laconic 

adjective | luh - kah- nik | meaning - concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious 

chapter nine 

Beckett raced down the streets of Brooklyn in his wolf form, weaving semi-gracefully in between cars as the werewolf desperately tied keeping up with the car that held Clary and Simon. 

The giant black streak that was Beckett Jackson lept on top of a taxi cab, and then bounded from car to car, denting a roof or two just with his sheer force. He had no idea what the mundanes thought they saw as the giant wolf ran past dozens of them, but he also didn't really care what they thought. At the time, his only concern was not losing sight of the car he was desperately following. Unfortunately, not all went to plan. 

A car shifted underfoot just as Beckett went to leap, messing up Beckett's balance. He missed his next target ever so slightly, and next thing he knew he was colliding with the street pavement. Pain radiated through his body as he tried forcing himself back to his feet. The oncoming traffic was a rather persuasive means of motivation to get the werewolf moving again, and Beckett managed to force himself to over to the sidewalk before he could become road kill, because he knew better then to trust a New York driver to swerve to avoid him. 

Beckett tried to collect himself as fast as possible, pushing aside the pain radiating from his hind leg to deal with later. But he didn't pull himself together quite fast enough. By the time he was back on his feet, the car with Clary and Simon were long gone, masked by the mess of New York city. Beckett tried to catch their scent, but his head felt foggy. Maybe he'd hit it, too, in his fall. 

Too pissed off with both himself and the entire world to be able to deal with others, Beckett dragged his body into a nearby alley. Once he was alone to deal with his pain and misery, Beckett's bone's began cracking and shifting, his shaggy pelt peeling away as he changed back into his human form, which was no easy task, especially with an injury. Luckily, Beckett was to busy cursing at himself for letting Clary and Simon get taken again to really give his pain a second thought. 

Beckett propped himself up against a dumpster, ignoring the smell coming from it to the best of his ability. After allowing himself only a moment to catch his breathe, he reached for his phone, relieved to see he still had it on him. Beckett groaned as he moved his leg in the proper direction it should be in, and then dialed Luke's number as he hoped for a speedy recovery for himself. 

The phone only rang once before Luke picked it up. "Seeing as how our last conversation went, I'm guessing this is an emergency." 

"Alaric took Clary. And Simon," Beckett grunted, half in pain and half in anguish. 

"Alaric?" Luke only sounded mildly stunned. "When?" 

"Just now, at Clary and Joclyn's loft," Beckett explained. "I was following them for a while, but I lost them. You've been working with Alaric longer then I have, where do you think he would've taken her?" 

There was silence on Luke's end for a moment, and then the sound of hurried movement, as if he had started rushing somewhere. Beckett waited impatiently for an answer. 

"Jade Wolf, you know it?" Luke questioned. 

Beckett frowned, thinking for a moment before he responded. He pushed himself up away from the dumpster as a memory surfaced. "It's a Chinese restaurant, right? Pretty sure I have a takeout menu from it."

"Yeah, well, you remember Alaric's pack? Pretty sure you've picked a fight with a member or two of them?" Luke continued. "That restaurant is run by the pack's alpha. The Jade Wolf is there little werewolf den. My money's on the Jade Wolf being where they end up taking Clary and Simon." 

Beckett made up his mind rather quickly on his next plan of action. "I need some time to gather myself and you sound like you're at work. Can we meet there in about an hour?" 

"You already know it, kid." 

Once Beckett found the Jade Wolf Chinese restaurant, he quickly scoped the place out. Almost immediately he caught on to Clary and Simon's scent, but he was unable to catch sight of them. That wasn't much of a surprise, though, seeing as the restaurant was located on the docks surrounded by dozens of shipping containers. And then there was the restaurant itself, which was obviously heavily guarded by other werewolves. Finding the two teenagers and getting them out of this mess wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but Beckett was feeling up to the challenge. 

By the time Luke had finally arrived, the sun was already setting over the harbor. Beckett was more then happy to be reunited with the man, but wasn't ready to celebrate until they were reunited with the others too. 

"So what's the plan?" Beckett asked as they watched the Chinese restaurant from a safe distance. Beckett would've been perfectly happy with storming the castle, or restaurant, to get to them, but he figured Luke might not think the idea was the best. 

