Page 99 of How to Seduce a Slender

“What?” The words fell out of him like the last drops of oxygen in his chest.

“I’m not good at speeches. I’m not like you; words aren’t really my forte. Honestly, I make a bigger mess the more I talk, and so I wasn’t sure how to tell you. But you deserve to hear it, out loud. You are always taking care of me, tending to my needs, I just wanted to make sure I tended to yours too.”

Smith took the rose with trembling hands as Melody tucked her hands in front of her skirt.She loves me.Smith thought it over and over as he spun the rose slowly between his fingers. With a wounded breath, he asked, “How did you know I needed that?”

“Werewolf instincts?” She shrugged.

“I have a scent about me, do I?” He laughed, placing the rose delicately on the lip of the easel.

“Mmm, it’s more in your face. Something on it said you needed to hear it.”

“So, I no longer look like a nosey nelly, huh?” he teased before taking her hands and tugging her close.

“No, you do,” she giggled, squeezing his hands tightly in hers. “And you look like someone who thinks too much and worries a whole lot and carries the weight of the realm on their shoulders. But you also look like my favorite person in the whole world, my personal hunter…and the love of my life.”

Smith brought her knuckles to his mouth, unable to even voice the gratitude filling the cavern in his chest. He pressed his forehead to those marvelous fingers of hers. After a long sigh, he returned his attention to her face. “I love you too.”

Melody snaked her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He engulfed her in his arms and hugged her for dear life. Because if he let go, she’d take his heart with her. And he’d let her, so long as it got to stay in her hands.

Chapter Thirty-Five:

Melody

MelodywatchedSmithhangthe portrait and it filled in something in her chest. An ache she didn’t know how to describe. Because it wasn’t her heartache. It wasn’t her past or trauma. She was just the werewolf who ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was Smith’s pain. Elyth was Smith’s past. But she’d grown so attached to him, her heart bled all the same. She meant it when she told him she loved him. Hearing him say it back was euphoric. Then watching him hang up the portrait, stand back, and admire it like a masterpiece…it was her personal bliss.

“It’s beautiful, sweet girl, thank you. Just what the room needed.” Smith turned to her, curling an arm around her. He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’ve still got much to do. Taking a break from work for a few days put me behind.”

“And with your birthday party coming up, don’t want to have to work on your birthday.” She grinned, knowing he was loathing it while also anticipating it. “You don’t like when things are all about you, huh?”

“It is uncomfortable to say the least. But laugh it up now, Ms. Deathless, when I find out your birthday, I will make it my life’s mission to make it as obnoxiously enormous as possible. Maybe I’ll hire a clown.” His mouth cracked his face in half, showing off rows of sharp teeth. It happened so fast, Melody didn’t catch it. But there were two fangs standing out from the rest of his shark’s teeth.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she growled, twisting to face him fully.

“Anarmyof clowns.”

“I’m going to go burn my birth certificate, right now. I don’t have a birthday,” she harrumphed, stomping a foot for good measure.

“Too bad I’ve already collected your birth certificate. As well as any and all school records, healer’s records, and all information pertaining to you, Ms. Deathless.” He chuckled evilly as he sauntered away from her and the painting. “Good luck stopping me.”

“Why do you have my records?” She squawked, rushing after him.

“That’s my business, Ms. Deathless.” He flung away from her hands as she chased him out the door and down the stairs, badgering him to ‘give me back my stuff, Smith!’. The door to his office slammed shut before she could bully her way into it. Melody stood outside the locked door, skirts rumpled in her fists.

“If you so much as hire a balloon artist, Smith, I swear to the dragons, the Lich, and the sun gods I’ll make you pay!” She yelled through the door only to be answered with his evil chuckle once more.

Melody rocked back on her heels, pouting, and glaring at the thick ash wood that separated her from him. Shecouldrip the door off its hinges. That wouldn’t be a problem. But she let out a puff of air and stomped away from the door.

She considered going back to her workshop, starting up something new. And there was the kitchen, she could snack while she waited for Dahlia and Sebastian to stop cuddling. Or she could go find Agatha to see what project she was working on. But she just stood in the middle of the halls, unsure of where to go…or what to do. The house was oddly quiet as she studied it. Like the walls were breathing, she could catch creaking floorboards echoing throughout the house. A door somewhere deep opened and shut. Something was crawling across the floor, creeping through the halls. Flames crackled and danced inside their gas lamps. The air was cold as she glanced around.

That’s when she saw movement around the bend. Away from the grand staircase, not quite to the kitchen, creeping towards the library. A ghost with long blond hair slipped out of sight quickly. Melody lurched forward, following it as it disappeared. Little hands broke through the floor, grabbing at her ankles and dress as she trudged through the house. Melody hiked up her skirt and saw them, like sticky grass trying to latch onto her shins. Melody bolted away from the running carpet, little hands following her. Then, arms reached up through the floor. As she rounded the bend of the house, she twisted to find children crawling up from the floor.

The air around her vibrated as it chilled her down to the bone. Her teeth ached in her jaw as she stumbled backwards. A hundred little faces stared up at her, grabby hands reaching towards her. Melody scrambled toward the library door just as the blond-haired ghost passed through it. The werewolf didn’t see a face, just a long flowing gown that swished with her silky tendrils as she walked ahead of Melody.

Melody slammed the library doors shut behind her.

“Elyth, that’s quite enough.”

Melody ripped around, eyes wide. A family of five sat around the massive fireplace in the library. It wasn’t the library she remembered. The shelves were full of scrolls and long parchments dangling out into the aisles. A hound snoozed on the fuzzy bear throw rug at the foot of the hearth. It peeked up, staring right at Melody…but it wasn’t Melody.

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