Moon's Web by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp

Things have been mostly good for Tony Giodone and Sue Quentin since they moved to Chicago so Tony could join the Chicago pack, which is mostly Russian and is led by Alpha Nikoli. But since Tony has never joined a pack before, he's not good at taking orders or listening to the Alpha. But he's learning.

However, he and Sue have been apart for several months as she recovers from her injuries and learns what she will need to know to live successfully as part of a pack. When they are finally reunited, it's during a full moon. Tony has been relegated to burying the bones of the pack's kill with the Omega, or wolf that's the bottom of the pack. But he refuses to do it, leaving the Omega to bury the bones and hurrying home to find Sue and reconnect with her by making love.

Not long after, he is contacted by Bobby, who insists that Tony go with him to meet Nikoli. To get in, Tony shoots one of the pack with a silver bullet, and he is punished for this infraction by Nikoli's enforcer, Asri, a Sazi Monitor Lizard. But she does more than just the required punishment: she nearly kills him! As part of the punishment, Tony is sent with Asri and Bobby to meet a Wolven Agent at the airport. The man turns out to be Rafe Santiago, who was the one who helped Sue and Tony back at their old place.

The message he carries is dire: the Council has decided to hold its meeting in Chicago. But since the moon is rising, he helps Tony to hold back the change until they can get to a park to change and hunt. In the park is something strange, a body buried 30 feet down that Asri can smell. It's not just any body, but a Sazi body. She helps dig up the body, and they find a female body with a silver chain and pendant. Asri recognizes the pendant, and identifies the body. It's Nikoli's lover. But the body is only bones and looks old- Nikolai's lover disappeared a mere two weeks ago. How can this be possible?

Then Bobby falls ill, poisoned by something on the body, and Rafe must call in an old favor to save him. That's when Tony realizes how old Rafe is! He's talking about being a Mayan long before the Europeans ever arrived. Just how old is he, anyway? As Tony and Rafe struggle to save him, with Baking Soda, Rafe realizes there is something familliar about the smell of the poison, though he cannot yet remember what it is.

Tony is completely healed because he'll be needed for the Council Meeting to update the security in the old Hotel most of the pack lives in. But he's been having visions from everyone he touches lately, visions from their past, and he's seeing strange colors as well. What's up with that? Tony can deal with it, until Nikoli's mother proclaims him a Seer, with Special Sazi talents that are being unlocked because of his joining a pack.

But things back among the Family and with Tony's old boss are going strange as well. Babs, the wolf who made Tony into a Sazi, has disappeared from her home, kidnapped, and Carmine wants Tony to find out who took her and kill him. Tony agrees, and meets with Carmine to retrieve some of his gear and possessions, including what look like batteries but are actually Kruggerands in holders made to look like batteries. He uses these to pay for things he needs, and gives Rafe a needed present for Nikolai to ensure the Sazi leader's acceptance.

When Asri, who has mated with Bobby and become pregnant herself, disappears, Rafe knows there is something dangerous in town, and needs Tony's help to deal with the last remaining Sazi Spider. The Spiders were destroyed by the rest of the Sazi because they preyed on the other Sazi and ate them. But this one is ready to birth its progeny and needs the enzymes in the blood of pregnant Sazi or those who have become pregnant by Sazi to feed her young. Can Rafe and Tony take out the Spider, one of the deadliest breeds of all Sazi?

I liked finding out what happened to Tony and Sue after Hunter's Moon. Tony has assumed a new identity, Joe Giambocone, and Sue as his wife. They live in Chicago, but Tony isn't comfortable with his identity, or his role in the pack, which is on a par with the Omega, the lowest rung in the pack. Sue, too, is co-opted as a babysitter during the pack's moontime, and is bitten by one of the young Sazi, who have been taught that they are better than humans. Bobby schools them better, but Tony is enraged on Sue's behalf.

Then Tony finally meets Rafe, the Wolf who kept Sue safe in the woods when she was a child. When he and Sue finally get to meet again, the scene is tender and unexpectedly funny- she feeds him the same kind of sandwich she fed him when she thought he was a dog... bologna and ketchup on white bread. And he enjoys it and wants more! It made me smile and go "Aw!" inside at the same time.

The threat in this one is much worse than Hunter's Moon. This time Tony is up against the last member of the deadliest Sazi of all... a Sazi spider. Rafe was responsible for killing them off thousands of years ago, but apparently, the gene for being a Spider is a double recessive and can still be found among otherwise normal humans. The Spider is appropriately frightening... can you imagine a spider the size of a couch? I know I was frightened by the thought of that, and I'm not normally afraid of spiders.

This sequel had everything to make it perfect, from Carmine to Rafe, the Sazi and Sue's family, who are revealed as even worse villains in this book- but I'll leave that for readers to discover. Suffice to say that their villainy and their comeuppance are revealed at the same time, and readers will get a chortle out of the comeuppance. A perfect sequel and highly recommended.