the machine and then puts in his credit card, and then steps aside for Jace to do the same thing, so obviously they had brought two cars.
She tries not to think about what that means.
As they're heading toward the lifts, Clary checks one of the clocks on the wall and saw that it was just after eleven o'clock and she winced.
Time differences were a bitch.
The four of them all got out on the same floor, but then Alec and Maia paused.
"I'll see you later," Jace told them both pointedly, before beginning to walk towards steps that lead up to another level. Clary glanced at them both, noting the way Alec's eyes were narrowed and Maia's eyes were a little concerned, but then she turned away to follow after Jace, who was gripping her bag tightly and walking with long strides. Clary jogged a little to catch up with him, and after climbing the stairs, his car was parked only a few spots over. It was a sleek car, a shining black Camaro, and Clary paused as he unlocked it with the fob that he pulled out of his pocket and then popped the boot, putting her bag inside. Then he moved around to the drivers side, giving her a pointed look and so she moved to the passenger side.
And then they were alone.
In an enclosed space.
Clary took in a deep breath as she closed the door and pulled on the seat belt, even though it was all just for show. She smoothed her hands over her her thighs and leaned back into the leather of the seats and took in another deep breath.
Which was a bad idea.
Because all she got on the inhale was a strong scent of Jace, and it made her feel a lot dizzy.
She must have let out a noise, because Jace glanced over at her with a quirk of his eyebrow, before he turned the key in the ignition and the Camaro started. It purred, and the car was obviously well looked after, and Clary rolled her shoulders backward and fixed her eyes forward as they reversed out of the parking spot and then drove toward the concrete ramps that lead down and out of the parking complex.
At first, Clary wasn't sure where they were going.
She leaned forward in her seat and was looking around, having been away from Los Angeles for a long time.
The streets all felt the same, and it was similar to New York, in the fact that it was still alive in the middle of the night, but it just didn't feel as harried and rushed as her home for the past few years had been. She smiled a little to herself, feeling a bit sad, before leaning back in her seat.
She felt tired again.
She had napped at home, after Simon had helped her, but that had been a sleep out of necessity.
This was different.
Now, Clary's body felt relaxed and safe, and it was because of Jace.
His scent and his wolf soothed her—soothed her wolf.
Clary tried to focus on the music that was playing softly. She didn't recognize the artist, it was a girl with a pretty, lilting voice. She listened to the lyrics, paying close attention to them not because it was a particularly amazing song, but because it gave her something to do rather than think about the fact that Jace was sitting just a few inches away from her.
He smelt so good.
"Where are we going?" Clary asked after about twenty minutes of quiet in the car.
"I'm taking you to Luke's," Jace replied, and instantly, he could smell her relief flooding through the car. She tried to suppress it, he knew that she didn't want him feeling bad about the fact that she was happy he wasn't taking her back to his place, but she couldn't.
She'd have a hard time hiding it from any werewolf, but especially from Jace.
She really didn't stand a chance.
"Thank you," Clary murmured and Jace turned his head partially toward her, a small smile on his face in response. It wasn't a particularly happy smile, which she could understand, because he had just flown across the country to get her, and now he was about to drop her off and leave her again, but at least she would be a whole lot closer.
They were quiet for a long time, and Clary actually ended up falling asleep. It was somewhere just out of the city, as they got onto the highway. It was a peaceful sleep, something so completely different to the times that she had slept in the past couple of years. It wasn't until she heard her name being repeated, softly but over and over again, that she woke up and she blinked rapidly a few times, surprised at how heavy her mind and body felt.
Heavy because of how comfortable she felt, not on edge or jerking out of sleep like usual.
"Hey," Jace said quietly, keeping his voice low, letting her wake up slowly. Clary yawned, rubbing a hand over her face, and then looked out the window. They were parked up outside a house...A house she had only been to a couple of times, and one of the last times she had been there, she had been covered in blood and she had slashes ripping down her arm from her father. "Hey," Jace repeated, although this time, the word sounded a bit different. Concerned.
He could smell the change in her mood as easily as he could sense his own.
