Okay, quick note. I have literally just finished this chapter. I am stoned, a little drunk, very tired, so this chapter really hasn't been edited. However! Everything else was being thrown up and I know I haven't updated this one in a while, so, here we go, come back next week some time and I'll have it edited if you want to wait for the edited version :)
08/09/2020 - Edit-ish :)
Clary pursed her lips as she looked down at her phone, at the two missed calls from Raphael and the text from him, asking for her to call him when she could. Her phone had gone off last night when she had been sitting at the dinner table with Jace and his pack, but there was no way that she was going to answer a call from Raphael while she was surrounded by werewolves who would definitely hear every word. She'd meant to call him when she had gotten back to the house, but she'd felt drained and Simon had come with her to bed, his magic working to help calm her mind and her wolf, because her wolf had been scratching and whining, just wanting to be back with Jace.
"You alright?" Simon's voice was scratchy from behind her and Clary sighed, rubbing a hand over her face and nodding before she looked over her shoulder to where Simon was still buried under her duvet, mostly asleep. "You're thinking really loud. Was it last night? Jace?" His voice was sleepy but genuine and Clary's heart was soft as she looked down at the warlock.
"Go back to sleep, Si," Clary told him, leaning down and giving him a kiss on his cheekbone. "I'll see you later, okay?" Simon shrugged a shoulder and rolled over, pulling the blankets up and over his head and burying his head in the pillow. Clary pulled a hoodie over her head and left the room, tapping her thumb against Raphael's name and lifting her phone to her ear as she walked down the stairs. Luke was already downstairs in the kitchen, and he looked up from where he was drinking his coffee and smiled at her. They hadn't gotten back late from the dinner last night at Jace's, and that had been good, because both Clary and Simon had known that Luke and Jocelyn would be waiting up for them until they got back. They hadn't expected a full run down—Clary was an adult and she had been through a lot, and they left her to make her own decisions—but she knew that they were both happy with the way things seemed to be progressing with her and Jace.
"Morning, pup," Luke's voice was smooth and calming, and Clary felt it settle her as she gripped her phone a little tighter in her hand. It was strange, the feeling of almost stress that was coming with the idea of calling Raphael, and she knew that it was her wolf reacting to how close it was getting to Jace, almost pushing against the idea of being close to Raphael. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," Clary nodded and held up her phone with a small smile. "Just gotta make a call." Luke nodded and then waved a hand at the coffee maker.
"I'll put on more coffee, it'll be ready when you come back in," he told her and she gave an appreciative smile before leaving through the front door. As she did, as the front door closed behind her, she couldn't help but feel the difference between the house and Jace's home. The Greymark pack was small, intimate, and there was still healing that was happening even years after Valentine was gone, even though a lot of pack members had left, and there were some new ones, now that they had a new Alpha. Even though the Herondale pack had suffered a loss, even though they had lost their Alpha—Jace's dad—it hadn't been in quite a traumatic way as with Valentine, but losing any Alpha left a space that was hard to fill, they were all so close and their bond was obviously strong. It had felt good to be among them, and it had felt even better when she had been accepted by a few of them.
Clary shook her head of those thoughts as she left the house, because getting caught up in her head while she had to call Raphael about whatever he had been trying to touch base about wasn't going to make her any less distracted.
He answered on the second ring.
"Hey, cariño," he greeted her gently and Clary hated the way her wolf reacted to the term of endearment, almost as though it was repulsed by it. It was Raphael, and despite him not being her mate, he was important to her. But...She was getting closer to Jace, her wolf was getting closer to Jace, and clearly the bond was getting stronger, and so she was trying to push against Raphael.
"Hey, Raph," she hoped her voice still sounded normal. "Um...Sorry, I just woke up, and I was out last night. Is everything okay?" There was a slight pause, and Clary wished that she had asked Raphael how he was, rather than getting to the point, but she couldn't take it back now, so she just waited.
