Not By Choice

Chapter Four

EDITED 11/8/2021

June 17, 2017

Alec didn't sleep very well. He tossed and turned for most of the night, Rafael moving with him, trying to stay within the older man's comforting embrace. When Alec woke up, he was on his side, arms wrapped around the young boy that was snuggled up against his chest.

He blinked blearily, eyes burning from exhaustion. He was used to silk sheets and strong arms wrapped around him, a heavy but comforting weight on his chest or against his back. He missed home, he missed his children, he missed his husband. Alec sighed and carefully removed his arms from around the boy and slid out of bed.

He checked his phone and smiled at the picture Magnus had sent him. Max was asleep and using their cat, Gideon as a pillow. While he was thrilled to see his youngest son, Alec was slightly disappointed that his husband wasn't in the picture as well.

Not long after Alec woke up, Lily and Rafael were stirring awake and Jem was knocking politely on their door, calling out that they needed to leave soon.

Less than an hour after Jem's wake up call, Alec, Jem, Tessa, Lily, and Rafael were making their way to the Buenos Aires Institute. Alec, Jem, and Rafael were trekking across rooftops while the women were strolling down the sidewalk below, glamoured by Tessa's magic.

Buenos Aires was sweltering which would explain no one was outside if Alec hadn't been wondering if anyone was even in the city. It was so quiet that he could hear Tessa and Lily breathing in the streets below.

The group had decided to do a quick patrol before they went to demand the Institute's surrender, and Alec was glad they did because this whole situation was proving to be terribly fascinating. Buenos Aires was a ghost town.

"I wonder if they knew you were coming." Alec said to Jem as he crouched to peer into more windows across the street. "It looks like everyone is gone."

Jem had a perplexed look on his face, looking much like Alec felt. "How would they have known?"

"We've been taking down Institutes worldwide." Alec stood up. "It's not a secret that we're Parabatai. Maybe people have been keeping tabs on us. Maybe we've fallen into a pattern, and they predicted one of us would come here next."

Alec walked ahead of his Parabatai, sighing and looking around some more. He nearly slipped and fell right off the roof when Jem grabbed his shoulder and forced him into a crouch. Rafael tucked himself into Alec's side as Jem hissed in his ear.

"Look! There!" He followed Jem's pointer finger with his eyes and spotted a Shadowhunter approaching the door of a huge gray building at the end of the street. He swiveled to look Rafael in the eyes.

"Stay with Jem for a moment, sweetheart." Alec told the little boy.

Jem nodded and stood up, pulling Rafael down to hide behind a tall part of the roof. Alec moved forward and crouched behind a chimney. He traced his clarity and awareness runes on his arms. He then cast a charm that allowed him to hear what the Shadowhunter was saying in the doorway of the big gray building.

" . . . next delivery from Breakspear will be at midnight tonight . . ."

He might've been able to hear more but there was a loud thud from behind him and he turned just in time to see Rafael's bottom lip puff out as his eyes filled with tears. There was a little scrape on his forehead from where he had tripped and fallen face first into the roof.

Alec quickly stood up and jogged the distance between him and Rafael. He scooped the boy into his arms before plopping down to sit on the roof, holding Rafael at a slight distance so that he could heal the scrape on his forehead. He then grabbed Rafael's hands in his own, looking at the tiny hands and healing those as well.