Prey by Rachel Vincent

Wow. It's probably not good to start a post when you're speechless. Ms. Vincent writes such a good story that I still feel like I'm in her world. I re-read Stray, Rogue, and Pride this week in anticipation of Prey coming out yesterday. I stayed up until midnight reading and finished it at work.

Stray introduces us to Faythe, a were-cat who has been trying to make a life of her own, away from her family and pride. We are also introduced to Marc (fictional boyfriend!) early on as he arrives at college to bring Faythe home because someone is kidnapping the female were-cats (tabbies). Each pride has only one tabby, they are very rare and "valuable" to each pride to ensure the continuation of the species. Faythe's father is the Alpha of her pride. Faythe is very stubborn and does not want to marry and have children as the other tabbies do, she wants to be independent. She makes some mistakes along the way and ends up kidnapped. She eventually frees herself and another tabbie and goes after the kidnappers. We also learn about Faythe's relationship with Marc - she left him at the altar five years ago but still has feelings for him. He definately still has feelings for her.

In Rogue, Faythe's story continues. She is out with Marc, learning how to be an Enforcer (sort of were-cat self-police) and several strays end up dead. This leads her on a search for the killer and a character from the first book reappears - with a surprise for Faythe. Faythe and Marc's relationship hits a few snags in this book.

In Pride, Faythe is facing a tribunal-type hearing regarding her actions in book 2. She is facing the possibility of being de-clawed or execution. During the trial, a bruin (were-bear) barges in complianing about the cats bothering him. The only problem is that it's not the cats there for the hearing - there is a renegade group of strays causing trouble and humans go missing. Then a tabby lands on their doorstep, except that she doesn't know how she came to be a were-cat. Faythe spends time helping her adjust while also dealing with the tribunal, who decide to spare Faythe's life if Marc will leave the pride. Then one of the other Alphas challenges Faythe's father for control of the Alpha council.

Prey, the fourth book in her six book series picks up about two months after Pride left off. Marc is living in the "free zone" (not pride land) and Faythe and some fellow enforcers are escorting another were-cat to a trial so Faythe is able to stop and visit Marc. While there they are ambushed by an unprecedented group of strays working together to attack their group. They manage to escape and drop the were-cat at her trial and Faythe returns home. Shortly after that she receives a call that Marc is missing and presumed dead. They rush to search for him, getting assistance from a stray who has befriended Marc since he's been in the free-zone. While this is going on, they are having problems with the rescued tabby from book 3 (she won't shift to cat form and is getting very sick because of it) and the council tries to steal her through a sneak attack that has disasterous results. While searching for Marc, Faythe and her group discover someone is tagging stray were-cats with a homing device and they are trying to see how all that fits in with the kidnapping and attempted takeover of the council, AND Faythe makes a bad decision in a fit of alcohol-fueled grief.

This book had me hanging on the edge of my seat. I "OMG'd", "Oh no'd", cried, and cheered. March 2010 cannot get here fast enough - I need to know what happens next!