A Surprise and A Betrayal (✓)

13. Not bonded by blood, but united by love.

Before Izzy could say, her phone buzzed and her expressions went from excited to soft.

"What?" Alec asked.

"Mom and Luke are here, you're ready, Alec?"

Alec sighed. "Let's get this over with!"

"With what? What's going on?" Jace asked, having a light frown on his forehead.

"Please be patient, Jace," Alec said calmly. "I'll be talking to you and Clary at last about it, just know that it's important and you both are part of it."

Jace exchanged a look with Clary, but feeling his Parabatai's nervousness, he let it go and nodded reassuringly.

"Thank you. For now, I need to talk to Mom and Luke. Iz, where are they?"

"They're in my office," Izzy said, holding Alec's hand, and giving it a gentle squeeze. Alec smiled then left the room.

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Maryse was leaning against the desk, a deep frown on her forehead while Luke was pacing in front, waiting for Izzy to arrive.

"I'm really worried Luke, what are they gonna think?" Maryse spoke. "Are you sure we've made the right decision? I know it's what we both want, but I'm scared. Plus, we have no idea what Izzy wants to talk about." Worry was laced in her voice as she bit her nails.

Luke sighed, walked towards her, and cupped her face. "Calm down Maryse, don't freak out like this. Let's hear what Izzy had to say first, our news can wait, okay? There's no rush for it."

"But Lucian-"

"Hey," he gently tucked the strands behind her ears then leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Just calm down."

Maryse nodded and let out a deep sigh. Gently, she put her hands around Luke's waist and looked deeply into his eyes. Slowly, Luke started leaning in and locked their lips in a slow and gentle kiss as his fingers trailed towards the thick strap of her dress and pulled it down, exposing her bare shoulders then broke their kiss and started trailing soft kisses from her neck to the shoulder and down towards her chest.

Alec was walking towards the office, his hands were sweaty, and he was able to hear his heartbeats as the distance became shorter and shorter. As soon as he reached the office, he halted, scrunched his eyes shut, and put his hand over it as warmness cascaded all over his face. Biting his lower lip, he cleared the throat.

Startled, Maryse and Luke pulled away from each other and glanced at the doorway when they heard the clearing of the throat and their eyes widened when they noticed Alec standing there.

"Alec..." Maryse breathed out, voice filled with shock.

"Are you people... decent?" Alec stuttered out.

Maryse quickly fixed her dress, exchanged a look with Luke and then turned towards Alec after clearing her throat. "Yeah, come in."

Alec peeked through his fingers to make sure they were decent and when he was sure, he sighed and slowly walked towards them and hugged both his parents.

"Hey mum, Sorry to cut your vacation short."

"Alec, it's nice to see you after a long time. What are you doing in New York? Izzy didn't tell us."

"I was actually going to surprise you both, but..." he trailed off.

"You saw nothing!" Luke exclaimed, and Alec put up his hand in surrender. "Anyway, where's Magnus?"

"In Idris, it's just me. I wanted to talk to you peop... what's that?" He frowned when a bright light reflected on his face. Reaching out, he held Maryse's hand when he noticed that was the source, but his eyes widened when he saw a beautiful Graymark ring on her ring finger. "M... Mum? Luke?"