Chapter 7
When Alec woke the next morning, he was greeted with a familiarly musky smell and the light touch of kisses being carefully placed in a dotted line along his collarbone. He didn't even need to think to know exactly where he was: the scent of his parabatai was one he'd known for almost six years. All he wanted in that one moment was to stretch out this exact second for as long as he could make it. He therefore remained still, eyes held tightly closed, pretending that he was still fast asleep.
But Jace, as perceptive as he was, could not be fooled. He soon chuckled and, to Alec's great dismay, the line of kisses abruptly stopped.
"You're awake, aren't you?" Jace muttered, and Alec pried open his eyes. The blonde laid comfortably on his stomach, diagonally across the bed, head rested on Alec's chest so that he could leave the kisses he had been previously. Both boys were still gloriously naked, only a thin sheet thrown over them to protect their decency, but the cold wasn't a problem at all; Jace more than made up for it since his skin now felt more like the warm glow of a campfire rather than a flame from the fire itself. He grinned and Alec couldn't help but grin too, shifting so that he laid on his side, head propped up by his elbow.
"Why are you up so early?" He asked Jace, a little flirtatiously to his great surprise. Jace had mirrored his position and was staring happily at Alec, as though he was smiling at some hidden joke Alec was blissfully unaware of.
"Just watching you sleep," Jace whispered back, his voice unimaginably sexy. "Sorry if I woke you - I couldn't help but touch."
"No, it's fine. Please, do go on." Jace's eyebrows jerked up a little, but he then leaned forward. Yet instead of carrying on with the path he'd started over Alec's collarbone, he went straight for the mouth, leaping right in with a few bites of Alec's bottom lip. Alec immediately let out a low moan, which only seemed to spur Jace on even further. He slung an arm over Alec's waist just as Alec reached up to curl his fingers into the blonde's hair, and Jace even slid a confident leg in between Alec's legs.
"So last night was interesting," Jace purred contently against his lips. "You seemed pretty eager compared to yesterday morning."
Alec groaned quietly. He didn't know how to explain himself and his sudden change in decision, so he just went about distracting Jace as he gave a vague answer, twirling his fingers playfully in the other boy's hair and planting light nips and kisses on his jaw. "Things change," he said, hoping his methods of distraction would play out to his advantage.
But Jace refused to give in, and carried on with his questions whilst tracing light circles on Alec's hip with his finger. "Afterwards, you said something about being angrier than you thought. What was that about? Why were you angry?"
Alec didn't say anything, but just held in a breath and acted as if Jace hadn't said a word. But the blonde was persistent.
"Hey," he said, catching Alec's chin and dragging his eyes to meet his concerned gaze. "Was it Magnus?" Alec let out his sigh as an answer and Jace didn't need any other clarification. He seemed to be concealing anger when he asked, "What did he do?"
"Nothing," Alec insisted. "Magnus didn't do anything. He was right to be upset. Clary must have told him about what she saw. He knows, anyhow."
This time it was Jace's turn to sigh, muttering under his breath, "Great. I knew this was a bad idea."
Alec jerked back, a frown reaching his mouth as his fingers left Jace's hair, pulling hard on it as he did. "What's that supposed to mean?" he said defensively, regretting his impulsiveness the moment the words shot out of his mouth. Wasn't Jace supposed to be the impulsive one? The mention of Magnus had immediately shifted Alec's mood and the idea that Jace felt that what they'd done was a terrible idea made his reactions act desperately.
But Jace didn't look offended in the slightest, his eyes wide with surprise and hasty apology.
"No! No, Alec, that came out wrong. I mean, I love you but it's risky. If the Clave found out we'd be killed."
Jace's point was a valid one, but the only words that Alec had even picked up on were three small ones, that stuck in his mind and made his eyes grow wide.
"What did you say?" He whispered. "You love me?"
Jace seemed shocked that he'd said it even himself, but nodded nonetheless. "Yeah, I guess. It's pretty rational really, since I've recently discovered how amazing your body is and I liked you before anyway." Jace gulped - Alec had to admit he'd never seen him so flustered. "You're my parabatai, Alec. I loved you before, but now it's just... Different."
Alec was thrilled. He didn't even feel the need to say outloud what he could easily communicate through a kiss, but that was enough for Jace. Alec found himself rolling until he was on top of the blonde, who wouldn't take that for very long. "Oh, no you don't," he murmured and flipped them over quickly until he was on top, seeking dominance as was expected.
Then, just as Jace leant down to press his lips to Alec's, a knock came at the door, startlingly Jace so that he almost toppled off of the bed. It was very unlike him, as he was usually much more graceful in his movements, which made the rare occasion even more hilarious. Alec stifled a laugh when he heard the frustrated voice of his sister.
"Jace!" She called. "Come on, let's get going already." After hearing no answer from the blonde, Izzy seemed to get even more annoyed "Are you still asleep? Honestly, what is up with you?"
"Alright, just a second!" Alec snapped back without thinking, a second later remembering that he wasn't actually supposed to be in Jace's room at this time in the morning. He sent Jace, sat beside him in the bed, a worried, apologetic look, but the other boy didn't seemed to be that concerned.
"Alec?" Izzy queried. "What are you doing in Jace's room?" She eased open the door, keen to see inside, and Alec yelped when he saw her head peeking around the door and fumbled for the sheet to cover himself.
