Book Review; Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs

Dead Heat
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Alpha and Omega (Book 4)
Publication: Ace; 1st edition (March 3, 2015)

Description: For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal, as Charles plans to buy Anna a horse for her birthday. Or at least it starts out that way...

Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire. 

My Thoughts: Charles and Anna are traveling to Arizona in this story for two reasons - to buy Anna a horse for her birthday and for Charles to say goodbye to an old friend who is dying. Charles and Joseph have a long history. He is one of Charles's few human friends. His father is the alpha werewolf of the pack in Arizona and has been trying to convince Charles to force Joseph to become a werewolf. Charles hates the idea that his old friend is dying but he respects his wish to die in his own time. 

Anna is trying to convince Charles that they should have children. She can't understand why he doesn't want them when he is so protective of the young and innocent. Anna may be on Omega werewolf but that doesn't mean that she is meek and submissive. She is determined to understand her husband's opinion and then convince him to accept hers. 

It should be a nice vacation except for the fae who are causing problems. Not all of them have locked themselves in their reservations. There is one in Arizona who collects children, keeps them for a year and a day, and then kills them. When Joseph's granddaughter becomes the target, Anna and Charles get involved. In the course of events, Joseph's daughter-in-law Chelsea, who is witchborn, is put under a spell and almost forced to kill her children and herself. She resists but is so badly hurt that Charles is forced to turn her into a werewolf or let her die. This creates all sorts of conflicts both for Chelsea and for the alpha of the pack who is strongly against having a witchborn turned into a werewolf. 

I enjoyed this story very much. In fact, I read it in one day because I couldn't put it down. I love the relationship between Charles and Anna and I loved getting a look at Charles's past.




Favorite Quote:

There was also the possibility that Charles hadn't been aware of the attacks until Leslie told them. Some of his reputation for awesome cosmic powers came from not telling anyone how much he knew about anything. Thus leaving it to other people to assume the answer was "everything." The rest of his reputation was wholly deserved. 

I bought this one for my Kindle. You can buy your copy here.