"It's alright," Jace continued. "I don't—I can take you somewhere else. We can get you a hotel room or something, it's just—" he broke off, but Clary knew what he was getting at. He wanted her to be somewhere comfortable, somewhere familiar, and going to a hotel wasn't the best idea, given there were very few places that were cleaned well enough that they didn't have that cloying scent of all the people before them. It was her turn to smell the shift in him, feel it crawl over her skin.
He was nervous and he was upset that she was upset.
"It's okay," Clary reassured him, and part of her instinctively wanted to reach out and touch his arm or his knee, but she stopped herself. She had gotten better over the years, actually listening to her instincts rather than smothering them down like she had ever since she was a pup, but she still wasn't going to let herself be completely open with Jace.
Or any kind of open, really.
"I'll be okay," Clary said as she unbuckled her seat belt and let it slip back into it's place against the door. "And if I'm not, I've got other places I can go." She didn't really know if she did, actually, given how long she had been away from this place, but she didn't want to worry Jace with that.
"If you're not, then call me, okay?" Jace told her earnestly and Clary nodded, because she didn't really have any other response. He glanced back toward the house and then reached for the handle of his door. "I text Luke and told him that we would be coming, and he would have heard us pull up." Clary knew that Luke would have heard them pull up, but she hadn't realized that Jace would have text ahead. She didn't know that they were close enough to have each others phone numbers, Luke had never mentioned it to her.
Although, she could understand why.
"I didn't want you to feel as though you couldn't talk to him," Jace said softly, being able to figure out what it was that Clary was thinking pretty much spot on. He wasn't a mind reader, fortunately there were only a couple of warlocks and vampires out there who could do that, werewolves weren't part of the gifted.
He could just sense every chemosignal coming off her and read every micro-expression on her face.
"It's okay," Clary muttered, pushing open her door and getting out of the car. It had to be around one in the morning by now, she would have to change the time on her phone to Los Angeles time. She stretched her arms above her head and took in a deep breath of the clean, fresh air around her. There was a slight salty tinge to the air as well, coming up from the ocean that was only a few miles away.
It smelt like home, but it didn't feel like home, and the way her body and her mind and her wolf were all disconnected made her itch all over.
Jace walked around the back of the car and opened up the boot, taking out her bag and slipping it over his shoulder, obviously intent on carrying it into the house. Clary didn't bother arguing with him because she knew it was pointless. Not that she wasn't stubborn, but she knew how to pick her battles, and carrying a bag wasn't one of them. As he shut the boot, he held out his hand.
"Your phone," he said softly when Clary gave him a questioning look. She pulled it out of her back pocket, unlocking it with her a couple of taps on the glass since it was too dark to pick up her face. She handed it over to him and he keyed a few things in and a moment later, she heard a low buzz, and she was guessing that he had sent a text from her phone to his, so that he would have her number. "My numbers in there," he told her as he handed it back. "If you need anything, call me," he paused and his lips twisted together, in a sort of resigned look. "Or...Text me. If that's easier."
She appreciated that.
She appreciated all of this.
She knew how lucky she was.
She just...Wasn't any good at putting that into words and actions.
Primarily with Jace.
"Okay. I will," Clary answered and Jace raised an eyebrow at her. It had come out easily, even though she knew she wouldn't do it, and he obviously heard the skip in her heart beat, a sure tell that she was lying. He didn't move from where he was standing beside his car, even as she took a step around him, in the direction of the house. She sighed, taking in a full body breath and feeling the air flow through her, into her limbs and twitching her fingers. "I will," she repeated, and meant it this time.
Her heart beat was steady, and Jace heard that, and he gave her a small smile, almost a real one this time.
They both began walking toward the steps that lead up to the house, and as though he knew it was time, Luke Greymark opened the front door of the house. He was wearing a soft pair of plaid pyjama pants and a loose singlet, but his face was completely alert, eyes sharp as he looked over the two werewolves in front of him.
"Alpha Herondale," Luke nodded his head in a slow nod, before letting his eyes glow at Jace.
"Alpha Greymark," Jace responded formally, with a nod of his own, his red eyes burning. They both faded back to their human eye colour and Clary felt a shiver go through her as she looked up at Luke. He gave her a warm smile, his whole body giving off a comforting that had her nearly tripping up the stairs to get close to him.