"What the - Holy crap, what the fuck?!" She screamed immediately shielding her eyes. "What the hell is going on?" But before she could get any sort of answer, she rushed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
Alec jumped up from the bed, running to the door before reminding himself that he was butt naked. After a thought, he decided that he didn't care, but, then again, Izzy, his parents and any other visitors probably wouldn't appreciate him running around the Institute without decent clothing. He turned back to Jace, who was still lazily lounged on the bed, looking tempting, Alec refused to allow himself thoughts that were not appropriate for the current situation.
"Oh shit, what do I do?" He asked, panic rising and suffocating him in the air around him. Jace, however didn't look the slightest bit fazed, and only shrugged.
"She was bound to find out eventually. However, we may have just scarred her for life..."
Alec sent him a murderous stare. "Don't make jokes, Jace. Plus, I doubt she'll be scarred - she's probably seen worse." Suddenly, Alec realised he was pacing restlessly, and stopped abruptly in his tracks.
"Hey," Jace said, crawling to the end of the bed and beckoning Alec towards him. He obeyed a little unwillingly, unsure of what Jace had planned. But Jace didn't try anything, just simply took Alec's hands and kissed the insides of each of his wrists one at a time. "Calm down, OK?" He told him softly. "Get dressed and go after her. I'm sure it'll be fine." With that Alec smiled and accepted a kiss from Jace, before hastily locating his clothes from the night before and throwing them on, leaving the room to race after his shell-shocked sister.

When Alec caught up with Izzy, she was just leaving the Institute, gliding through the front doors with her Shadowhunter gear on and her whip wrapped around her wrist, a seraph blade on her belt. She'd departed from Jace's room in a sudden blaze of panic, shock and anger, the blue sky and light breeze of the outside world the only things that she thought would be able to keep her sane.
Closing her eyes to take in a long, deep breath, suddenly all Izzy could see was the recent image stuck in her mind of her brothers, Jace laying on Alec with a grin on his face as they kissed, both wearing nothing at all from what she could tell. A shiver rocketed down her spine as she saw it, but not due to the cold, and certainly not the same type of nervous shiver that Simon ignited in her. She was terrified that the image of Jace and Alec in bed would be tattooed onto her eyelids forever.
Noticing that Alec was racing after her made everything a million times worse. He rushed outside after her, clearly having thrown on his clothes as quickly as possible since his sweater was inside-out. Noticing this just reminded her yet again of what she'd just seen.
"Isabelle, wait!" Alec called, catching up with her and sending her a sorry look. She huffed and turned to see him, crossing her arms with a frown.
"What the hell was that?" she asked, deciding to take a stern approach. Alec might have been her older brother, but that didn't mean she was afraid to shout at him.
"I'm sorry, Izzy, I didn't mean for you to see that," Alec said, with pleading tone.
"You and Jace?," Izzy continued. "Really? What about Magnus? Plus, you're parabatai, Alec - do you know what this means?"
"Of course I do," Alec said, careful not to step too close to his angry sister. "I know it's illegal, but I don't care and neither does Jace. Please, Izzy, just calm -"
"Don't tell me to calm down!" She snapped. "What do you think you're doing, Alec? Have you gone completely insane?! What are mum and dad going to say when they find out you're fucking your parabatai?"
"They're not going to find out."
"Really? Are you sure, because that's what you said when you told me you were gay."
"They're not going to find out," Alec repeated sternly. "As long as you don't tell them, that is."
"No, of course I won't tell them, they'd go mental. It's just weird. Jace, I mean, God, he's like our brother. What you're doing is practically incest - I hope you realise that!"
Alec didn't reply, and Izzy sighed, turning away and pressing a palm to her forehead to try and get rid of the image that still sat there. She tried to take her mind off it, when a thought came to mind and she whirled back around to face her brother.
"Wait a second," she said, "What about Clary? Does she know what's going on?" Alec tensed suddenly. "Is that why she ran out yesterday?" Alec bowed his head and nodded solemnly, running a hand through his dark hair when Izzy gasped.
"Alec, how could you?! You know how much she loves him, she must be heartbroken! By the Angel, that poor girl. I hope you weren't a total jerk when you told her." Alec hoped that his sister would calm down now that she'd had her outburst, but his wince when she said this gave him away instantly and Izzy stormed past him back into the Institute, heading towards the training room. Alec ran after her, determined not to let the conversation end with her hating him.
"Izzy! Isabelle -" Alec called as he shoved open the door to the training room, only a second behind his sister. But he was cut off when a sharp knife sailed past his head, missing by only a few inches, and buried itself into the wall beside him.
"Don't, Alec," Izzy said, hiding the flinch that had sparked when the knife she'd thrown had only just missed her brother. "Please. Save it."
"But-"
"Alec, I need time." With that Alec sighed, concluding that there was no way he was going to get his sister to listen to him any time soon. He departed from the room quickly, leaving Izabelle alone in the training room and feeling as though she was choking on tears.
Izzy hated quarrelling with her brother, and this was much more than just another petty fight. She didn't want to push Alec away, but she just couldn't get over the fact that she had just found her brothers in bed together. She knew that she should go to the Clave, but they were family and the sentence for falling in love with your parabatai was death. Izzy had already lost a brother, and she couldn't even think of losing another.
Stalking to the door, Izzy plucked the knife she'd thrown from the wall and backed up, tossing it again, yet this time with a more precise target. Training had always been her favourite form of distraction, and she definitely needed a whole load of distraction now.

A/N: Hey guys! So I was debating on whether to carry this on or end it, but I have a few ideas for this story yet so they'll be a fair few more chapters until I even consider finishing it. I know the last couple of chapters have been a bit sad and depressing, but bare with me - there will be some action coming up soon!
Please review and tell me what you thought. Thanks X.