"Yeah, Clary, I just wanted to let you know what me and Heidi found at your place," Raphael's voice was gentle, and that made Clary's eyebrows knit together as she settled herself down on the back steps of the porch. "The wards that Simon put up were still in place, you're right, they weren't—they weren't broken." But there was something in the way that he was talking that was making Clary prickle, and she could feel her wolf beginning to scratch, feeling anxious as she thought about her apartment back in New York. "But they were weakened. And I could smell seelie magic."
"Seelie magic?" Clary made a face, her nose wrinkling. She didn't have much to do with seelies, and in all honestly, seelie's didn't generally have much to do with anyone else. They kept to themselves, even though most magical beings liked to integrate themselves into society, and especially given Clary's own history with seelie's, given they had killed her brother, and the fact that she was close to Simon and he had negative history with seelie's, she steered clear of them whenever she did cross their paths, when it did happen.
"It wasn't strong, but it was there," Raphael continued. "Heidi wasn't much help, but she's the one who realized that it was seelie, I thought that it was fae." Clary couldn't help the small smile and roll of her eyes.
"Be nice," she chided gently. "Especially since she was the one who realized the difference." Although as soon as the words were out of her mouth, the smile disappeared, because what was a seelie doing weakening the wards that Simon had put up around her home? "I...Don't have any issues with any seelies. I mean..." Other than her brother. Her brother had an issue with seelies. But Jonathan had been killed for his mistake, for his involvement with the Alpha that had killed a seelie prince. And that had been so long ago.
"Clary?" Raphael sounded as though he had said her name a couple of times and she winced.
"Sorry," she muttered. "Just thinking."
"That's okay," Raphael's voice was understanding. "I just wanted to let you know. Nothing else seemed disturbed, and I couldn't find any traces of them in your apartment, only outside, and it smelt old, a few days at least." She wasn't sure that was comforting, though, because that almost made it seem as though they knew her schedule, the fact that she wasn't at her apartment right now, which is why they hadn't bothered going back. "Oh—" Raphael pulled away from the phone on the other end, and if Clary was human, the words would have been muffled, but she could hear him talking to Heidi, who had probably just come into the room. "I'm talking to Clary," he was telling the young vampire. "I'll be with you in a minute."
"But I'm thirsty," came the telling whine from Heidi, and Clary really wasn't a fan of the younger vampire, and it was no secret that the blonde didn't like her either, but she kept her lips pressed together to stop herself from letting out a snort of exasperation. "I want to drink now." Clary knew Raphael well enough to know that his expression was probably tight and his eyes would be narrowing, maybe even flaring red to quiet his progeny. Their dynamic was interesting, because while Raphael had technically chosen to turn Heidi, it hadn't felt like a choice for him. His sire had given in to her blood lust and attacked a human, draining her to the point of death, and given the treaties, if the human died, then his sire, Camille Belcourt, would be ordered to be put together. If she was turned, Camille would need to go before the council, she wouldn't be put to death, but she didn't want the responsibility of taking on another progeny, and so she'd...Let Raphael's guilt and responsibility to her drive him to turn his first human. When Clary had met them a year later, there wasn't quite as much contention between them—although Raphael's misplaced anger toward Heidi rather than at Camille had calmed down, although definitely exasperated by the fact that he was now tied to someone that he clearly did not have a close emotional bond with, and Heidi's frustration at the fact that Raphael wouldn't give her more than the bare minimum of what a sire would give was still there.
Clary understood the annoyance and even bitterness that came with being tied to someone forever without having any choice in the matter, but...If she was being honest, within several hours of spending time with Jace, from him picking her up from her apartment in New York...Any resentment toward him was gone.
"I better go, Clary," Raphael said suddenly and Clary cleared her throat.
