I recently discovered Patricia Briggs’ books and read the Mercy Thompson series.  This book is the first book in a companion series called Alpha and Omega set in the same world but featuring other characters.

Charles is the son of the Marrock, the leader of all the werewolves in North America.  He is the assassin for his father.  He had killed the alpha wolf of a Chicago pack who was abusing members of his pack and rescued Anna, a rare Omega wolf.  Omegas exert a calming influence on other wolves.  They stand outside the pack structure of dominance and submission.  Anna and Charles’ wolf natures bonded.  A mate bond is powerful.  Usually the people bond first and then see if the wolves agree.  Wolves bonding first isn’t supposed to happen and it is a problem because Anna and Charles have just met.  It is almost an arranged marriage.

Here’s a problem with this book.  Everything I explained in the paragraph above happens before the book started.  It felt like I had missed a book.  I checked Fantastic Fiction twice to make sure this was the first book in the series. It turns out that this series is a follow up to a novella published in an anthology.

This book starts with Bran (the Marrock) and Charles moving Anna to Montana to live with their home pack.  They get reports of what seems like a rogue werewolf killing people.  Charles and Anna head out into the mountains to see what is going on and to spend some time getting to know each other.

The Good Stuff

  • I hate books with Insta-love and this book definitely has that but it is treated as a major liability which is a nice twist.
  • I love the world that has been built in these series.

The Bad Stuff

  • If you don’t know who Bran, Charles, and Samuel are then you should either read at least a few of the Mercy Thompson books first or find the novella that starts this story.
  • I listened to this on audio and sometimes the narrator is shooting for gruff and tough for Charles and ends up making him sound inarticulate and unintelligent.  The words he is saying are fine but the tone is off.