Mated werewolves Charles Cornick and Anna Latham must discover what could make an entire community disappear — before it’s too late —

In the wilds of the Northern California mountains, all the inhabitants of a small town have gone missing. It’s as if the people picked up and left everything they owned behind. Fearing something supernatural might be going on, the FBI taps a source they’ve consulted in the past: the werewolves Charles Cornick and Anna Latham. But Charles and Anna soon find a deserted town is the least of the mysteries they face.

Death sings in the forest, and when it calls, Charles and Anna must answer. Something has awakened in the heart of the California mountains, something old and dangerous — and it has met werewolves before.

We get a couple of preludes in this book. The first is when the daughter of the founder of Wild Sign follows the trails to the town the other a girls day that takes place before ‘Burn Bright’ with Rachel a newcomer to Aspen Creek, Anna, Leah and Sage. A bonding of sorts with the pack females, but it’s also a series of conversations I won’t soon forget. With Leah humming a song, one that has some significance and is familiar to Anna, yet not.

The FBI showing up in Aspen Creek is gutsy to say the least, thinking that Anna is the Marrok had me giggling. Their reasons for being there are twofold and suspicious. I loved that Bran had Charles change to greet them. The things they were offering in exchange for some sort of alliance wasn’t anything the Bran and Charles wouldn’t know about the wolves, but the second reason they were there was disturbing.

A town had come to be on land bordering federal lands but not on it. That land it appears is owned by Aspen Creek, more specifically Leah. There weren’t many residents only about forty but everyone has disappeared. There are no traces and they need someone to figure out what happened to them. There was only one missing person report and that was from one Dr. Connor, her father was one of those residents.

We learn a good part of Leah’s story in the beginning of this book and her mating to Bran had me bristling a bit. We also learn a lot about Sherwood Post who is now in Adam’s pack. He’s someone important to Bran and now we know he’s powerful as well.

Bran can’t leave since he sent Asil to deal with something so he’s sending Anna, Charles and Tag. The clues are slow in coming, but we learn from the start witches are involved. White witches, some with powerful protections. There’s also something much more powerful and scary too.

I laughed, cried, screamed at my kindle and this has one of the best OMG endings EVER!

I really can’t wait for Patricia’s next book, it has me wondering how the consequences of this one will affect Mercy and Adam.

5 Contented Purrs for Patricia!

Patricia Briggs

Patty was born in Butte, Montana, back in 1965. If you’re good at math, you’ll have deduced that she’s currently twenty-nine. In fact, she’s been twenty-nine for a while and has no intention of getting any older. Fiction authors don’t obey the laws of space and time, they invent them. Don’t argue, or she’ll make up a dragon right behind you . . .

Patricia was born book-privileged. Her mother was a school librarian, and she shared a room with an older sister who loved to read. Long after they had been put to bed, her sister would use the small night light to read Patty stories; her early favorites were fairy tales. Knights and castles, fair maidens, and monsters of every ilk became their nighttime companions.

Soon, Patty learned to read, and whole worlds were hers to explore. She rode on the Black Stallion, and flew the skies of Pern on a dragon. Sometime during that period she stumbled onto a treasure trove. Her older sister had begun collecting comic books; pristine originals were place in cellophane sleeves and organized in cardboard boxes. When her sister was away, they were removed by grubby fingers smeared with peanut butter and jelly for a clandestine read, returning with a faint smudges and wrinkled pages from reading under the covers. To this day, her sister periodically calls Patty and tells her how much more her original copies of the X-Men would have been worth if left pristine in their sleeves. The number keeps going up.

Patty is a prevarication professional. She lies for a living, telling whoppers and fibs so outrageous that people pay her to fib some more. Her only concession to honesty is that she tells people she’s lying to them, which is what separates a fiction author from a politician. She loves to play with her imaginary friends, and meeting with readers who know her imaginary friends is a treat. Her biggest complaint with writing is that she has far more ideas for stories than time to write them.

Patty and her family reside in Eastern Washington near Tri-Cities, home of Mercy Thompson; yes, it’s a real place! When not working on the next book, she can be found playing truant out in her horse pastures, playing with the newest babies.