Skinny Love ↠ Alec Lightwood ✓

Chapter Fifty ✓

EXTRA WARDS

"I'M NOT A FAN." IZZY SAID. Practically stating the obvious, Iz. I walked beside Alec. I chuckled. "Jealous?" Alec asked. "No." Isabelle said. Alec's phone started ringing. "Maybe. How the hell did she catch that arrow?" We walked down the steps and headed towards Maryse. "I have something you need to see," Alec said, as Lydia walked over.

"Something attacked the Jade wolf." He pulled up pictures on to the computer screen. My eyes widened. Jade wolf? Wait that's Luke's and the rest of the packs place. "The werewolves head quarters. Where did you..." Maryse said until Lydia cut her off.

"Where did you get these?" Lydia asked, butting into their conversation. "Leader of the New York wolf pack." Alec replied. "You're friends with Lucian Graymark? Circle member?" Lydia asked. "How about we send Isabelle and Alec to investigate?" Maryse suggested.

"Uh, what about me?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. "You stay here." Lydia said. "The whole shadowworld is looking for you, Bella."

"I'm sure this is linked to..." Maryse got cut off by Lydia. Again. "I need to see it for myself," Lydia said.

She turned around. "Coming?" She asked Alec. I sighed, frowning. "I'll be back. Stay here with Izzy." Alec said to me. I nodded, pursing my lips into a thin line. 

-

After walking with Izzy around the institute for half an hour, I got really annoyed. I know how to fight, and I can fend for myself. I understand why I have to stay here. Then again, I don't. I huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of my face.

I'm just going to leave. Without anyone noticing, I quickly made a dash toward the door to get out of the institute. I opened it then I sprinted across the street and headed toward Jade wolf.

-

"It's got some characteristics of a forsaken," Lydia said. I peered my head into the Jade wolf. The door bell up on the top rang, everyone instantly turned their heads to look at me. My eyes widened. Maybe this was a bad idea. There's no turning back now.

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay back at the institute?" Alec asked. He walked over to me and grabbed my arm.

"Well, I'm not just going to stand around and sit in my room while doing nothing." 

"That's exactly what you should be doing." Alec said.

"If you got caught-" "I'm not going to get caught, Alec. I'm fine. I can handle myself." I sighed, walking over to Luke. I noticed a ugly thing dead on the ground. My eyes widened. "What the hell is that?" I pointed at it.

"It was human. It was rune," Lydia said, as she checked the side of its neck. I scrunched up my face.

"I don't know. It was more focused, more determined. It attacked like it had a plan. Plus, a normal Forsaken wouldn't have been so hard to kill. It took five wolf's to take that thing down. Never seen anything like it." Luke said.

"We'll take the body back to the institute to do a full autopsy." Lydia suggested. "Oh, hold up. I get that I called you. Actually, I called Alec. But what I didn't want is someone to come down here and just take over." "Yeah, that's kinda her thing," Alec said. He walked over to stand by Lydia. Lydia smiled a little, rolling her eyes.

I folded my arms. "Look, I know I can come across...  abrasive. But we're all on the same side here. Can we at least agree on that?" Lydia asked.

"The institute has the resources to find out what this thing is." Lydia said. "We have an expert forensic pathologist. Highly trained in all creatures of the shadoworld." Alec said.

"Do you have one here? In this, uh, Chinese restaurant?" Lydia asked, looking around. I rolled my eyes. "Fine. You win. Just let me know what you find," Luke said. I walked over to Luke and sighed.

"You think Valentine's behind this?" Alec asked. He crouched down at the ugly monster. Luke scoffed, "No question behind it. It's defiantly his work."

"What do you think he's after?" I asked. Luke turned to look at me.

"Honestly, Bella. Me." "So you think Valentine is going after ex-circle members?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know. It might be kind of personal. We have a complicated past. But of course, he could be going after the old crew. I'm sure Valentine has a grudge against anybody who turned against him." Luke said.

"Probably," I said, shrugging. "Okay, we should get going. We'll put extra wards on the institute." Lydia said.