Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, #2) - Patricia Briggs

286 pages

Mated to werewolf Charles Cornick, the son—and enforcer—of the leader of the North American werewolves, Anna Latham now knows how dangerous being a werewolf is, especially when a werewolf who opposes Charles and his father is struck down. Charles’s reputation makes him the prime suspect, and the penalty for the crime is execution. Now Anna and Charles must combine their talents to hunt down the real killer—or Charles will take the fall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My first thought when i finished reading this was there is so much more to this book than what the stupid blurb states. This is a pretty good book – although not as good as the first one Cry Wolf – but then pretty good from Patricia Briggs is better then the best by most authors.

Charles and Anna have been together for a month now. Anna still has problems with dominant alphas and all the horror of her past, but she and Charles are in love, and they're getting to know each other.

The timeline of this books coincides with book 3 of the Mercy Thompson Series Iron Kissed - Bran, the Marrok of the North American werewolves has decided to bring the werewolves out in the open, and has planned a meeting with the European alphas to address their issues first. Charles feels something will do wrong and so Charles and Anna go to meet the European wolves instead.

Trouble starts with vampires trying to kidnap Anna. The talks are at an impasse with Jean Chastel, the French alpha also known as Beast of Gévaudan, not agreeing to the suggestions Charles offers. Then, the death of the British alpha's mate. Matters get worse when one of the wolves Charles fights with is later found dead with Charles' scent all over him (won’t say who, gives away the plot then).

Anna & Charles now have to figure who the real killer is before an execution order is made out for Charles..and Anna will need all her Omega abilities to save Charles' life

There was something missing in this book, but i can't put my finger on it. The real villian and the motives were definitely a surprise, i didn't guess who it was till the end. But for most of the book I felt like the situations kept getting cut off, the story changed to different peoples points of view too quickly and most of the time i would have liked to have known more from the previous person's viewpoint. Other than that, this was a pretty good story, my only other complaint being it was too quick a read.

Theres new characters in this book that you'll love. Arthur, the British alpha who thinks he's the re-incarnation of The Arthur, Chastile who they call the Beast, the other older alpha's who've been around a while, Dana the fae who oversees the meetings. A bit of legend and folklore added in as well - which always interests me. Plus there's a bit of Bran - i find him very enigmatic.

I love Briggs werewolves series. The world building is amazing. The third book comes out only next August, so rereads will have to do until then.

Favourite line:
His grandfather had often told him that he tried too hard to move trees when a wiser man would walk around them.

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Cry Wolf (Alpha & Omega, #1) - Patricia Briggs

269 pages

Anna never knew werewolves existed until the night she survived a violent attack and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the pack, she'd learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. But Anna is that rarest kind of werewolf: an Omega. And one of the most powerful werewolves in the country will recognize her value as a pack member, and as his mate


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lovely book this. Cry Wolf is the first book of a new series set in the same world as the Mercedes Thompson Series and tells the story of Charles Cornick, the son of the Marrok of North America and his new found mate and Omega, Anna. The initial story of how the two met was in the anthology On the Prowl.

Anna was Changed against her will and abused in her past pack as a means to keep her in line and help keep the Alpha's crazy mate in check. Charles, as his father's executioner takes care of the problem and having pronounced Anna as his mate, the two along with his father Bran are back at the pack lands at Aspen Creek.

Anna is trying to get used to her new world and apparent mate Charles, but the demons in her past are hard to slay and trust is something that takes time to come by. Their mate bond isn't sealed yet, and a rogue werewolf has been killing humans in the mountains and Charles, still not healed from his bullet wounds from Chicago, is the only one who can get rid of this problem

But there's more to this rogue werewolf who's trying to attract one particular werewolf from Bran's pack. The past catches up with Asil, also known as the Moor, a werewolf in Bran's pack whose dead mate used to be an Omega, and also Bran who faces a repeat of the nightmares of his past.

It is up to Charles and Anna to save the situation and each other while learning to get used to and trust one another.

This was a great book. Charles, who everyone thinks of as his father's ruthless thug, shows as side of himself not many have seen before, with this love and protectiveness of Anna. A side Charles didn't know he had - and i liked reading how he adored Anna, not for her Omega abilities, but for who she is. He needed her and found it hard not to show it. ("If she knew how strongly he felt, she'd have run out the door. He wasn't used to the possessive, or the savage joy she brought to his heart")

Anna, who was abused in her previous pack, is learning more about being an Omega is while at the same time trying to learn more about the man who is her mate. She learns to trust and eventually love Charles and you see her trying to leave the fear behind ("She wondered that hope was so much harder than despair") and slowly grow in confidence in her abilities, herself and her relationship with Charles.

Go read this book. If you love the Mercy Series, you'll love this. If you haven't read the Mercy series yet, you'll still love it.

Some more of my favourite lines:
Identity was partly heritage, partly upbringing, but mostly the choices you make in life.

“Illegitimis nil carborundum,” she murmured....
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down?” said Bran from her doorway. He was looking at her like a child who had been unexpectedly clever. “That’s horrible Latin, and your pronunciation needs some work.”
“It’s my father’s fault,” she told him, rubbing her shoulder...“He had a couple of years of Latin in college and used it to amuse himself. Everyone in my family picked it up. His favorite saying was, 'Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum europe vincendarum.’”
“ ‘Sometimes I have the urge to conquer large parts of Europe’?” Bran said, sounding a little incredulous.
She nodded. “Usually he only said it when my brother or I were being particularly horrible.”
“And it was his favorite saying?” Bran said, examining her as if she were a bug…but a bug he was growing pleased with.
She said, “My brother was a brat.”

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