SHAPESHIFTED (✓)

41. A deadly confrontation.

"There's no Marius, it was me!" Magnus spoke in a low voice and dared to meet his dull golden eyes with Alec's family who were gaping at him or more precisely his giant tail.

"What do you mean-"

"Magnus! Thank the Lilith!" Catarina came running in and hugged her best friend tightly cutting Jace off mid-sentence and noticing his true form for the first time ever in all these centuries as Maryse trailed behind her who was rapidly blinking after seeing Magnus in that form. She just came back from Idris as Jocelyn wanted to stay with Luke.

"What is going on here? Magnus, what... is that?" Maryse finally asked after a few seconds of silence of processing what she had just seen. "Catarina... were you... aware?"

"It's not my secret to share, Maryse. I'm sorry, I know we are close friends but I'm a warlock and there are things we're still scared to share with shadowhunters." She stated genuinely making Maryse exhale a deep breath.

Magnus gulped and looked between Alec and Catarina and felt Alec's hand resting protectively on his back in a reassuring manner, making him slightly relaxed.

"Magnus, whatever happens, or however my family reacts, I'll always be there with you. You have my word, I'll never leave you." Alec whispered and softly ran his hand over his mate's back to calm him a little.

"Magnus... Did you actually change from Marius to you? Were you tricking us in some ways? What is going on?" Jace bombarded him with questions as his confused mismatched eyes drifted between Magnus and his brother.

"Magnus... if that was you, then what happened to Marius? Where's he? And, when did you return...." Izzy's questions trailed off when she noticed the lowered eyes of her big brother and tried to deny the fact that those two are the same.

Magnus licked his lips as he looked at Isabelle with his scared golden eyes as his giant tail automatically reached out towards her and snaked around her hand making her gasp as she touched it with her other shaky hand.

"Magnus..." Izzy softly breathed out.

"I'm really sorry, Isabelle, I really am. There never was Marius, it... it was me, all along. I'm... I'm a shapeshifting warlock. The one y... you all named Marius. I'm sorry for deceiving you all... I'm sorry... I'm..." He couldn't control himself any longer and started crying hysterically as Alec held him in his arms.

"All those months, Magnus!? Why!?" Maryse fumed out, ignoring the pleading looks of Catarina.

"Mum..." Alec spoke up, daring to meet the eyes with his family members, noticing the shock and hurt in them. "Please forgive him, I did. I know it's not going to be easy, but please." Magnus kept crying in his arms so he held him protectively and took it upon himself to explain to his family.

"Our break up... it was because of this. I walked in on him shifting back to his warlock form and... reading my journal-"

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Alexander... I know I've hurt you all so much *sniff* I shouldn't have done-"

"Magnus... stop that! How many times do I need to tell you that we're past that? Shh.." Alec softly whispered and wiped his mate's tears with the pad of his thumbs.

"Then why did you never tell us that Alec? Do we mean nothing to you?" Jace asked, anger and hurt clearly visible in his tone.

"Jace, please don't say that. You all mean so much to me, but this wasn't my thing to say. It wasn't my secret to share. I told you guys as much as I could. But after talking to Magnus and realising his point of view, I understood why he did what he did. He had his reasons, he just wasn't in his right mind and made some mistakes. We all make mistakes, don't we? That's why we took a break from our relationship so that we can start anew." He took a deep breath before speaking again.