"Hey, pup," Luke murmured against her hair as he pulled her in tight against him. Clary's whole body went calm, although that wasn't say anything against Jace, it was just because her mind actually let herself relax when it came to Luke. Her wolf was completely happy when it came to Jace, it was just her human half that held back, that was trying to protect herself. Clary threw herself at Luke and felt herself mold into his body as his arms came around him, holding her in tight. She wasn't sure how long she let herself lean against him, but it had been far too long since she had seen him. When they finally pulled back, Luke leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.
Clary caught a scent off Jace in the breeze.
Sadness.
And that made her wolf churn in her gut, and she pulled back from Luke to look back over at Jace.
He was keeping a neutral expression on his face, even though both other werewolves could smell the sadness that was swirling around him. Clary took in deep breath through her mouth, rather than through her nose, and she stepped down the top step, closer to Jace. Luke moved behind her, and she felt his hand touch her shoulder before he went back inside, leaving the door slightly ajar for when Clary was ready to come in.
"Thank you," Clary said quietly. To be fair, it wasn't as though Jace had given her much of a choice, but she knew why he had come.
He would have been feeling that same trouble, that same danger, that some feeling that something was wrong that she had been feeling. He would have felt it strongly, and he acted in this way to make sure that she was safe. Part of her should be angry that he gave her no choice but to fly all the way back here, completely disrupting her life, but she could hold that out for later.
Right now, she was just enjoying the fact that she didn't feel sick for the first time in a long time.
She felt safe.
"You'll be pissed later," Jace responded in a voice that sounded so knowing and familiar, even though they weren't familiar with each other. But Clary couldn't help but smile a little, at the fact that he seemed to know her, even though they had barely ever spent any time together.
"Yeah, I will be," Clary shrugged a shoulder. "But I know why you did it." Jace gave her a soft look. She ran her fingers through her hair, which was feeling a little matted, from her sleep back in her apartment, then her sleep again on the plane, and then her sleep again in the car, and she really needed a shower and to brush her hair. Jace looked away, toward the forestry that surrounded the huge house that Luke now owned.
Just a few kilometers away had been the house that she had grown up in.
Or, at least, it had been there.
Before Clary had lit the match and watched it go up in flames.
Her mother and brother had understood.
Hell, her brother had been the one with gasoline in his hand, dosing the places before the threw the match.
It wasn't as though it had ever been an actual pack home, so it wasn't a place that Clary missed, or anyone who had been in the Morgenstern, now Greymark, pack.
She just wished she could burn it down all over again.
"Trees have grown there," Jace mentioned idly. "And grass." Clary pursed her lips together and dropped her head. She hadn't been in that direction since she had initially burnt it down, which was just over six years ago. "It smells a lot better..." he murmured and Clary nodded at him, shoving a hand into the front pocket of her jeans.
"It couldn't really smell any worse," she stated. Jace nodded slowly, but he didn't say anything else. After a few more moments, he slipped the strap of her bag off his shoulder and handed it up to her, stepping up one of the three steps to pass it to her. Clary took it, two steps above him, but only about an inch taller. Jace stepped up again, and Clary's jaw clenched for a moment, wondering what he was going to do. He hesitated, but then he lifted his hand to wrap it around her neck, not in a hold that she couldn't break, but still firmly, his palm pressed to the side of her throat.
Clary's eyes nearly rolled back into her head at the pleasure and safety that suddenly rushed over her, just at the simple touch.
Her breathing came out in short gasps and she felt her whole body melting under the touch.
Jace pulled away a moment later, and gave her the a first proper, genuine smile.
It warmed her wolf.
"I'll see you soon, Clary," his voice was gentle as he stepped away, walking backwards down the steps and to his car. It was only once he got to the door that he broke eye contact and turned away.
Clary watched him—her mate—drive away, chewing down on her lower lip.
I've written this about four times now, and I'm just going to keep it simple.
On the 15th of March 2019, there was a terrorist attack in my beautiful country, New Zealand. This is the first ever mass shooting on this level during peace time in the beautiful islands that I have spent my whole life in.
This doesn't happen here. We don't have mass shootings. We don't have a fear of one another to the point where it drums up anger that turns to hate. In the words of our absolutely incredible Prime Minister, "They are us."
We are all one people, and we can't let hate win.
I hope you all spend time with people that you love and cherish, and I hope you never hold back to show this.
Arohanui and Kia Kaha x