"Pilot, we have been played for fools. You lost your home, name, and station. I lost my kingdom," he stared at her from across the room. "We have many things in common. I, too, was exiled from my land as a child. Now, I'm disgraced as a leader." "Did your own father publicly whip you into unconsciousness?" Pilot could not withstand the weight of that memory in silence any longer. "Not yet," he smiled as her face reddened with shame. "I will come into heat soon and return to my home planet of Bova to face my father. There can be only one adult Bovid male so our battle will be to the death." Caught in a treacherous power struggle three women find themselves enslaved on a savage alien planet where humans are valued only as slaves or human cattle for the table. Defying his enemies, their master, Taget will soon return to his home planet to face his father, Dagnot, in battle for the right to mate and rule. Failure for the young Bovid will mean certain death for him and the human members of his house. As the betrayals multiple, the women come to realize that there is far more at stake than their lives.