"Yeah," she nodded, rolling her shoulders as she looked toward where her mums car was usually parked, except it was gone now. "I'll talk to you later, Raph—and say thank you to Heidi for me as well." She knew Heidi would be able to hear her, but it wasn't as though the other girl ever really acknowledged her anyway. She quickly turned and went back into the house, where Luke was washing the breakfast dishes. "Can I borrow your ute?" She asked and Luke looked up in surprise.
"That's fine—is everything okay? Do you need a ride somewhere?" Luke asked, but he was already reaching for the keys and passing them over. "You don't want coffee first?"
"No, just—going to see Jace," Clary replied without really thinking, and then blinked and looked up and Luke and the older wolf was looking at her with a soft expression, a smile spreading across his face. "I'll be back soon."
"No rush, pup," Luke told her as he put the keys into the palm of her hand and then reached out to brush his fingers against her forehead, pushing back her hair and giving her ear a light tug. "Take your time." She gave him a small smile and left again, this time with a bit more bounce in her step, her wolf skipping a little inside her, flicking her tail and her ears happily at the idea of seeing their mate again. The drive between their places felt as though it was getting shorter each time, getting more used to travelling the roads and she was smiling as she turned down the driveway toward Jace's home, and instinctively knew to take the first turn off, toward the barn house rather than up to the main pack home. When she pulled up outside the house, there was a second black car next to Jace's Camaro, and as she stepped out of Luke's ute, she immediately knew who was with Jace, even before she saw the two of them on the front steps of the barn house. Jace looked over at her and there was a smile on his face as their eyes met, but she smelt the slightly burnt tinge to his pheromones, a little worried as she approached him and Kaelie, and there was some sadness there as well.
He didn't need to be.
"Hi, Clary," Kaelie's smile was tight around the edges, but her eyes were genuine as she looked at Clary, although they were red rimmed, saltiness tainting the air around her. Clary didn't feel aggressive toward the werecoyote, even though her wolf was a little concerned about the history that they knew that Kaelie and Jace shared, even if she didn't know the details.
"Hey," she greeted them both, her smile a little easier, and that seemed to calm Kaelie, who turned to Jace and gave him a nod, and Clary noted the distance between them, and the way that Kaelie angled her body to put even more space between herself and the Alpha, and Clary knew that something serious had happened and refused to let it show on her face, but her wolf chuffed with pride at the show of respect from the coyote.
"I was just leaving, actually," Kaelie said. "Although...Can I talk to you for a minute, Clary? If that's okay?" Kaelie glanced between Jace and Clary, and Jace looked hesitant but he didn't look upset, and he didn't smell as though the discussion that they'd had before Clary had arrived had been anything he hadn't liked—although it wasn't as though Clary was the best at reading Jace yet—so she just nodded. It wasn't actually going to be private, Jace was just going to go back into the house, and he would still be able to hear them easily if he wanted to, but he nodded and even though Clary's wolf scratched at the pit of her stomach at the fact her mate was moving away before she had even gotten to properly greet him yet, she didn't move from where she was. "Sorry, I didn't realize that you were coming over this morning or I wouldn't have come over now," Kaelie began once Jace had gone inside and Clary shook her head.
"I hadn't planned to come over," she replied, because she hadn't even bothered to text Jace and give him a heads up that she was on her way over, neither of them had known that she was coming. "And he's your—your friend—" she had been about to say 'your Alpha' but she knew that wasn't quite right, Kaelie wasn't officially part of their pack. "You have every right to be here." Kaelie looked surprised at her words and she hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"I came over here to just—to just say that I know things are over between me and Jace," the words came out firmly, and Clary didn't know Kaelie, but she could damn well respect a woman who held her head high and said those words to the woman who was effectively taking her place, even though the circumstances weren't quite that straight forward. "I wanted him to know that I wasn't going to make things difficult, I always knew that he had a mate, I always k-knew that you were going to come back one day." Her voice wobbled a little in the middle there, but she held herself together, chin jutted forward, and there was a dim golden glow in her eyes were were inner coyote was rising up, proving how difficult this conversation was for her to have. Clary's eyes wanted to glow in response, but she fought against them, wanting Kaelie to finish whatever she had to say first. "But I think that I just need to put some distance between us for...Now," she concluded, and her smile was weaker as she glanced down. Clary nodded, because even though she didn't understand, since her relationship with Raphael didn't feel like this, she understood what Kaelie was doing. "Just be good to him?" She phrased it like a question, which made Clary feel a worse, but she nodded, and then Kaelie was nodding back at her and walking away. Jace came out of the house as Kaelie was turning her car on, standing behind Clary to her left, not close enough to be touching but close enough that she could feel his body heat and smell the light sheen of sweat on his body, indicating he'd already been working hard that morning.
