Water lapped at Amara’s feet. “Have the pipes burst?” The town’s witches chanted, the spell they wove keeping the ruined ceiling from collapsing.
“Dunno,” the vamp with the painted nails grunted. “Keep pushing.”
Amara pushed. The door gave some more, the groan of metal and wood shuddering through the room. “It’s gonna give.”
With a shriek, the door burst open. Dry twigs snapped. Dust and pollen swirled around them in a rank, dry cloud.
Rock sneezed.
“Bless you.” The female vamp took a step back, waving her hand in front of her face.
Rock glanced down at the vamp, his nose wrinkling. “Thank you.”
Amara stepped through the door and into the wreckage of the gardens around the town hall. Every single plant was withered and dead. The tree that had once shaded the hall was leafless, its branches creaking in the wind. It looked ready to topple over at any moment. The roses Glinda had planted were gone, broken and twisted by the rampaging weeds.
She stared around at the carnage jealousy had wrought and felt the fire burning in her belly burst into a goddamn volcano. “I’m going to kill that bitch.”
Dominic Davis stepped carefully over the rubble and pushed up his glasses. “Amen.”
Chapter Eight
The town hall was no longer structurally sound. The plants had, in a short amount of time, nearly destroyed the building. Hundreds of lives would have been lost had the building come down.
All to get to Parker.
Parker sighed and put his hands on his head. He tugged his hair. “How do I fix this?”
“By not being a pussy. Find the bitch, kill her, live happily ever after. The end.”
Right. Like that was ever the end. Happily ever after took hard work, but Parker was willing to put that work in. Finding his sotiei didn’t mean his life would suddenly become a bed of roses.
At least she’d never have to yell at him for leaving the toilet seat up.
Brian sat next to him on the curb. They were across from the town hall, staring at the ruins. Amara was over there with the other dryads, draped in nothing but his shirt, trying to figure out if any of the plants had survived the carnage. He could have answered that.
Thanks to the thorns waving around the windows, the naiad hadn’t been able to pick out the plants individually, saving plant from weed. She’d been forced to call water from all the plants, draining them dry, letting them wither and die a rapid, arid death. That life-giving water now seeped through the cracks of the town hall’s floor, mere inches from the roots of the plants it had once nourished.
“Shit. Dragos and Kate are going at it.”
Parker looked where Brian pointed, uncaring that Dragos was having domestic problems. Kate screamed at Dragos, her long, occasionally pointing at Mina, Greer and Ash with her clawlike nails. Dragos stood with his arms crossed, his expression as cold as ice, his lips compressed into a thin line. “And?”
“Kate is the town treasurer.”
“Fuck. Double fuck.” Not good at all. “You think she’ll try to talk him out of rebuilding?”
“Possibly.” Brian sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Doubt she’ll lift her hand for us now, even to give us the finger.” Not that Parker wanted anyone who smelled as bad as Kate near Amara. He was surprised Dragos couldn’t sense how foul the woman was. Did she have him wrapped up in some sort of spell? If she was as bad as Parker sensed, he wouldn’t be surprised.
Damn. Once they were done dealing with Terri, he’d be trying to free another vampire from another evil witch. He groaned and covered his hands. So much for the white picket fence and two-point-four vamplings.
Amara walked toward them, fierce fury on her beautiful face. He was surprised she’d reverted to human, considering how angry she was. He stood to meet her. “All done, my sweet?”
Her lips curved, but she didn’t respond the way he’d hoped. “I need to go home.” Parker held out his arms, and she stepped into them, shaking with grief and rage. “Explain to me again why the bitch isn’t dead.”
Parker sighed. “Confused vampire hormones. But I’m working on that.”
She shifted against him. He knew it was a result of the rage and the fear, but her nipples were like pinpricks against his naked chest. Suddenly all he could think about was getting her home, getting her naked and checking every single inch of her for wounds before licking her clean. His cock twitched in his jeans as he thought of taking her against the wall, the door. Possibly in the car on the way home. Hell, maybe there was a dark place around the corner, an alley or something where he could feel her around him, know she was safe and sound. He didn’t care that she was dirty and exhausted. All he cared about was reclaiming what was his. He felt his fangs descend as he thought of having her in the jeep, leaving his scent all over it. “We’ll take your car.” She pulled away. “Brian, you take mine.”
Brian glanced over at him. Whatever he saw, he turned away quickly, but not before choking off a laugh. “Whatever you say, boss.”
“Oh, some alone time. Hey, Brian, I don’t suppose you’d like to test-drive Amara’s couch?”
Amara’s eyes were huge. She opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say, Parker was in no mood to hear. He needed her, needed to finish what had begun a few days before.
He needed to complete the ritual and mark her as his sotiei.
Parker whirled Amara toward the jeep. “Let’s go.”
Amara didn’t argue when Parker chose to drive. She stared out the window, her arms across her chest. She trembled, but he knew it wasn’t from fear. It was rage that made her shiver, anger that had her fingers dancing up and down her arms.
He could work with that. He’d give her an outlet for her rage and grief. He could take whatever she could dish out.
The only thing he wouldn’t be able to take was her leaving him, and he knew of a way to keep that from ever happening.
Parker drove down a side street. He couldn’t risk going toward the woods, couldn’t allow them to be that vulnerable to Terri’s machinations. He turned into a deserted parking lot. The grocery store was closed for the night, the lights dimmed. Theirs was the sole car in the lot. He was banking on the cops being at the town hall dealing with Terri’s attack. He had no desire to show law enforcement a full moon.
And it had the advantage of being much closer to the town hall than Amara’s house.
“Parker?” Amara glared over at him. “Why are we here?”
He threw the jeep into park and turned off the ignition. “I need you.”
Her eyes widened. “Here?”
He grabbed the ends of his shirt and pulled, ripping the buttons. “Here.” He took her hard nipple between his teeth and bit down gently. “Unless you have other plans.”
She twisted in the seat and thrust her breasts toward him. “Suck on them.”
Oh, it was going to be that way, was it? Parker kept his smile to himself and sucked, giving her what she wanted. She needs this as much as I do.
When she started to writhe under his mouth, he followed her until he was twisted over the gearshift, her back pressed against the jeep door, her hands buried in his hair.
This isn’t going to work. She was panting, her hips undulating, and he needed her so badly he felt like screaming. He glanced toward the hood. I wonder…
Parker grabbed Amara around the waist with one arm and held tight. With the other, he opened the door, ignoring her startled squawk when she almost fell out. Laughing, he flew them out.