Blood of the Maple

clothing, ripped into his exposed flesh. Too many wounds like that and he would go down or become lost in his beast.

Amara surged forward and ripped into one of the thorny vines, snagging a long, whiplike piece. She used it the same way she’d used a similar weed in Parker’s garden, scourging the plants, shredding them. She leaned down and got the thick trunk of one of the sumac plants and tore it from the earth. It was like watching an earthquake. The roots snaked almost twenty feet in every direction. She couldn’t get the leverage to get the damn thing out of the ground, no matter how hard she yanked.

“Give me that.” Parker grabbed hold and flew upward, pulling the sumac out of the ground and flinging it away with amazing strength. “I’ll deal with those. You handle that thorny son of a bitch.”

Amara nodded and turned her attention to the vine.

The yelp of a wounded wolf startled her. A huge black-and-gray wolf savaged one of the thorny vines, a tear in his shoulder dripping blood onto his dark coat. Amara grinned and turned back to her vine. Noah could handle himself.

“Holy shit! It’s resisting everything we throw at it!” Greer’s voice came up behind her. “Ash, you take the left. I’ll take the right. Mina, take center.”

“On it.” The dryads moved in sync, battling back the weed with flashing swords and ringing curses. Wherever those swords touched, weeds blackened and withered.

Where can I get me one of those? Amara flinched as a thorn came dangerously close to her vulnerable eyes. “Oh no, you don’t.” Amara grabbed and pulled, trying to ignore the way the vine wrapped around her arm. Those thorns could penetrate flesh but couldn’t dent the bark that covered her. With a vicious grin, Amara pulled it free of the ground and threw it, careful to avoid hitting one of her allies.

A deep scream of triumph shattered the night air. She glanced up to find Parker whirling the last of the sumac over his head. The vines were almost gone, the last pocket of resistance being slowly whittled away by Greer and Ash. Amara lifted her head and gave a triumphant shriek.

“Having a good time, love?”

Amara grinned at her floating lover. His face was on a level with hers. “Hell yes.”

“Good fight. Although I never thought it would take quite so much skill and cunning to sneak up on a blade of grass.” Noah’s naked form stalked forward, and Amara tried to stop herself from admiring the strong, broad shoulders and sleekly muscled body. And damn, what an ass the man had! She tilted her head, trying to catch one last glimpse before the wolf moved into the forest.

“Ahem.”

She whipped her head back around to Parker. “Nothing.”

He narrowed his glowing red eyes. Greer laughed.

Ash, on the other hand, was looking around, a worried frown forming. “Where’s Mina?”

Greer stopped laughing. “What do you mean where’s Mina? She was right behind us.”

The dryads exchanged a glance. “Oh fuck.”

Parker darted off into the trees as fast as Greer and Ash. Amara took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She’d need focus to commune with the trees. They would know where their queen was.

If the witch had Oak, she could control the entire forest.

Amara reached out to the trees around her. Her thoughts raced from root to branch, searching desperately for the ruler of the forest. She ignored the pain in her body, the sharp sting of wounds inflicted by the thorny vine. She needed to find Mina before Terri could harm her. Even ponds heeded her call, the plants beneath their surface crying out to her to find Oak, to protect and defend as she’d been born to do.

Her mind found a curiously blank patch in the wood, a place she knew for certain contained green, growing things, but nothing there answered. And the plants around it were afraid.

Found you, you bitch. Amara raced off. “Greg!” The ghost didn’t answer. Either they’d moved too quickly for him to keep up, or he hadn’t been along in the first place. So Amara raced in blind, sending a message from plant to plant, trying to let Ash and Greer know she’d found Terri’s hiding place.

Beside her, a huge gray-and-black wolf raced with her, hunting with her as he’d sworn to do. A howl rose through the air, the alpha calling his pack, paying back the debt they owed the forest. Howls rose around her, racing ahead and behind, the wolves running to answer their alpha’s summons. Amara prayed her message got through to Greer and Ash before she found herself facing off with Terri without them.

Parker landed next to Ash. It was difficult to keep up with the green-haired dryad. He blended in well with the dark forest, and his scent was that of rich, dark earth and wood. If he’d been immobile, Parker would never have seen him.

So it was a good thing he’d kept an eye on Ash, because the man stopped dead in his tracks, going motionless as a doe hearing the first sounds of hunters.

“What’s wrong?”

Ash’s face was lifted to the wind as he listened to the rustling of the leaves. A savage grin flitted across his face. “She found them.”

“Where?” Parker didn’t need to ask who. Amara continued to amaze him.

“Follow me.”

Parker did, not surprised at all when Greer joined them, the pale-haired man a living flame in the dark wood. “Call Mollie.”

Greer stumbled.

“We need her to defeat Terri.”

Greer shot him a disbelieving look.

“Trust me. Please.”

Greer pulled out his phone and pressed a button.

He has her on speed dial? He was reacting on instinct, and that instinct told him he’d need even more firepower if they hoped to succeed. “Dragomir Ibanescu!”

A sharp wind howled through the wood, swirled around Parker and coalesced into the mayor. “You rang?”

“We found her, and she has Oak.”

Dragos’s eyes burned red. “Where?”

“The dryads know. Amara found her.”

He flew beside Parker, his expression livid. “Is she alive?”

“I don’t know yet. None of the dryads can feel inside the circle.”

Dragos batted a branch out of his face, one of the dangers of flying so swiftly through trees. “Trap?”

“I’m certain, but I’m equally certain that won’t stop the dryads from reaching their queen.”

Dragos nodded. He paused midflight and closed his eyes. “Selena. Come to us. We need you.”

Ash ground to a halt. “No.”

“Too late. She’s on her way. We’ll need her to contain Terri’s spirit once we’ve destroyed her body.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Dragos whirled, his fangs inches away from Ash’s face. “If we don’t do this, we’ll lose Mina. Is that what you want, dryad?”

Ash’s silver sword flashed up between them. “Do not dare to presume you understand my actions, vampire.”

Dragos smiled. “Selena is yours.”

“Is Mina yours?” Ash smiled back.

He floated back, once more the calm, cool mayor Parker had first encountered. “We’re wasting valuable time.”

His reaction seemed to stun Ash, who stared at Dragos with dawning comprehension. “Mina is your sotiei, isn’t she?”

“This isn’t the time. Let’s save the girl from the monster before fighting over her, all right?”

Greer grabbed Ash and tugged him forward. “Parker’s right. Let’s go. We can discuss Dragos and Mina later.”

“After we save her.” Parker flew forward once more, not surprised when this time Dragos flew behind them. He’d have to talk to the elder vampire later, ask him why, if he knew who his