Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs; Vamps, Weres, and the Fae

Hunting Ground; An Alpha and Omega novel by Patricia Briggs
Publisher: The Penguin Group; Ace
Published: August 25th 2009
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 286

Summary: Anna Latham didn't know how complicated life could be until she became a werewolf. And until she was mated to Charles Cornick, the son-and enforcer-of Bran, the leader of the North American werewolves, she didn't know how dangerous it could be, either...

Anna and Charles have just been enlisted to attend a summit to present Bran's controversial proposition: that the wolves should finally reveal themselves to humans. But the most feared Alpha in Europe is dead set against the plan-and it seems like someone else might be, too. When Anna is attacked by vampires using pack magic, the kind of power only werewolves should be able to draw on, Charles and Anna must combine their talents to hunt down whoever is behind it all-or risk losing forever...

My Thoughts: Another wonderful book from the amazing Patricia Briggs. While the first book, Cry Wolf, is mainly about Anna overcoming her issues from the past this is more of the Charles and Anna kicking butt. I love how Anna is all soft, sweet, and vulnerable but ends up saving everyone's butts all the time. I liked this quote because it describes exactly what I'm talking about.

"You should have seen her kill the witch a couple of weeks ago," Bran said affably. "Asil had been fleeing from this one for two hundred years, and my son's little 'rabbit' killed her while in human form and armed with nothing more than a knife."
"Asil?" asked Angus, suitably taken aback. "Asil the Moor?"
"That's the one" said Charles.
"Suddenly I don't feel so bad at being rescued by a rabbit," Angus said cheerfully.

You see a lot of Anna's powers being explored. This is my all time favorite part of the book but I will only put a quote.

"Omega," said Charles formally, "it is the privilege of the dominants to protect our submissive ones, the heart of our packs. Alphas are called upon to protect even more strongly. An Omega calls us strongest of all."
Anna gave a puzzled nod. She already knew that, Charles thought. She just couldn't see what it had to do with the situation. She was too used to looking at dominant wolves as threats.
"Sweetie," said the witch, "while you were up here getting the cold shakes from all those nasty wolves staring at you--they were trying to figure out why you were upset and who they needed to kill for you."

I could just imagine this scene with the wolves in their human forms snapping looks at each other debating who they should kill first and Anna has no idea she's doing to this to them. I also love how Patricia always has a mix of multiple supernatural creatures; fae, werewolves, and vampires. And, not just one or the other its all of them. I enjoy all of Patricia Briggs books and I would recommend them to anyone.





















I'm also so excited for Silver Borne, the fifth Mercy Thompson book. It comes out March 30, 2010. I give Hunting Ground 4 out of 5 penguins.