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“How the hell did this happen?”
That was the only question Alec could think of to ask as he stood in the middle of the Institute’s infirmary, listening to the sounds of fury and fear that were coming from the warded room in front of him. Even with the strength of the wards around the room he could still hear the furious growling of a young, terrified dragon.
Instinct demanded that he go in there now and try his best to soothe and fix this. But practicality had him staying outside the room to talk to everyone and find out what exactly was going on.
To have a young, scared dragon was one thing – there were protocols in place for that. While dragons weren’t exactly common they were still present in the shadow world. Now and again they encountered them, and the whole of Alec’s staff knew what to do if that happened. Namely, calling him or his husband. Usually, Magnus was better at trying to fix things for dragons, who tended to look at Alec and see the shadowhunter part of his heritage before they saw the draconic part of it.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be possible this time, because the young, scared dragon in there wasn’t just any dragon. It was Magnus.
“It was an accident,” Catarina said, watching Alec cautiously as she said it. On a good day Alec and Catarina were friends. Something which had Magnus moaning and groaning about betrayal and terrible people, all the while grinning in a way that made it clear he loved it.
But Catarina was one of the most knowledgeable non-draconic people Alec had ever met. She and Ragnor had made a study of dragons not long after they first met Magnus. They’d wanted to know everything they could about their friend. Catarina, especially, had wanted to know how to take care of him when he was hurt, what special things she could and couldn’t do.
That meant that she was the one person in the room right now who knew exactly how dangerous Alec currently was. Jace and Isabelle had some understanding, which was why they were cautiously watching him from either side, but it was Catarina who had witnessed what could truly happen to one part of a bonded pair when their mate was in danger.
Which was why she was standing far enough off to the side to make sure that she didn’t impede his route to the door of the room where Magnus was waiting, and why she made sure to answer him quickly and succinctly.
“Magnus called me a half an hour ago to tell me that there was an injured warlock in need of help. They were young and terrified and very badly hurt, and while he was trying to shield them he needed someone else to come in and do the healing,” Catarina explained, her voice never once losing its calm cadence. “When I arrived, Isabelle and Jace were guarding outside the room and Magnus was inside shielding the young warlock. I went in to help heal, but my presence only panicked the other warlock. They lashed out at the same time that someone else, who we discovered after to be their sister, portaled in and took in what she perceived as an attack against her brother.”
Alec fought back the urge to groan. He wanted to push, to demand what came next, even as he had a feeling he knew.
“Magnus had enough time to bring out his wings to shelter me, but it left him exposed to the blast of their magic. The two combined right as they hit him. When the light cleared, Magnus was on the floor in the form of his younger, draconic self.”
“We came in right after,” Jace interjected.
Isabelle made a sound of agreement. “With the shock of everything, we were able to talk to the two warlocks and calm them down.”
Though it probably wasn’t very good of him as a leader or a person, there wasn’t really a single part of Alec that had the capacity to care about either of the young warlocks. Maybe that made him a terrible person, and he would own that later when he had enough room for the guilt to creep in. At the moment, however, all he had the space for was his fear and worry for Magnus. Nothing else mattered.
Catarina, bless her, knew that. “He’ll be okay,” she said quickly, cutting off the other two to give Alec what he needed to hear. “I was able to examine him before he woke up. He has no injuries. What they did didn’t hurt him, and it was already starting to fade off of him by the time I brought him here. By my best estimates, it should take twenty-four to thirty-six hours to wear off.”
“Until then, he’s going to be stuck as a child,” Alec filled in.
She nodded at him. “One who has no idea who any of us are.”
Great. That was just – that was great.
Knowing that Magnus wasn’t hurt helped. Knowing that he was going to be okay in less than two days helped even more. It took some of the rage and fear that Alec felt and allowed him to push it down enough that the rest of him could come to the forefront.
That is, right up until the moment that another roar came from Magnus, and this one was tinged in just as much pain as it was anger.
Alec didn’t even consciously make the choice to move. One minute he was standing there getting his report from Catarina like she was one of his soldiers – and she had been shorter and summed everything up quicker than any of his soldiers – and the next he was darting through the door into the warded room with his wings out and his body at the ready.
Only, there was no threat inside the room. No one was in there trying to attack Magnus or hurt him or do anything.
When Alec saw what was in there, it was enough to stop him in his tracks for one long moment. Because… Magnus wasn’t being attacked by anything human, or any sort of magic. He was…
He was stuck.
Alec knew he was gaping. Just as he knew Magnus was absolutely going to hate this as soon as he was back to his normal size and Alec told him about it, or he remembered it. Whichever. But he couldn’t help himself.
Magnus was… he’d somehow ended up half wrapped up in the sheet from the bed he’d no doubt been put on while unconscious, only he wasn’t trapped on the bed. He and the sheet both had somehow ended up wrapped around and dangling from the rectangular bar light that hung from the ceiling.
There was just enough time for Alec to take it in, to see the flash of gold and red scales amongst the bundled up white sheet, and then the whole bundle gave a solid twitch and Magnus let out another of those pained, furious roars, his tiny little body jerking hard in a clear effort to get free, and that was enough to jerk Alec out of his stupor.
Alec used a wing to snap the door shut behind him even as he started to move forward. He reached Magnus just as his mate opened his mouth and inhaled in what was clearly a precursor to an attempt at fire. Before he could do it and potentially burn down half the room in his panic, Alec let out a low, crooning rumble, one that he had used on his siblings plenty of times when they were young and scared and in need of comfort.
