Cry Wolf is a real good tale!

I was recently over at Desert Island Keepers where I enjoyed reading the posts by Joanna Wylde, (she is the author of The Price of Pleasure), especially her list of auto-buy authors. I didn't include Patricia Briggs on the list since I just started reading her work and one book doesn't an auto-buy author make, as far as I am concerned. After finishing Cry Wolf I will have to amend my list and add her. She is a fresh voice in the paranormal genre. I like her believability in the midst of the impossible and strange.
Cry Wolf is a spin-off from the Mercy Thompson series and it looks like Cry Wolf is the first in a series Ms. Briggs is calling the Alpha and Omega.
I met the main characters in this book as secondary characters in Moon Called. The Marrok, Bran, is the leader of all the werewolves in America. Samuel is the firstborn of the Marrok and a doctor. Charles is the second born and the Enforcer for his father. He is the one Bran sends out to quell uprisings and kill rogues. The only main character I hadn’t met yet is the woman Anna. She was attacked, had the Change forced upon her and for the last three years been tortured and abused by the Alpha of the Chicago pack. In some ways this story feels like it should be the sequel to Moon Called since it picks up at the end of the battle to take over Adam’s pack and the death of Dr. Carter Wallace and his son Gerry. I found out there is a short story out there from an anthology called On the Prowl. It fills in the missing pieces. In it Charles is sent to Chicago on behalf of the Marrok to take care of a pack that has become nothing more than a ruthless gang terrorizing the city. When he arrives in Chicago he meets Anna and discovers she is a rare personality called an Omega. While the Alpha is the strength and aggressive power of the pack, the Omega is the nurturing and calming aspect. As an Omega Anna can bring peace to even the most aggressive of the dominant weres. An Omega is very rare and treasured except Anna was used to control the wolves in the Chicago pack so Leo could keep them doing the vile and destructive things he wanted them to do. Charles’s wolf realizes that Anna is his mate and wants her to come home to Montana with him. Anna, who is still suffering from all the trauma and abuse at the hands and orders of Leo is frightened to go.
Cry Wolf begins with Charles fighting to recover from silver bullet wounds he received in the fight that killed Leo, the screwed up and rotten alpha of the Chicago pack. Bran, the Marrok, is overseeing the packing and moving of Anna. He has manipulated, cajoled and convinced Anna that Charles needs her and it would be in her best interest to go to Montana. Upon their arrival they are faced with the sad duty of attending the funeral of Dr. Wallace. He was in Moon Called and failed to successfully “Change” and had to be put down. Anna displays her Omega ability when she calms one of the wolves who tried to provoke a fight in the church. Assil has been trying to get the Marrok to end his life but the Marrok won’t do it and Assil thought the tension in the church would be the catalyst to finally getting his wish. Instead Anna lays her hand on his and with a few words brings him a peace he hasn’t felt in centuries.
After the funeral Charles, who is still healing from the near fatal wounds he incurred from the Chicago fight, is sent up to the mountains to track and kill a suspected rogue wolf who has been killing humans. The Marrok sends Anna with him. He has two purposes with the request. One is the hope that Charles and Anna will complete the mating bond and the second is by having the Omega there the rogue can be brought in without blood shed.
What they don’t realize is there are two rogues in them thar hills.
Assil has been keeping a secret from the pack. Centuries ago a crazy young black witch killed and trapped his mate’s essence for her immortality and has been tracking him ever since through the bond he has with his now dead mate. Now Mariposa has found him and is using the rogue wolf and his bond mate to lure both him and the Marrok out to take over the pack. What happens in the mountains is for you, my dear reader, to discover for yourself. I think it will be worth your read.
This is only the second novel I have read by Patricia Briggs. I didn’t know until researching for these posts that she is such a prolific writer. I don’t know about her other series but in the Mercy series and now the Alpha and Omega I find her writing to be action packed, filled with energy and believable. Her characters are sexy, strong and interesting and she refrains from using the “Sex” tool to move the story. I LOVE THAT. I think there are several authors who over use sex scenes because their plot is too thin and they don’t know how to fix it. (I am stepping up on my soap box), As I have said before, I enjoy sex scenes and I enjoy good erotica but don’t tell me this is a who dunit, love story or suspense novel and then be a bad version of the kama sutra. (I am now stepping off my box).
Patricia Briggs is now on my find all her older books and catch up list. I will have to cut out sleeping in my schedule.