Author's note: Hi, everyone! Thanks for reading! This is the first fic I put online, so it means a lot to me. Really appreciate the follows and faves! ^.^ And reviews are welcome. ;)

Chapter 3

Alec left the emergency reunion with his head buzzing. They had just found out about Valentine's latest move. It seems like he's going after warlocks since he'd managed to kill three of them in only one week. And his army was getting bigger each day. Not to mention Jace being on his side. Alec thought that his wedding had caused enough problems and drama to deal with, but clearly he was wrong. That was nothing compared to what was going on now. He wanted Jace back and he wanted Magnus to be safe from Valentine. With every new development of this insane war Valentine had declared, Alec felt more and more worried about the ones he cared about. He wasn't sure how much more he could take before completely losing it.

He walked into the room of weapons and separated his arch and arrow for tonight's investigation. He was going to lead a group of shadowhunters to the three murdered warlocks' homes to figure out how Valentine got to them. They needed to know what resources he had in order to find warlocks and break powerful protection spells. This was important for the entire Shadow World.

As Alec touched his arch he remembered when Magnus refused it as payment for defending Izzy on trial. He still couldn't believe he did that for him. Alec was going to be in debt to him forever.

He left the weapons roomand he saw Magnus staring at him from the bottom of the stairs.

Speaking of the devil… he thought, his heart beat faster and a knot formed in his stomach as if tiny kittens were jumping all over it. Magnus looked absolutely fabulous with the dark purple blazer and the golden tie he was wearing on top of the white button-up shirt and the matching purple pants. How does he do it? Alec wondered as he approached him. He admired Magnus's closet, but he knew his clothes would look ridiculous on him. Only Magnus could pull that stuff off.

"What are you doing here? We didn't call you," he said when he reached him.

"Is that the only reason why you would talk to me now, Alec? Only if there was another emergency in the Shadow World?" Magnus seemed hurt by that assumption.

"Well, there aren't any emergencies for now." Alec didn't want him to find out about the dead warlocks. Making Magnus worry about it too wasn't going to help anyone.

"And I'm kinda busy right now," he added as he walked up the stairs, heading to his bedroom. Magnus followed him.

"I understand that. But that doesn't mean you can't answer your phone, Alec," he said bitterly to Alec's back. Alec was going so fast he had trouble keeping up with him.

"There's nothing for us to talk about," Alec said coldly.

"Really? What about that date you suggested?"

"That was before Jace went missing."

"He didn't go missing, Alec. He chose to go with Valentine out of his free will."

Alec stopped and turned back to face Magnus. They were at the corner of the corridor that led to his bedroom and they found themselves alone in it. Alec looked dead serious at Magnus who didn't look very different.

"He went with Valentine, because he threatened to hurt the people he loves. That's not free will to me. That's just a different form of kidnapping." He was so angry just thinking about this, he knew his anger was plain on his face.

"But he won't leave Valentine until he feels he's ready. You know that, I'm sure."

Alec tried hard not to think about that, even though he knew Magnus was probably right.

"So this is reason you won't talk to me? Because of Jace?" Magnus changed the subject.

"I'm not in the mood for dating until we get him back." That wasn't even a lie. His priority now was definitely Jace.

"And it has nothing to do with what Camille said the other day… about me being immortal and you…"

"No." Alec didn't let him finish his sentence and shook his head like this issue hadn't even crossed his mind.

Magnus looked at him suspiciously, and Alec realized how much he loved Magnus's eyes. He looked away from them as soon as that thought hit him.

"You know…" Magnus took one step closer to Alec to say this "There is a spell for detecting lies." he said quietly and watched Alec intensely.

Crap… is that true? It can't be. Can it? Alec was trying not to let his thoughts betray him and made a poker face.

"No, there isn't," he said coolly facing Magnus again, but inside he was dreading Magnus's answer.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, one challenging the other until Magnus gave up with a frustrated sigh.

"Dammit." He looked away disappointed.

Alec knew he should feel mad about Magnus's little trick, but he thought he was being kind of cute. He pressed his lips together to hide the smile that was about to take over him, although he was afraid it had turned out more like a weird grimace. He sighed and his voice and face softened as he looked at Magnus again.

