Page 42 of How to Seduce a Slender

“Melody, please, wait for a moment.”

Panic. Utter panic spiked her veins with hot lava and burning acid.No, no, no, if he stops me now, I’ll just beg him to…Her insides were rioting.Make the Slender finish what he started!But her heart and mind were in a downward spiral.If he was ready for that, he would have done so. He would have kissed me…this wasn’t the right time! He doesn’t feel that way! It was an accident!

“We need to tell Sebastian and Dahlia what happened!” she barked through a clogged throat, her tongue growing ever thicker to choke her.

“Melody,” he warned, racing to catch up with her.As if he couldn’t immediately jump in front of her.Melody shook her head, her hands flying every which way as she stormed toward the front door of the manor.

“You were right! I can’t leave the house. It’s not safe! And we should tell them about the beasts and where it happened. Maybe Aravis can solve more with those new clues!”

“Melody.” It was an actual warning now as Smith whipped around her and planted himself directly in front of her.

If he touches me, it’s over. He’ll know I’m one tender touch and whispered word away from begging.

Melody staggered back, hands up in front of her like white flags. “I shouldn’t have gone. We could have ordered the supplies to be shipped here. I mean, shipping companies probably wouldn’t get attacked, right? I doubt the necromancer cares? Or do you think they would be in trouble too? Am I cursed to never leave this house?”

If it was a meltdown he wanted, it was a meltdown he was getting. Melody spun around on her heel, pacing away from him as the panic rose into dangerous levels in her bloodstream. She was going to get someone killed.What if there had been bystanders?What was she thinking just meandering into town like that!

Smith appeared in front of her in a blink and she gasped. Stumbling back, her hands wrung together in front of her. Her eyes were wide enough that she was worried they might pop out of her head. He cleared his throat. “We can discuss the next steps in a moment. Melody, I touched you, and now you’re limping. I’ve hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” She barked, a wheeze of disbelief strangling her lungs. “Smith, you didn’t hurt me at all. I mean, yeah, sure, you tossed me like a sack of potatoes, and I was a little offended at it, but that didn’t hurt. Not even a tree branch thwacked me on the way down. And I’m not limping! I’m…I’m…”

Well…it wasn’tlimpingto be precise. She was stumbling, trying to keep her thighs clenched closed. Her organs were in a twist and her pussy was begging her to climb Smith like a tree. It wasn’t limping.

“Melody, you can be honest with me. Have I hurt you?” He slid in closer, his hands hesitant to take her face. She felt the restraint as his palms neared her skin, holding him back. Smith wanted to touch her. But he didn’t.Because he thinks it hurts.

He doesn’t know.

“Smith…what do you think you feel like?” She furrowed her brows.

“Like a sharp stab, a cold bite; my touch can vary from mildly annoying to painful.”

Her mouth hung open for a bit. She was shocked she didn’t catch flies. Melody gawked at her Slender, not sure how to explain to him that he felt like absolute pleasure. When she was scared, he was a gravity inducing reminder of life. When she was desperate, it was a touch of bliss against her core that she wanted to press deeper.

The words didn’t form. Instead, like the obstinate brat she felt she was being, Melody shook her head. “No.”

“No?” he huffed.

“No.” She put both hands to her hips, staring him down.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” He stepped closer and she stepped back. He did it again. She did it again. Over and over until it clicked for him what was about to happen. His voice lowered into a deep, grave warning that lit her up like a bog full of fireflies on a moonless night. “Melody Deathless, if you run, I will chase you.”

“I’m counting on it.” And with the gall of a woman who wanted to be punished, she stuck her tongue out at him. His hand snapped forward, but for the first time, Melody was faster. She booked it. Skirts up, feet pounding, heart racing, she hoofed it toward the graveyard. Melody learned her lesson. No hills, her body wasn’t ready for being chased uphill. Her only choice was to play ‘dodge the headstone’ as they descended into a world of hazy gray.

The manor disappeared as the fog rolled in thick around her. She couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of her as she flew down an aisle behind a row of headstones. Smith exploded into a wall of television static and crackling electricity to her left. Melody shrieked, bounding up and over a headstone to her right. Long arms that didn’t end raced her sides as she changed directions. Melody had to duck and roll to escape them as they closed in around her. The soft thump of feet chasing after her became eerily silent.

He appeared again, directly in front of her and she had to pirouette under an arm and around another headstone. He lurched after her. “Melody!”

“You have to admit, I’m getting better at this!” she bellowed with a teasing chuckle, flying down a different row of headstones. Ashen earth mixed with damp moss colored the ground around her. The fog thickened. Like the world was cut off, a wet blanket was thrown over her to isolate her in the graveyard. Her heart slammed against her rib cage as she slowed down. Holding up the edges of her dress, glancing around with a jerking motion, she searched for any signs of static or fuzz. If Smith was nearby, he was lurking like a panther. Stalking his prey among the hazy gray that surrounded her.

Melody backed into a hard surface. A terrified squeak left her throat as she whirled around. Her legs were already mush but they had enough gall to spring into action if need be. What she faced, however, was a massive mausoleum. Silver stone with a rose crest at the top. Its stem was thick and circled the bursting petals in a protective circle. The letter R, in a skinny, gothic font was woven through the stem.

Large pillars of ribbed marble held up the four sides, a black iron gate standing between her and another marble door. There was no door handle but a sigil painted in a crusty, flaky crimson. Her attention narrowed on the edges.It was drawn with a very sharp brush…or the tip of a fingernail.She wasn’t sure which version she hated more.

“Found you.” The hiss of a Slender who’d come to claim his prize tickled the back of her ear as she was yanked by the throat around the mausoleum and shoved into the side of it. Frosty stone zapped her system, reminding her she had been running. From him.

And she’d been caught.

The hand wrapped around her throat wasn’t tight, but it was clearly a bear trap. His long fingers closed around her neck and stroked her jugular. Smith loomed over her, leaving no room between them. Prickling sensations ran down her torso. Goose bumps broke out along her skin first. Then her nipples hardened to the point of aching. And lastly her legs clenched without needing direction. Smith’s face grew closer to hers, his other fist pressed against the stone above her head, caging her in his endless limbs.

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