Werewolves & Wisteria by A. L. Tyler Read Free Book Online

his little apartment in the basement back to the way it had started.
    Seeing him in a heap on the floor, in the middle of all the normalcy, was beyond surreal. He was at least ten pounds lighter than before, and I fretted that we hadn’t been giving him enough food. Charlie reassured me that he had offered everything he could think of, even live rabbits, but the wolf had refused.
    “Wild animals aren’t meant to be in captivity,” he apologized.
    Now dressed in sweatpants and a tee-shirt, Vince wordlessly accepted my help as I pulled one of his arms across my shoulders and steadied him as we walked up the stairs. I set him down at the table. With a vacant expression and sunken cheeks, he watched me go into the kitchen to fix dinner.
    I opened the refrigerator to get a few things, and when I turned back, I found Vince standing at the window, looking out at the street. The sun was setting, and his eyes were fixed on the moon just rising over the horizon. For a moment, I worried.
    “He’s fine, Thorn…” Charlie said quietly, jumping up onto the countertop next to me. “We only have to worry about the waxing moon.”
    “This goes on,” Vince said quietly. “This is going on in the world right now, and people don’t know about it. And the world keeps going. What day is it?”
    I got a glass of water and offered it to him, going over to stand with him by the window.
    “Sunday,” I said. “Classes start tomorrow.”
    He turned back to the street, taking three large gulps of the water. “I didn’t buy my textbooks yet.”
    Without even thinking, I looked meekly over my shoulder. “Charlie…?”
    “Right,” he responded. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something appear on the table, but I didn’t actually look to check. I had faith that the textbooks were there.
    I turned back to see Vince analyzing me with a frown.
    “Is this normal for you?” he asked, looking down at the water before finishing it.
    I raised my eyebrows, and went back to the kitchen to give him some space. I got together what I needed to make a salad.
    “No,” I said, finally able to look at him again. “Even as far as normal goes, for me, you’re my first werewolf. Was it… um, very bad? The room, I mean?”
    I instantly regretted asking the question. I had been trying to level the playing field by showing him that he had some knowledge that I didn’t. It had never failed to brighten his day in the past, but this was different.
    He went back to the table and sat down, sighing. He gave me a long look, and didn’t say anything.
    It upset me more than I would have thought. I had hoped that he might have forgotten some of it, or at least felt somehow disassociated from his time as a wolf, but he remembered it. I felt my hands start to shake, and I had to put down the knife I had poised over the lettuce.
    My cheeks flushed, and I turned away, trying to breath, and trying to stay calm. The last thing that Vince needed right now was to see me panicking, but I couldn’t stop the knot rising in my throat.
    “I think grass might help next time,” he said suddenly. I closed my eyes as he continued to talk, and relief washed over me. “A window would be nice. A real window, I mean, because I think the lack of fresh air really got to me. That might not be possible, but still.”
    He had walked over, standing next to me in the kitchen, and I barely managed to hold back the tears gathering in my eyes.
    “We could go to the sandwich place instead, if you want.” He offered it like it was nothing. “If my wallet’s still around, I’ll pay. It’s the least I can do for you after staying here all week.”
    I was breathing deep and shaking my head, hardly able to believe that he could still manage to even act normal after what had happened.
    “I’ll need my phone, too,” he said, looking over his shoulder and back toward the bedroom. “I promised my mom I would call her when I had a chance, but she knew I was going to be busy getting