There was a reason Alec was often the one called in when young dragons were brought to the Institute. Magnus was called for the older ones – he was enough of an Alpha that all it ever really took was a growl from him to have them calming the fuck down to listen to him. (Alec was an alpha too, but wasn’t immune to Magnus, to the feeling of wanting to roll on his back and show his belly to the only dragon worthy of seeing him that way, desperate for that pleased rumble that Magnus gave every single time he did)
Where Magnus was the epitome of Alpha, Alec had been told he was the epitome of protective big brother. Terrified kids calmed for him in ways they wouldn’t for anyone else.
Magnus was no exception. He stilled as soon as Alec made that sound. Then he twisted just enough that he could look over at him.
Alec kept up the soft sound as he made his way forward. “You’re all right,” he said gently. “Deep breath, cariño. I’m going to come over there and get you down, okay?”
He’d almost slipped there, almost called Magnus honey, but everything Catarina had said and everything Alec saw here – the fear on Magnus’ face, the confusion – made it clear that it wasn’t just Magnus’ body that had shrunk. He seemed to fully believe that he was young once more. Which meant that he wasn’t going to recognize the name Magnus. That wasn’t something that he would’ve taken yet. Not at that age.
Magnus’ body vibrated a little when Alec came close to him. Yet he didn’t pull away, didn’t try and stop him from reaching up. Though he did flinch slightly when Alec let his claws come through.
Making another crooning sound, Alec climbed right up onto the table, bringing him closer to Magnus. “Shh, sweetheart, you’ve got nothing to worry about. I won’t hurt you. I’m just going to get you down from here, that’s all.” Alec added an extra rumbling purr to those words. A sound he usually saved for when those he loved were particularly upset. He'd used it a few times after some of Magnus’ worst nightmares, holding his mate to him and letting the sound vibrate them both. It always worked to soothe Magnus down, and now seemed to be no exception.
Magnus sunk into the blankets as Alec reached above him to carefully use his claws to cut the blanket free. He had his other arm up, ready to catch Magnus and the blanket the instant it toppled down. Magnus gave a soft squeak when it did,. Alec resolved to never tell him how adorable that sound was.
As soon as he had Magnus in his arms, Alec sank down, shifting to squat on the table and then just fold himself down there, legs crossed underneath him and the bundle that was Magnus and the blanket cradled in his lap.
“There we are. Almost there, cariño. Let me just get you free of the blankets.” Alec suited action to words, carefully untangling Magnus from where he’d gotten so twisted. The blankets seemed to have caught on his back claws, which explained how he’d managed to drag them up to the light with him.
Once Alec got the last bit of blanket free, he had only a second to look at the miniature version of his husband before Magnus moved. Wings and legs scrambled quickly. Only, they didn’t move away. No, he shot toward Alec, climbing practically inside his jacket with him.
He realized why pretty quickly. The way Magnus hurried up toward his neck and buried his face there made it clear.
Magnus had always said he loved Alec’s scent. Once they’d properly bonded and their scents began to mix, not to mention how often Magnus still liked to scent mark him before he let Alec leave, more often than not Alec walked around with a big giant MINE in his scent. This small version of Magnus must be able to smell that. He wouldn’t know about mates, of course. It wasn’t going to mean the same to him. But apparently he was reading it as Alec belonging to him, and he was purring as he twined himself around Alec’s neck like the very best scarf.
A smile curved Alec’s lips at the gesture. He reached up and pet at Magnus’ head, chuckling when it made Magnus purr even louder. “At least I don’t have to figure out a way to convince you to stay with me.”
The growl Magnus gave at that only made Alec laugh again. That sound combined with the way he tightened around Alec for a moment made it clear he wasn’t going anywhere.
Alec took a few moments to just stroke his hands over Magnus and soothe them both a little. The panic he’d felt at finding out his husband was hurt, that he was here like this, finally started to abate. Magnus was with him now, safe, alive, and unharmed. More than that, Catarina was sure that he was going to be okay.
Until then, Alec was more than content to keep his mate with him, and it seemed like Magnus was perfectly on board with that plan.
“I’m going to have so much fun teasing you for this later,” Alec told him, grinning as he did. “For now, what do you say we go get you something to eat? I bet your body needs the energy. Hm? You hungry, cariño?”
The growling yip he got in response to that was a clear Yes.
Alec carefully adjusted his jacket so that the color was up enough to shield Magnus from most eyes. He had a moment to entertain himself with the thought of what Magnus would say as an adult if he saw Alec with his collar popped up like this. He was forever smoothing it out when Alec messed it up accidentally.
A poke and a grumble from Magnus reminded him that he had a goal here. While the older version of his husband might gripe about that look, the younger version was more than content to hide there, and it would keep him sheltered from prying eyes as Alec took him out to eat.
“All right. Let’s go see if Catarina can make us a portal back to… my place.” He’d almost slipped there and called it our place. No need to confuse him. “Once we get there, I’m pretty sure we have some steak strips you were planning on turning into something or other. They should do for a meal for now.”
There, he could safely let Magnus free for a while, with the wards of the loft around him to keep him safe.
The Institute was going to have to do without him for a little while. Alec had a much more important job to take care of first.