Page 34 of How to Seduce a Slender

“Would I be allowed to stay? Because, if I’m being really honest,I don’t want to go back.I live alone in a dark, musty apartment and work at a diner to make table scraps. You have a large, loving family here and I just, for once, want to feel like I belong somewhere. I want to feel wanted, and you said it yourself, you don’t want me to leave. So, can I stay?”

Smith would grovel to Sebastian later. He’d apologize for not asking Dahlia later. He could ask for forgiveness later.

“Of course!” he breathed seconds before she tackled him into the fabric of the couch. Melody engulfed him in her arms. Smith had only a few seconds to catch her before his back hit the cushion and his muscles turned to stone. Melody snuggled her face against his chest, her bodyvery warmagainst his torso and between his legs.

“Thank you-thank you-thank you! Ah! You’re the best, Smith.”

Two foreign appendages flickered to life like a sketchy lightbulb, unsure if they were on or off until she happily wiggled in his arms. Then Smith wasveryaware of the appendages as they swelled in the minimal space behind his trousers. He swallowed down a knot of panic and arousal as Melody pulled back. Her hair was a curtain around him as she leaned over him. The steady thump, thump, thump of his heart became erratic thunder as she flashed those cute fangs of her. “I promise, I won’t be a bother, and you won’t have to wait hand and foot on me soon. And then, like, if they need, I can help out like a good roommate? Or something… Ah! This is going to be amazing! I’ve really got to get the supplies to paint Moonpie then, huh? Do you think we could get some? Oh! Thank you-thank you-thank you!”

She immediately snuggled back down into his arms, rapidly shaking him left and right. And with every shift of her body against his…Smith felt another sliver of his self-control peel away, wither, and die.Dragons above…Smith could restrain himself. He was the picture of control. In Rosemont Manor, never was there someone with a cooler, calmer head than he…and yet his resolve was hanging by the thinnest thread.

Melody Deathless was their ward. She was going to stay.

That didn’t make her his anything. He’d sworn to keep her safe, even if it was from him. Especially safe from him. Because he would devour her in a moment. He would sink his teeth in and never let go.

If Melody Deathless even so much as gave him an inch, he wouldn’t take a mile. Oh no. He’d take her and never give her back. Not as he stroked her hair and listened to her hum happily against his chest. Smith was the picture of restraint until it came to her. He’d destroy cities to make her smile.

So, it was for the best they were this…whatever it was…for now.

“Smith—oh! Are we... interrupting?”

Smith exploded into sparks that made Melody shriek, flying off his chest and onto the floor. Words unknown to him from before he was summoned to the mortal realm flew out of his mouth on instinct as he ripped off the couch. He clumsily tugged her off the floor in a tangled mess of limbs and silky fabric, apologizing profusely the whole time. Agatha and Havershum snickered from the doorway the whole time Smith smoothed her hair back over her head and behind her ears. Melody stumbled back and forth for a moment, giggling like she’d suffered a contact high of wizard mushrooms.

“Are you alright? I’m so sorry,” Smith muttered as he inspected her for any fried bits.

“I’m fine, Smith,” she wheezed for air, holding her sides for dear life as she laughed harder. “Whoooo doggy, nothing like a zap of lightning to wake you up. I feel fresh as new! Hi, Agatha! Havershum! Any luck finding the haunted book?”

“None,” Havershum huffed, floating more into the room. “But it left a trail, meaning it eats. If it eats, then it has a hunting pattern. I’ll find it. I think it’s attracted to you when you’re sleeping, due to the nightmares so I’m just going to...hover, really.”

Smith stepped away from Melody, watching her for any lasting effects or sparks. When he found none, he exhaled heavily. “Good, Havershum, you hover and keep Ms. Deathless company while Agatha and I recollect her meal and heat it back up.”

“Right!” Agatha barked, clapping her hands. “That’s what I was doing before the book! Good catch, Smith!”

“Smith, no one needs to keep my company. I can just fill in my memory on my own.” She waved him off.

“Oh? Do you have another lead?” Havershum rushed in like an eager toddler excited to hear another story. Smith slowly edged backward as Havershum’s innocent curiosity immediately stole Melody’s attention.Perfect.Smith adjusted his pants as subtly as breathing in the process of whirling to meet Agatha at the door. He warmed to hear Melody eagerly explaining her memory to the wraith in great detail.

“I wouldn’t call it a lead, so to speak, but I did remember Pete. He’s a regular. He’s an old hired sword from the Badlands...”

Smith and Agatha stealthily slipped out into the hall, putting space between them and the door. Immediately upon rounding the corner of the hall, at the foot of the stairs, Agatha whipped toward Smith. “Alright, streetlamp in the dead of winter, what happened? What did you do?”

“I asked her to stay without asking Lord Rosemont first. More—well, to be precise, she asked if she could stay, and I told her of course she could without permission.” The words flew out of his face at max velocity.

Agatha’s face scrunched, her arms crossing where her claws tapped at her biceps with ire. “And?”

“And I said yes, Agatha! I just said yes without asking for permission. I have no idea how Lord Rosemont will react or if Lady Rosemont will allow it—” His words were cut off as a tea towel whipped him in the dead center of his chest.

Agatha hissed lowly so no one heard them, smacking him repeatedly between words, “Of! Course! She! Can! Stay! You bumbling, baffled tree for a man! That girl has no family or friends to return to! Of course she’s going to stay! I would never allow her to go, are you trying to make me irate? Not a single soul reported that girl missing, and I will not allow a city that does not care for her to have her. Do you hear me? I. Won’t. Have. It!”

Smith snatched the towel by the opposite end and dragged Agatha closer, “What do you mean no one reported her missing? What did you hear?”

“Well, since you’ve not been out to the city, I’ve had to hear the going’s on through the crystal. Lord Rosemont was on a call with the Lord Commander earlier, while you two were sleeping. Not a single person reported Melody Deathless missing. Not even her work. Apparently, Serias and Hazel had a few things to say to her boss at the diner about him not reporting her missing when their star employee who never missed a day of work did not show up the next day. Apparently, he didn’teven call herto see where she was.”

“Almost like he wasn’t expecting her to come in,” Smith growled, dropping the towel before rattling his fists.

“Exactly!” Agatha poked him before urging the pair of them up the stairs. She held up the front of her skirt, as if she were actually climbing the steps beside him and not, in fact, merely floating. “Which was only proven more so when heran away from the scene of the crime.Aravis pursued, but he vanished. So, either the diner owner is our culprit...or he knows who is and is working for them.”

Smith hummed with dissatisfaction. “I need to get into the city, I feel useless stuck out here while Aravis hunts down villains in the streets.”

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