Page 51 of How to Seduce a Slender

“I sense a deep-seated fear in you. One that has been here since you awoke. I wanted to assure you that you were safe, but if it is not Smith that grips your heart, my dear…what does?”

Melody was struck silent, frozen in place.What made her afraid?Her lower lip quivered as the bathroom played in her mind at first. But it wasn’t the thing that frightened her the most. The wolf returned to the front of her mind. Her lost wolf, ripped from her body and left to fester where she couldn’t reach them. Melody was not afraid of the diary, the haunting, the necromancer, nor the beasts that chased her nearly as much as the unknown haunted her.

“I’m afraid there’s a reason why my nightmares are so terrible, why I’m half a wolf, why my brother died, that it’s the same reason but I can’t remember it. And I’m afraid when I find out that reason, that it’ll destroy me.” The confession fell out of her without warning.

Sebastian nodded solemnly, pushing off the desk. “I think you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Ms. Deathless. You’ve survived this long on just your own. I’ve known many mortals, and there are very few as resilient as you.” He bowed to her once more before facing the door. Agatha swooped in with Moonpie curled up happily in her arms. “Ah! There’s the mighty huntress. Ready for your portrait?”

Moonpie yawned before dropping out of Agatha’s arms. As if the feline knew, she hopped up onto the edge of Smith’s desk and flicked out their petals.

“Hey, Moonpie,” Melody chuckled, trying to recover from the pang in her chest. “You ready to be a star?”

Moonpie licked her toe beans nonchalantly, as if she knew she was already a star.

Chapter Eighteen:

Smith

“YoueverthinkifAravis ever lays eggs?” Austin blurted out as the two gentlemen trudged up a hill, further into the Haunted Woods beyond the city. They’d already crossed the protective shield threshold. Snow covered everything and tucked the world into a long, wintery sleep. There were no skuttling woodland creatures or flapping bird wings. Just the eerie silence, puffs of steam in front of their faces, and the endless, glittering white. Even the trees were frosted over. The chill in that part of the forest was…unusual, even for a deadly winter.

Maybe they’d been overly lucky with having the warmth of the manor to keep the devastating winter away? The magic tended to help, a natural pocket of life. But this cold was…almost bone numbing, soul-suckingly cold. Smith didn’t have bones like Austin, nor a soul to be sucked out, and he even felt the drain of the area. It definitely had to be the place where the eldritch beasts lurked. Maybe they’d stumble across the cave housing the wolf that controlled them.

Then Smith stopped dead in his tracks, whipping to face Austin. “What?”

“You know, cause like they’re practically big birds? Do you think Aravis lays eggs?” Austin shrugged.

Smith sputtered, rebooting like an old, dusty computer in a cold office. “No.”

“Really? I think he might pop out an egg if he gets surprised…or is that just like, a chicken thing?” Austin squinted at the horizon, scanning it with suspicion.

Smith had to take a moment to fully soak in what Austin said then shook his head, “Aravis is neither a brood chicken nor an egg laying Fowlst. I don’t think Fowlst lay eggs.”

“But wouldn’t they?”

“You want to turn around and go ask the Lord Commander if he lays eggs?” Smith cocked his head a full ninety degrees to Austin.

“No…not really,” Austin whispered, his red eyes staring past Smith in a horrified way. “Smith? What’s that?”

Inch by inch, Smith pivoted around to the object that made Austin freeze in place.

The wolf lumbered out of the trees. A skull hissing with steam as snow melted off of it.Had it been sleeping in the snow?It was larger than Smith remembered. Massive paws that rattled the earth as stepped out between a pair of trees. Chunks of its fur fell off into the snow. They writhed and rolled about until tiny eldritch beasts formed beneath the wolves exposed chest plate bone. As the wolf bristled, large spikes grew down its back to its tail.

“Well…well…well…” A voice rumbled around them, Smith couldn’t tell where it came from. Not as Austin stepped up behind him, covering the Slender’s back. “If it isn’t the bodyguard…or aren’t you supposed to be a lawyer?”

The wolf stepped closer, three eldritch beasts snapping their jaws in Smith’s direction. Smith scanned the expanse of snow around them. “I’m a multi-tasker. A jack of all trades, if you will.”

“You’re a joke.” The wolf snarled, claws digging into the snow. “A Lich’s plaything with no use but the occasional light in the dark. And that’s not touching on the ragdoll goon with you? I can see his stitches barely holding on. He’s not even worth the thread.”

Smith leaned back into Austin, gauging the wolf longer.Why is he trying to bait me to anger?Smith saw the beasts, lunging at him but reeled in as if on a leash. Something was off. The wolf circled the trees, never growing closer but always nearby.Odd.

“Your master isn’t home, are they?” Smith smirked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I am free to devour your worthless—”

“That’s quite enough,” Smith huffed, putting up a hand. He stalked across the snow toward the wolf. It immediately pedaled back, the eldritch beats skittering back with it like pups to their mother. Smith stormed up to the spot where the wolf was sleeping, finding it backed up against a cave. It blocked the open maw, hunching down with its teeth barred. Smith crouched, seeing under their paws and into the darkness. “You’re just a guard dog. No more helpful to a necromancer than an electric fence. I bet those beasts you can summon are the only reason they keep you around, is it not?”

The beast snarled louder, bearing rotting gums and sharp teeth. Smith took that as a yes. The necromancer kept pawns around the cave, but he was sure the wolf was instructed to kill anyone who tried to enter. He wasn’t prepared to take on the beast more and with only Austin at his back, he didn’t have the tools to break into a necromancer’s lair. Especially one who lives in the hostile woods. There were likely traps galore in there.

Plus, it was getting late.

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