Not By Blood - THE REWRITE

Chapter Five

Alec was done at this point. But he kept his sister's advice in mind, trying to be mindful of the girl's situation, but then he spotted the nerdy looking mundane standing next to Jace and Clary in front of some monitors.

"What is going on?" He demanded as he walked over to them. "Why is there a mundane in the Institute?"

Clary just looked at him, waiting for Jace to explain while the Mundane looked at Alec with wide eyes, filled with fear. Jace rattled off an explanation about a Circle Member and Clary being in danger, with Clary chiming in with the obvious, and the Mundane acting clueless.

Isabelle stepped in after a while, teasing the mundane. Alec stood back and watched the Mundie drool over his sister as she introduced the both of them.

"This is Alec . . . and I'm Isabelle." She offered him her hand.

"Lewis. Simon, Simon Lewis." He stammered. "Two first names. Am I still talking?"

Jace and Clary went to the training room while Isabelle took the Mundie somewhere to babysit him. Alec went back to his office. He was the acting head of the New York Institute in his parents' stead. They were in Idris for the time being, with Alec and Isabelle's little brother Max.

Alec sat down behind the desk, swiveling the desk chair a little as he sat there, staring at his phone. He had pulled up the text from Ragnor again, staring at it. He could never figure out why Ragnor cared about him as much as he did. It made no sense.

Alec wasn't blind to the fact that Warlocks don't typically visit the Institute unless it's for the wards, or even rarer, for a meeting. He has never seen another child be taken under a Warlock's wing the way that Ragnor has seemed to do with Alec.

Alec very vaguely remembers first meeting Ragnor when he was around three years old. He reached up to touch the amulet that the Warlock had gifted him. Alec has never taken it off and Ragnor always seemed to look for it around his neck when he stopped in to see Alec. And only ever Alec.

Ragnor was never there to see anyone else. Not Jace. Not Izzy, Max, or Robert. He seemed to tolerate Maryse, but Ragnor genuinely seemed to like Alec. That was something that confused Alec to no end. Alec hadn't had many dealings with Downworlders other than Ragnor. He'd seen Raphael Santiago a few times when he was growing up. The Vampire had been something of a mystery in his eyes, but he'd always been kind if not a bit elusive.

Another thing that confused Alec about Ragnor was the way that he looked at him. Alec hadn't seen anything like it before, and it had been something that was constant. The look never changed. It was soft, warm, and loving, the way that he wished Robert looked at him. It always got a little more intense when Ragnor was called to heal him and was underlined with anger when it was Robert who had inflicted the wound upon Alec.

He stared at the phone for a little longer before he locked his phone and set it on his desk. Before looking through his emails and talking with Inquisitor Herondale about Clary's arrival and her missing mother.

Nearly an hour later, there was a knock on the door that had him sitting up from where he was slouching, trying to look like he was somewhat professional.

"Come in," He called.

Marianna poked her head in, lips turned down in displeasure. "Jace and Izzy are leaving with the Fray girl and the mundane. An unsanctioned mission."

Alec huffed and stood up. "Thank you, Marianna. I'll take care of it,"

He marched down into the ops room and found Jace, Izzy, Clary, and the mundane by the weapons rack. "I don't approve of this mission," He told them sternly. "I spoke with the Clave. They're sending Seelie scouts to search for Valentine, but they made it clear that Clary needs to stay on the premises for now. Who knows who else is hunting her down? Whatever it is that you think we need to do, I can send someone to do it." He assured her.