Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs

Anna Latham is a very rare and unusual Omega Werewolf, which is defined as an Alpha who appears not to care about pack Status. Because her old Pack master didn't understand the treasure he had on his hands, he assumed Anna was damaged somehow and spent a great deal of time abusing her to get her to care about the pack dynamics and to listen to him. By declaring her "damaged", in a way, he fulfilled his own prophecy, as Anna is now unsure and hesitant in all her pack dynamics.

However, it's not all bad. She was rescued from her old pack leader by Charles Cornick, the son of the Alpha of all the American and Canadian Werewolf packs, the Marrok Bran Cornick. He came to her home town, recognized her for the treasure she was, and rescued her from her old pack. Along the way, their wolves recognized each other as mates and they became a couple. Now, after a harrowing adventure in her new home in Canada (Cry Wolf), the Marrok has a new task for them.

For a long time, humans have known that vampires exist, since vampires "came out" to them. Now, the Marrok is considering doing the same for Werewolves. But he can't just do it for the packs under his leadership. He needs to do it the whole world round, but the other werewolf leaders aren't happy with his plan. So Bran sends Charles and Anna to San Francisco to host talks with the other supreme pack leaders. And to keep all the Werewolves in line, he asks Charles and Anna to deliver a gift to a noted faerie woman in order to petition her to use her powers to keep the other Werewolf leaders from doing anything stupid.

Though it's dangerous to thank Faeries, Bran sends the gift of a painting that shows Dana an unspoiled image of a place she once loved and felt strongly about. As a result, she agrees to use her magic powers to force the other Were leaders to keep the peace while they are in her city. Anna feels unsettled around Dana. She and Charles seem to like each other, and Dana knows so much of his history while Anna has only been a werewolf for three years. She feels young and unsure and plain compared to the wise, beautiful and confident Fae, but at least Charles and his wolf love her and hers, which makes her feel a little better.

However, no sooner have they checked into their hotel than the trouble starts. All the werewolf leaders are strong and arrogant, and many can't stand to be in the same room with each other. Jean Chastel, leader of the French Werewolves, was eating with the wolves from his pack at a restaurant when the Spanish Werewolves under Sergio Del Fino arrived and trouble started. Also at the restaurant is Arthur Madden, leader of the British Werewolves. Between Charles and Anna, they defuse the tension, and Jean Chastel leaves, letting the other French Werewolves and the rest eat in peace.

But Jean now wants Anna for his own, something that Charles will not allow. So when she is attacked by Vampires who are able to use pack magic, both she and Charles wonder if Jean Chastel is behind the attacks. But then Chastel is killed during what is supposed to be a friendly competition between the packs, and other wolves begin to die as well. Who could be behind the attacks, and what is their point? Is it to prevent the Werewolves revealing themselves to human society (false hope, because Bran has already decided to out them), or could the deaths and attacks have a deeper, darker meaning? When Charles is busy trying to bring peace to the other werewolves, it will be up to Anna to find the real culprit, and defeat them.

Wow. This book shows how good Patricia Briggs is as a writer, drawing me in right from the first paragraph. This was so strong that even when I told myself I was just going to have a quick read, by the time I looked up, ten minutes had gone by and I was on the third chapter already!

I'll start off by saying that I love, love, love the interaction between Charles and Anna. His wolf may be commanding and powerful, and hers unsure and lacking confidence in herself, but strangely, when it comes to the interaction between them, she can teach him to laugh and have fun, while he protects her yet also allows her to protect herself, slowly raising her own confidence level in what she can do. And that's necessary, because if he always steps in to protect her, she will never gain confidence on her own.

And although she's being stalked by an immensely powerful and bestial werewolf, Anna is terrified, yet manages to deal with her terror, even if before she might have cut and run. Being able to deal with things, even when you are scared out of your wits, make Anna a much more powerful character than if she was portrayed as being confident and unafraid all the time.. Dealing with your fears takes more courage than not having them to begin with.

And Charles is immensely powerful as a Werewolf, but with Anna, she allows him to unbend and to just have fun. He has his own fears of being a stick-in-the-mud or too overwhelming for her battered wolf to stand up to in a conflict, and when he must send her away when she tries to defuse the tension between the Alphas at the restaurant, he worries that he's set her back yet again. But Anna is stronger than he thinks and ends up surprising him.

The real intrigue in this novel comes from how different all the Werewolves from the other countries are. Few Werewolves are as old as Bran the Marrok, and not all of them are as humane as he is. Jean Chastel is also known as the Beast, and he really lives up to his name in the book, being both more animal than human and treating Anna like a snack to be thrown to him for his pleasure.

Would I recommend this book? Hell, yes I would. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes werewolves, the paranormal, wolves, or any other books by Patricia Briggs. Her writing will suck you in and not let you go until you are finished, when you start craving the next book in the series. I not only recommend this book and this series, but I highly recommend it, and whole-heartedly so.