Estelle is a logistical expert, show her a problem and she can solve it. When she is drugged and enslaved, she looks for a way out, sending messages with every outgoing slave and hoping that one will get her plan to the Alliance in time. The escape is on, but she has been shackled to her breeding partner that very evening, linked by a chain they lead the escape until one partner goes on alone. Survivors are offered a place on an Oefric colony world. The shape shifters have a separate town from the arena survivors, and that is where their hospitality ends. Steel leads the charge to design a working village, and since she conveniently made it into the survivors and not the Alliance specialist designation when she landed, let the fun begin. Wyanic is eventually persuaded to look in on the growing village, and imagine his surprise when his true mate greets him when he thought her dead on the ship.
This was short. There were jumps throughout the story that seemed like missed character building opportunities. Also- sometimes I'd read a page and then have to re-read it to figure out if it tied to the previous page or if the author, had once again, taken a giant leap somewhere else. At one point, there is a three page data dump of details on how ++SPOILER++ a village is created, built etc. Guess what- didn't really care. Cared more about the main characters and developing that. Was well written, I've definitely read worse. I just wished that the time and attention had been spent in different places in the book.
The story started from the hero's point of view which is refreshing. This was well written from the their escape to their living in the Oefric colony as a new growing village. I love how the heroine is an active part of the village. There were a lot of character interactions. We get to read both the leading characters point of view and Hskas point of view as she shows us how Estelle or Steel was saved from death. It was kind of funny to know that Wyanic's nausea was from morning sickness, experiencing this part of pregnancy on her behalf. I also like the idea of the heroine writing a story book for her daughter about her life. I can't help but smile at that part.