Werewolves & Wisteria Read Online Free PDF Page A

here, Anise. There’s a truly deranged ex-warlock and a werewolf after us, and they have all the unlimited power of a demon at their disposal now. Your boyfriend is trying to break out of our basement to kill us, and your best friend has a timeshare as a cat. No one, not even Kendra, is going to help us. We need to start cutting our attachments now, or it’ll only give them more ways to get to us. So if you can think of anyone else that could be used against you, it’s time to ask Charlie to make them disappear for a while.”
    I shook my head, not wanting to believe it. “For how long?”
    She laid both hands flat on the counter to steady herself. “Until Stark is gone for good. And the way things are going with that…”
    I continued shaking my head. “But you’re making protection charms. Once the charms are done—”
    “—we can leave the apartment,” she finished for me. “But what then? You’re going to find Walter and kill him, hoping to god he isn’t anticipating that’s what you’re going to do and gets you first? And even if we did find him, and murder him, then what? Trapping Stark as a cat is a long shot, Annie. He and Walter are going to be throwing up hurdles for us wherever they can. I think you should adjust your expectations, because this could go on a lot longer than you want to believe.”
    She looked exhausted, and a little sad. It took me a moment to realize why.
    “What about Josh and Rosie?” I asked.
    Tilting her head, she nodded. Lyssa had never been a selfish person. She didn’t like to bring up her own problems or sacrifices. I could tell she had wanted to bring this one up, though. If she wasn’t feeling angry or resentful over them right now, she wouldn’t have been human.
    “Josh is taking care of Rosie,” she said levelly. “I promised I would take care of you.”
    I scoffed. She said it like it was really that simple.
    “I’m not a kid,” I said. “And this isn’t your fight. You need to be with your kid, Lyssa. Let me deal with it. Or maybe I won’t. I don’t want to think about Rosie growing up without her mother—”
    She raised her hand to stop me. “Mom didn’t want to think about you growing up alone, either, Annie. I’m not leaving you alone, and I’m not abandoning Rosie. It’s going to be complicated, but we’ll make it work.”
    She went back to avoiding my gaze and started chopping up vegetables for our omelets.
    “I want you to go and see them,” I said. “As soon as the charms are done. Vince will be healing, and I’ll have classes to distract me, and so will Walter. I can manage for a few days.”
    “Annie—”
    “Do it, or I’m going to ask Charlie to make it happen,” I said shortly. Lyssa stopped to look up at me. “He likes me more than he likes you. You know he’d do it.”
    She shifted the chopped veggies into the bowl with a vengeance and then glared at me. “Fine.”
    “Where is Charlie, anyway?”
    “He’s running the greenhouse,” she grumbled, going to the refrigerator for butter. When she caught the look on my face, she rolled her eyes. “That’s my livelihood, Annie. I have no money without that greenhouse, and I do have bills to pay.”
    Dumbfounded, I tried not to let my tone slip too far into mockery. “With all the crap we have going on, we’ve got a demon, and you’ve decided to have him run the greenhouse so you can make money instead of, I don’t know, asking him to just give you money? Scratch that—we’ve got all this crap going on, and your priority is sending the demon to earn money instead of protecting us ?”
    She gave me a long look. “Diapers aren’t cheap. Neither is preschool. And I would like to have a normal-ish life to return to when this is all done, whenever that is.”
    The eggs splashed into the skillet and started to sizzle. Gates emerged from behind the tapestry on the wall wearing a large, fluffy bathrobe. She shut her bedroom door behind her as she toweled off her hair.
    Lyssa