Instead of answering the younger werewolf, Luke put up a hand to quiet Beckett and then motioned towards the front of the building. 

Coming out of Jade Wolf was Clary being held captive by two men. She was obviously putting up a fight as they dragged her towards the shipping containers. Beckett lunged to aid her, but Luke grabbed his arm to stop him. 

Not yet, Luke mouthed. 

Carefully, the two police officers followed them through the shipping yards instead. Eventually, the men threw Clary into a container, delivering a short threat that she needed to keep silent before locking her in. Beckett wanted to rip a minimum of three limbs off of each of the men for their treatment towards the girl. 

Once they were gone, Luke turned to speak to Beckett. "I'll get her out of there, you go get Simon. We'll rendezvous back at the front where we were, sound good?" 

"Got it, boss," Beckett responded sarcastically. 

The two parted ways, Luke weaving his way to Clary and Beckett following Simon's scent to the best of his ability. For now, he remained in human form, figuring he shouldn't be shifting back and forth if he didn't need to. He reached for his gun, only to realize it was no longer in his holster. Sighing as he realized he must've dropped it at the loft when the wolf had taken him down, he instead opted to clenching his fists. There weren't many situations that his hands hadn't been able to get him out of. 

Beckett followed the sense through the overcrowded shipment docks, careful to avoid any enemy wolves. Finally, he got to the back of the restaurant the exact moment Isabelle Lightwood did. Normally, he dreaded running into shadowhunters, but he was actually fairly fine with seeing this one. At least it wasn't the irritating blonde with the bad attitude. 

"Come here to save Simon's ass?" Beckett questioned, raising his eyebrows. 

Isabelle, who had a smirk on her red lips and a whip in her hands, nodded to the werewolf. "Somebody's got to, right?" 

"Been saying that for years," Beckett sighed. Deciding that was enough small talk for him, he scoped the building. He was positive Simon was in the back room just beyond the wall, mostly because he could hear Simon shouting on the other side, but the only way to get in was a window just out of reach. Luckily, there was a shipment container just at level with the window. Looking at the container and then nodding to Isabelle, he said, "Want a boost?" 

Working rather well as a team, Beckett swiftly lifted up the incredibly agile shadowhunter who didn't miss a beat as she used her whip to rip off the bars from the window. Beckett was mildly impressed. 

"I am seriously getting tired of saving your life," Isabelle told him, but with a joking smile. 

"I am not," Beckett heard Simon respond. Beckett rolled his eyes, picturing perfectly the dorky smile that was probably plastered on Simon's face that very moment. 

With that, Isabelle helped him out and onto the top of the container, where Simon was able to look down on Beckett. The boy waved rapidly to there werewolf, as if this situation was actually fun for him. 

"Beck!" Simon greeted, un-phased by their current predicament. 

"Let's get you down from there, yeah?" Beckett sighed. 

Being a shadowhunter, Isabelle had no problem making it back down to earth gracefully. Simon, on the other hand, fell towards the ground rather un-gracefully and would've ended up enduring some injuries if Beckett hadn't been able to move so quickly and catch him. Holding Simon bridal-style for a minute before putting him down, Beckett grunted as pain radiated from his hip. Apparently, his injury from earlier wasn't fully healed. 

"You good?" Simon asked once he was somewhat steady on his feet. 

"Fine," Beckett nodded grimly, gritting his teeth to hold back his pain. "Let's just find Luke and Clary and get out of here." 

The three of them maneuvered towards the front of the building without a hitch, which Beckett found rather suspicious. The werewolves should've known of their presence by now. Beckett figured it must've been because they were focusing on stopping Clary and Luke instead, but as they got to the rendezvous point Beckett found Clary completely unharmed. Appearing around the corner with her, however, was not Luke, but Alec and Jace. 

"Beckett! Simon!" Clary shouted happily, rushing over to the two of them. She flung her arms around the pair, bringing them in for a group hug whether they liked it or not. 

"You okay?" Simon asked her as he hugged her back tightly. 

"I was so worried," Clary admitted. 

