Page 36 of How to Seduce a Slender

A beast stared back at her in the mirror. Like they were trapped behind a glass door, snarling and dripping with acid drool. A wolf with three red eyes. They glowed like stop lights at midnight as they bore through her. Paws the size of truck tires dug into a dusty, orange earth. They barred rows and rows of teeth that spun like a saw as it lunged at the glass.

Melody gasped, jerking back. The glass of the mirror shattered. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she panted for air. She was shocked they didn’t immediately drift off her flesh, evaporated or turned into steam at the sheer heat radiating off her.

In the cracked shards scattered around her feet, versions of herself stared back. One was the woman, crying and trembling in a silk night-gown. One was an eleven-year-old Melody, her face splattered with blood and a chunk of flesh stuck in her rat’s nest of hair. One was the wolf, spread across multiple shards, glowing rubies burning through her core.

And then there was Melody, burning red eyes, claws that took over all her fingers, fangs snapping shut like a rabid beast, lunging at their prey.

Who am I?Would she even know... Would she even remember if she did know?

Melody remembered before the woods...they ran through the school yard, chasing each other and laughing. Then they were in the woods, and it all went dark.

When Melody came back from those woods that day, she was a were without a wolf. She was alone. She was a broken mirror with many reflections that all demanded she do something, but she couldn’t understand them. All their yelling, their demands, their screaming, it swirled into distorted growls.

Someone knocked on the door and Melody shrieked, backing away from the door. Smith stood in the doorway, staring at the glass, then her.

“Oh, uh...that’s...that’s my bad, I’m so sorry,” She hastily swiped her tears away.

“Werewolf howl gone wrong?” Smith cocked his head up at her.

A nervous laughter spilled out of her as she tiptoed away from the glass. All the shards vibrated until they snapped together and ripped back into the mirror. It was still shattered, but they seemed to stitch together until something sealed them tight within the frame. Smith slid the door shut.

“Smith,” she choked on the confession.He might as well know.“It...it wasn’t a howl... I think...I think it was me. Well, sure, of course it was me. But not in the—I'm not making any sense, am I?”

“Not particularly, but I can be patient, sweet girl. What’s wrong? Did you smash it? Let me see your hands.”

Melody huffed, rolling her eyes. “I didn’t punch it, it’s not…” She let out a heavy sigh before handing over her palms. Smith inspected them before glancing up from her unbroken knuckles. Melody continued, “I’m not a werewolf. Not a real one, anyway. I’m missing my wolf.”

“Missing? Your? Wolf?” He sounded out each word like it was a foreign language to him.

“I can’t explain it because it happened the last time I lost my memory. But, I went into those woods as a werewolf, and now the most I can do is pop out tiny claws and have little fangs. I remember being able to shift, I know I was able to, but ever since the first time in the woods...I lost more than just my memory that day.”

Smith stepped closer, brushing his gloved fingers along her cheeks. He cupped the back of her head and brought her gaze up to his face. The static cleared and she was staring into hollow, glowing eyes that saw through her.

“I think...I know, I lost my brother too...that day.” The confession was ripped from her chest as she tried to keep the smile on her face. If she let it fall, she wasn’t sure what kind of mess she would become.

“You had a brother?”

She nodded, unable to say it out loud. Air rattled through her rusty copper pipes for lungs as she sucked it in hard then let it out slow. Her lower lip quivered as she tried to regulate her insides. It didn’t work and instead, tears flowed out of her eyes with abandon. “We were twins. And we were all we had. Then one day he said he wanted to show me something some other kid told him about. I don’t remember what it was. And when I came out of those woods, Smith, I was alone and covered in blood and I think it was his. I think...I think whoever is after me got him, and maybe they’re coming back to finish the job? And maybe they’re the one who took my wolf? I don’t even know who’s capable of doing that!”

Smith nodded along, letting her ramble till the words stopped and the tears began to dry. Then he swiped the pad of his thumb across her cheeks. “If he’s alive, we’ll find him.”

“And if he’s not?” she croaked.Because there’s no way he is.

“Then whoever hurt you will suffer at the hands of nightmares they’d never believed possible. I will ensure they pay for every moment of heartache they’ve caused you.”

It shouldn’t have felt good to hear. Melody shouldn’t have felt safe in his arms. But she slid into those endless limbs and wrapped herself around his torso. A gentle hum filled the back of her skull. It eased all the tension in her body. It made the glowing red eyes soften. And the hiss of the beast in the mirror was gone. As long as he was there, she was found. Melody rubbed her face into his collar, wanting nothing more than to curl up into his body.

“I...I know you probably want me to go back to bed, but I don’t even think you could stop my brain from attacking me tonight.”

“I’ll allow it on one condition,” he chuckled warmly stroking her back.

“Just like a lawyer to make terms and conditions,” she snickered, peeling her head back. Her heart skipped a beat as she found her face inches from his. A cool brush of air left her shivering as it froze over her moist cheeks. His hands stopped rubbing her back, holding her still. The words slipped out of her traitorous mouth as she studied a face that never seemed the same but was never foreign to her. “Name it.”

“Draw me a rose.”

“A rose?” She quirked a brow before he nodded. He slid back from her, scooping up her hands. “Just...a rose?”

“That’s all I ask for,” his rumbling voice returned with the addition of his blurry static over his face.

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