"Look, I told you. I can't think of dating or doing anything that's not gonna help me get Jace back."

"Then let me help you." Magnus was still looking at him like he was afraid of losing a battle.

"No. You just stay out of this," Alec said firmly. The last thing he wanted was Magnus getting himself involved in risky missions, especially now that Valentine was going after warlocks.

"It's not like I haven't helped before."

"This is different. I…" …want you safe was how he wanted to finish the sentence, but he hesitated and then Isabelle turned the corner and the moment was gone.

"Oh, Magnus!" she sounded surprised to see him there. "So you heard about the warlock situation."

No…. Izzy… You did not just say that… Alec suddenly felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice cold water on his head. This can't be happening…

It was Magnus's turn to look surprised.

"What warlock situation?" he asked looking from Isabelle to Alec and then back to Isabelle.

"You haven't told him yet?" she asked Alec unbelieving.

"Told me what, dear?" Magnus asked with a nervous smile.

"You know, Izzy, it's very rude to barge into someone else's private conversation," Alec lashed out at his sister. He was shaking from rage and while trying to catch his breath he gave Isabelle the death sentence with his eyes.

Awkward could have been written all over Izzy's forehead. But she couldn't turn away from the question now.

"That Valentine is going after warlocks and has killed three more of them since last week…" she said avoiding both Alec's and Magnus's looks.

"Oh…" Magnus didn't expect that. He didn't know how to react to this information. Then he turned to Alec and asked "And you didn't want me to know this, because…." He waited for Alec to finish the sentence.

"The less people know, the better. Can't trust anyone these days," Alec said avoiding Magnus, who took a step closer to him.

"Or… maybe… you wanted to protect me. Which is really… heartwarming under the circumstances." For the first time since Magnus had arrived to the Institute he looked relieved and gave Alec a small smile. Alec turned his back on him and shook his head. He couldn't believe that things were happening exactly the opposite way he wanted them to happen.

Isabelle took Magnus's line as her cue and snuck out of the corridor towards her bedroom.

Magnus waited until Isabelle was away enough and stepped in front of Alec who had crossed his arms in protest.

"Alec, look at me." Magnus looked at him the way that made Alec lose his breath, so he had to close his eyes for a second to recover himself. When he opened them Magnus was still giving him that look. Alec took a deep breath and listened.

"At I am touched by your concern for me. But I can take care of myself." He gave Alec that coy smile he was used to. "Trust me when I say that it's not going to be easy for Valentine to get to me. In fact, it might just be, let's not say impossible, but extremely difficult."

"You don't know that for sure," Alec protested.

"Oh, but I do. And so does he. He's not going to waste his limited resources on an impossible mission. He has bigger plans than a useless witch-hunt. I hope," He added with a small sigh.

"It's not useless to him. He wants to eliminate all Downworlders. Starting with warlocks might just be the smartest way for him to accomplish that." Alec understood Valentine's tactics. Warlocks united with the Clave represented the greatest potential enemy he could face. Hence, he wanted to get rid of the warlocks so desperately. And he knew Magnus wasn't blind to see this either. But it killed Alec inside that Magnus was in more danger since they'd met.

"I will move the lair tonight," Magnus said and Alec knew he was trying to ease his anxiety. "And put up more protection spells, if that will ease your mind."

Alec didn't respond.

Magnus took a deep breath and said "Okay. I'm gonna go now. There's only so much progress we can make in one day. You try not to worry yourself to death. It won't do your beautiful face much good." He winked at Alec and turned away to leave.

"It's just…" Alec said out of a sudden. Magnus turned back to him waiting for him to finish. "Valentine took Jace… I don't want him to take anyone else," Alec said staring at the floor.

Alec finally looked up at Magnus. He meant what he'd said, but he also didn't want to show Magnus the full extent of his emotions. But Magnus wasn't concerned about hiding his emotions at all. He looked at Alec in a way that made Alec want to hug him. So Alec looked back down at the floor to control himself and waited for Magnus to speak again. Alec fixed his last words to him before leaving deep in his memory and would later hold on to them almost as a prayer.

"He won't. I promise you, Alexander."