On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance and Sunny

This is a compilation book of four short stories. The First, Alpha and Omega, is by Patricia Briggs. Anna is an abused wolf who is part of the Chicago pack of wolves. When she calls the Marrok, the leader of the North American werewolves, to report a problem with her pack's leader, Leo, he tells her there is an investigator already on his way.

The investigator is his son, Charles, and Charles discovers that Anna is that rarest of wolves, the Omega. Omegas are outside of pack hierarchy and bring peace, calmness and harmony to the pack... unless they have been dreadfully abused by an insane packmate, as Anna was... with the collusion of Leo, the pack's Alpha. But why would Leo do such a thing to such a precious resource as Anna? And why have all the other female werewolves of the pack disappeared? As Charles investigates, he finds himself falling for Anna. But is she too badly abused to return his affections?

In Inhuman, by Kathleen Wilks, Kat is a witch with the secret gift of telepathy. She is attracted to Nathan, the town sheriff and her running partner. He knows her secret, and she knows very few of his, but she knows that he is more than human. But when a monster from his world shows up, killing gifted members of the population, Kat is blamed, and Nathan finds himself giving up everything to protect her. But to do so, he will also have to tell her all his secrets, and give in to the passion that has been slowly but steadily growing between them.

But when the monster turns out to be more misunderstood than monstrous, he can he and Kat call in favors from Faerie to help it return home? And how will the Huntsman and the Winter Queen react to the loss of one of their favored hounds?

In Buying Trouble by Karen Chance, Claire, a red-headed null works for an auction house. Called in for a high-stakes auction, Claire is utterly shocked to find herself as one of the items up for sale. With her brutal brother Seb bidding on her, as well as one of the Lords of the Fey, Claire feels she has no hope but to become a null bomb, which will lead to her death as her nullifying power is sucked out of her along with her life to construct the thing. But when she and Fey Lord Heidar are sucked into the Fey lands by a misused auction item, will she be able to let go of her fear and distrust of the Fey Lords long enough to escape the Fey tribe who will gladly kill them both?

In the Fey lands, Claire makes a discovery about herself that is both wonderful and shocking. But when she discovers the rune that sent Heidar and her into the Fey lands is a threat to not only the Fey but all she holds dear, she and Heidar must return to the human world to retrieve the rune and deal with the threat to all the Fey peoples. For no matter who holds the rune, danger threatens, along with war. Can Claire and Heidar retrieve the rune from the person she fears and hates the most... her brother, Seb?

Mona Lisa Betwining, by Sunny is the story of Mona Lisa, a half-blood queen of the Monère. She has been called to account for her actions in the death of the Monère Queen Mona Louisa, which she accomplished by sucking out all of her energy and leaving the other woman a shriveled husk which easily fell to the claws of her warrior-protectors. But when Mona Lisa is challenged by another Queen, she must turn to the one protector whose powers frighten her the most, Dontaine, for a solution that allows her to triumph over the other Queen. But to do so, she must face her fears, not only of Dontaine, but also of the power to suck out the energy of others that resides within her.

But can she triumph over the other queen or will the council sentence her to death for her actions, and the power which she doesn't know how to control?

This was a good set of stories, but I didn't enjoy all of them. The first three were the best, but I just wasn't able to get into the Mona Lisa story. The author's writing style is not my cup of tea, and I just have distaste for the character and her harem of men. It also seemed that the Mona Lisa story was about 80% sex. Now, this isn't bad when you are into the characters, but when you aren't, it's just tedious in the extreme.

Of all of them, the Patricia Briggs story was my favorite, and the best, even though the story is a mere introduction to another book that came out recently called "Cry Wolf", which continues Anna and Charles's story. The other three stories are more self-contained, but I hope to read more about Claire, from Karen Chance, as her story and background was interesting.

A somewhat lop-sided volume for me, but with three good stories out of four, I liked this book and would recommend it to others, with a caveat about the "Mona Lisa" story.