"I told her that she was always welcome here," Jace said quietly, and there was some hurt in his voice, but mainly resignation. Clary understood that as well. She wasn't offended, or upset, and Jace could read that clearly, he would be able to smell that on her and sense it if he tried to reach out through their bond. He cleared his throat as Kaelie's car disappeared into the trees, down the driveway and toward the road. "I didn't realize you'd be coming by today." Clary turned around to face him, and there was a smile on his face that looked almost like a smirk, which was...Attractive. It was nice seeing him loosen up and feeling comfortable and confident in himself. And it made her feel better about herself for one of the first times since she'd gotten there, and it made her forget her earlier conversation with Raphael, at least for now. "Miss me already?" Clary's eyebrow arched and her wolf hopped up playfully, circling around, wanting to play, feeling...Feeling comfortable as well. Feeling connected enough with Jace to properly let loose a little today. "Want to go for a run?" Jace asked for Clary could suggest it.
"Yes," she responded eagerly, glad that she was wearing her own trainers, leggings and hoodie of her own this time. Jace was wearing a pair of cut off sweatpants and a loose, dark grey singlet that had stretched out arm and collar holes that showed off a lot of skin that she diverted her eyes from. "Let's go," Clary said, and she took off running before Jace could respond, but she could hear his surprised laugh behind her that made her heart swell and gave her wolf a burst of speed, pushing her faster ahead as Jace raced after her.
Hi guys :) I've had some emails and messages asking for some more recommendations and things, so I thought I'd put that in here. If you're not interested, feel free to skip out here because I'm not addressing anything else to do with the story from here on :) I know a lot of people are stuck indoors and at home right now, I'm working from home a lot now as well, so I thought I'd give my usual music and movies and also some Youtubers, and...I hope you guys find some entertainment from them? And please don't hesitate to recommend some to me :)
1) Airplane Mode - Limbo. 2) why are you here - Machine Gun Kelly. 3) National Anthem - Lana Del Rey. 4) Rainbow - Kacey Musgraves. 5) Forever (Stripped Version) - Fletcher. 6) Daddy Issues - The Neighbourhood. 7) moonchild - RM. 8) Your Eyes Tell - BTS. 9) The Search - NF. 10) Keep You Mine - NOTD.
My favourite comfort movie at the moment is Penguin Highway, and I've been watching a lot of X-Files. Haha. On Youtube I've been watching quite a bit from Kendall Rae and Bailey Sarian, who do, like, true crime stories. I also really like watching Cruel World Happy Mind, she does deep dives into MLM's and online scams and stuff and I find that all really interesting. Dylan Is In Trouble is great for movie reviews and he has a sense of humor a lot like my husband, so I run it a lot in the background. Haha. He also has an old channel with music reviews which I really enjoy working through. Then there's is Kristina Maione, who does a variety of commentary videos, her most recent one is about Mia Khalifa, and I like how she presents stuff. Then last ones are ItzKeisha and dangelowallace also have sort of commentary videos, both super interesting and researched and good points of view and ways of speaking.
So. Yeah. I have heaps more but I don't want to ramble. Please try and look after yourselves. Your heart, your brains, your souls. Everything is a bit scary and...Not good. I don't know what else to say...Much love xx