With a sigh, Beckett comforted the both of them by encircling them in his tight embrace, his muscles contracting to hold them close and shield them from the world like he had after he scarred them for life when he brought them to their first R-rated horror film when they were eleven. It had worked then to make them feel safe and it seemed to be working now. 

Behind Clary, Alec cleared his throat. His head resting on top of Clary's, Beckett looked up to see the shadow hunter extending his arm with Beckett's handgun in his grip. With a nod of gratitude, Beckett accepted back his weapon. 

As Beckett's grip loosened around them, Clary and Simon pulled away. Re-holstering his run, Beckett scanned the nearby area quickly for Luke, still not seeing any sign of him. With a frown, he looked down at Clary. 

"Did Luke not come find you?" He questioned. Luke should've easily been able to get to her. 

"Luke? How did you know he was here?" Clary took a step back from Beckett, studying him suspiciously. Suddenly, Beckett realized Luke must've never explained why he hadn't been of any use up until now, and Clary still must've taken Luke's lack of assistance as betrayal. 

Beckett silently cursed to himself, trying to think of a new plan. There was no way he was leaving here without Luke. But before he could even think of where to start, Beckett heard a snarl. 

The group looked up, realizing too late that the werewolf pack had surrounded them, leering over them on the stacks of boxes. So much for there easy escape. 

"Simon, what ever you do not make any fast moves," Isabelle warned to the jittery boy. 

The number of wolves only seemed to grow as they circled around them all. The fog that began clouding over them gave the wolves enough cover to make them hard to make out, but Beckett's heightened senses left him aware enough to know where they were. 

"This can't be good," Jace summed up. Beckett held himself back from thanking the blonde for stating the obvious. 

"New plan," Beckett murmured in a low voice to the shadowhunters. "I try getting you guys a good enough escape route, you get Clary and Simon out of here." 

"Beckett," Clary's tone was overflowing with worry. "What about you?" 

Beckett didn't bother trying to come up with an answer because he knew there wouldn't be one that would comfort her. So instead, he stepped forward and allowed his body to break itself. Anymore, he hardly felt the pain that came with transforming, and before long he was on all fours, a massive shadow of darkness once again. 

"Badass," Simon whispered from somewhere behind. 

The closest wolf -- a dusty grey snarling monster -- made his presence known to Beckett. Beckett turned to look up at the creature, and the other werewolf lept towards them. Reacting quickly, Beckett collided with him mid-air, and the two giant wolves fell to the earth in a twisted-up fight. 

At first, Beckett seemed to have the upper hand in the fight, seeing as he managed to be on top of the other wolf, but then the other one managed to shake herself free. The two stared each other down, Beckett making sure to have himself in between her and his friends. 

The wolf pounced on Beckett again, this time catching him a bit off guard. Beckett thought he was going to be able to hold his ground, but as she threw all her weight on to him his hind leg shifted in the wrong direction, his injury only worsening. Beckett's momentary weakness allowed the other wolf to knock him down. Thinking that gave her an opening to get to Clary, she lunged at the group and Alec quickly notched an arrow. But before he got the chance to release it, Beckett was twisting his body around to tackle her. 

No longer holding back and doing his best to ignore the pain from his leg, Beckett snapped his strong jaw and raked into her with his razor claws. It wasn't long before he was standing on top of her, ready to land the fatal blow, when he realized none of the other wolves were trying to stop him. Beckett only barely was able to register what that must've meant when teeth sunk into the back of his neck. 

Beckett let out a yelp, pain exploding just above his spin as another wolf dug into his skin with their bite. Seeing the way the other wolves were watching intently, Beckett knew the wolf taking a bite of his flesh had to be the alpha. That could only mean Beckett was in for some immense trouble. Sadly, he was used to the trouble. 

The alpha dragged Beckett away from his beta wolf and threw the black wolf to the side. Beckett yelped in pain as he fell to the ground, more parts of his body aching then not. 

Clary let out a shriek of worry for Beckett, knowing the condition he was in was not good. She lunged forward to help him, but Beckett was thankful that Jace held her back. Right now, the wolves were focusing on him, and he didn't want that to change no matter the consequences. 

