Charles calls Boyd, the Chicago alpha, to identify the dead man, and Boyd reveals that before Bran left on his trip to Africa, he requested some notes from Boyd on the Chicago pack’s business dealings under Leo, the previous alpha.

Not only that, but powerful fey artifacts in the vicinity pose an additional danger.Īnna discovers that one of the dead attackers is someone she saw in Chicago, and this brings up some of her past trauma. Anna and Charles learn that the mountainside is being watched, strangers are turning up with strange weapons, the wildlings have been questioned for some unknown purpose, and, given that Jonesy and Hester’s location was discovered, odds are that there is a traitor in the pack’s midst. I don’t want to reveal what happens after they reach Jonesy, but I will say that some violent struggles are involved and not everyone survives. Leah, however, is able to identify his phone number, and Charles and Anna head out at a leisurely pace, not realizing just how urgent the situation is. Jonesy’s message is cryptic and brief he tells Charles that he is needed and there has been an incident, but doesn’t identify himself. And although he is not a werewolf, he is mated to one, Hester-and Hester is in trouble.Ĭharles receives the call during an argument between his father’s mate, Leah, and Anna, his own wife. Jonesy is not a wildling, but a dangerous fey. Chapter one then follows and we meet Jonesy, racing to contact Bran as his mate has instructed him to do, rather than defending her, if she is ever attacked.īut as it happens, Bran, leader of North America’s werewolves, is away, on a trip to Africa, and he has left his son Charles in charge of the Aspen Creek pack and of the wildlings, the unstable, powerful werewolves that live in the surrounding wilderness. Thus begins a vivid, haunting prologue about an ongoing battle between good and evil. There is a certain sort of evil that cannot abide happiness, even such humble joys as lived in that spring. It was only a little magic, but it brought good things into the world-tiny bits of goodness born of the tiny bits of magic. Once upon a time, there was a small spring that, touched by the earth’s spirit, bore a scattering of magic in its cold, pure water. I’ve read that novella about ten times, and I have looked forward to each of the books that followed.īurn Bright, the sixth book in the series if you count that novella, opens this way:

When I first read the novella Alpha and Omega, I fell in love with Anna and Charles, the dynamic between them, and the world they inhabit.

PLEASE NOTE: Comments on this post are open to spoilers.Īlthough I’ve only read the first book in your Mercy Thompson series, I’m a big fan of the spinoff series about Charles and Anna.

Burn bright patricia briggs