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"Jace." Alex couldn't keep himself from calling out. He needed to stop Jace. He needed Jace to understand how stupid all this was. Time and time again Jace was willing to risk his life for this girl. That's all she was, a girl. There wasn't anything special about her. There wasn't anything earth shattering about her. It wasn't even like she was the one from Harry Potter or those other stupid mundane books that he read out of spite.
She was no one.
And yet here Jace was willing to get himself killed. Willing to have the wrath of their mother raining down on them. Alec was getting tired of it. If she wanted to get herself killed she could but Alec wasn't going to let Jace kill himself to.
"Alec, either decide if you’re going to help me or get out of my way."
He tried not to be hurt by Jace's words. Was it really that easy for Jace to turn his back on him? It was like he wasn't even the Jace he knew. No. That was a lie. He was still the Jace he knew. Jumping into situations head first like a dumbass. But now it was for a girl instead of his own stupid ego.
Ego, Alec could deal with. He wasn't sure he could deal with this girl.
"Is this really what it's coming to?"
"We don't have time for this, Jace!" Alec's eyes flickered to the red head who was holding the injured werewolf up. She was right. Not that he'd ever tell her. This wasn't the time nor place for this. But he had to know. He wasn't sure he could continue without knowing the truth.
"Shut up. I need an answer."
"Answer to what?" Jace practically growled at him.
In all their years of living together never had Jace turned that face on him. Alec had never seen Jace this angry towards anyone in their family and now it was directed at him. It was like that girl had put a spell on Jace. Expect she was useless. Jace was doing this of his own free will.
"I want to know if you're really going to turn your back on me... on The Clave, for her." He had stepped forward to stare down at Jace. He tried not to notice Jace's eyes, or the way his lips looked. He tried not to remember his face like it was the last time he was going to him. It might just be though.
Jace stared back at him. Alec swallowed and it felt like everything went still for a moment. It wasn't like when they stared into each other's eyes when they tracked. There was something else between them now. She was between them.
"It's my job to protect people."
"That's not an answer, Jace."
"She needs my help. Our help. Help me, Alec"
"You're avoiding the question."
He needed to stay strong. Too many times he had let Jace talk him into stupid things with his beautiful eyes and rough voice. The way everything lowered to a soft desperate edge when he asked for help. The way he whispered please like he was ashamed to ask for help. This was his brother. He loved him. He needed to help him, keep him safe. That was his job. Like it was with Izzy.
Jace stared at Alec for a long moment before shaking his head slightly and turning away.
"Is this it then? You've known me your whole life and you're going to throw that away for her?"
"I'm not the one throwing it away. I asked for your help. You're the one who's refusing to help."
"No, I'm not." That stopped Jace. Sure, Alec could be firm when he needed to be. But not without incentive from his mom and very rarely with Jace. "I've offered to help in the way that I can. But you can't see that because you're blinded by what's in your pants. You want the girl that badly fine. But I refuse to be dragged into this anymore." Alec turned away and started to walk away. "Consider this my resignation from the Clary protection club."