Beckett moved to get on his feet, but the pain in his leg was to strong, and he wasn't even sure how well his head was connected to his neck anymore. He collapsed in a heap of fur on the ground, his molten gold eyes staring defiantly up at the alpha. Even in such a dire condition, the position he was lying in leaving himself almost entirely exposed, Beckett let out a rather menacing growl. 

Nearby, another growl echoed his. Just before the alpha could pounce on Beckett and make waste of the lone wolf, a new wolf charged in. The dark grey creature bonded towards the alpha tackling him in furious rage. Beckett knew instantly it was Luke. 

Luke forced the alpha away from Beckett, challenging the alpha in order to save a friend. Beckett felt guilty that Luke was having to due such a thing for him, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. 

"He's helping us," Beckett heard Clary say, referring to the wolf she probably didn't know was Luke. Her eyes then flickered back to a mangled Beckett, and once again she was trying to be free of Jace's grip so she could get to him. "Jace, please! He's hurt!" 

Beckett was barely able to listen to Clary fussing over him as he forced himself to use the rest of his energy to change back into his human form. His clothes were tattered and ragged, and his body ached more then he realized. Most of his pain was coming from the back of his neck, though, and Beckett knew that meant he was pretty much doomed. 

Suddenly, the fighting ceased, and Beckett realized that meant either Luke or the Alpha must be dead. Beckett pushed himself up off the ground just enough to look where they had been fighting. Back in his human form was Luke, beaten up but still alive. Beckett was overflowing with so much relief he almost forgot that he felt like he was dying, which the bite from the alpha pretty much meant he was. 

"The alpha's dead," Isabelle declared. 

"Oh my god, Luke," Clary whispered as she stared in awe at the man she thought had betrayed her. 

The wolves surrounding them knew what the death of their alpha meant. Luke was now the one in charge. Paying their respects, all of the wolves rose their heads to howl in unison. Unable to join in on the tradition as a human, Beckett instead made the point of shooting Luke a grateful look as he nodded his head shortly. 

Luke looked at Beckett gravely, apparently also knowing what his condition meant. Ignoring the other wolves, Luke dropped to his knee's next to the injured werewolf. Clary was finally able to come to Beckett's side, too. 

"Luke, did he get you?" Beckett grumbled, his words barely coherent. He was suddenly very conscious of the fact that everyone was standing over him. 

"No, no I'm good," Luke assured Beckett. He carefully reached out to touch the back of Beckett's neck, which was still bleeding far more then it should be, even for a werewolf. Beckett winced in pain. 

"What's did he mean? What's wrong?" Clary asked. Obviously she knew Beckett's condition wasn't good, but the look on Luke's face told her there was more. 

"The bite from the alpha is poisoning him," Alec explained grimly. He looked down at Beckett with a hard expression, his eyes sweeping over the wound on the back of Beckett's neck and studying it closely. An unhappy frown formed on his face, though this one was different then his usual grumpy grimace. 

Shuddering from a wave of pain coursing through him, Beckett closed his eyes tightly and let out a strained groan. When his eyes opened again, his vision was spotty, and the people surrounding him were now nothing but blurs. 

"Magnus," he managed to mumble. "I-I need Magnus." 

"We can take you to him," Clary promised. She looked up at Jace who was sheathing his seraph blade. "Right?" 

Jace nodded, and Alec looked over to him unhappily. "Jace, this is downworlder business. We have to report back to my mother." 

"You and Isabelle can do that," Jace decided, which was definitely not what Alec wanted to hear. "I'm going to help Clary." 

"We can take him in my car," Luke decided. 

In a matter of seconds, they were all splitting up. With the werewolves surrounding them no longer being a problem, a disgruntled Alec and Isabelle headed back to the institute while Luke, Simon, Clary, and Jace helped get Beckett in a car. When they managed to get Beckett inside, his head being cradled on Clary's lap, Beckett was barely holding on to consciousness. Clary ran her hand through his matted hair, tears pricking her eyes as she prayed that Magnus would be able to fix this. 

hey my lovely lovely readers, how goes it? i know, not much beckett and alec, but like i said this is a growing relationship. plus, the next couple chapters are going to lead to a lot of beckett and alec along with beckett's past finally surfacing so it'll make up for it all, i promise.

anyways, i hope you all enjoyed! also, please be sure to tell me your thoughts on the story so far!! Until next time!