Confined in a small shipping container for weeks on end, Taru was starving, dehydrated, and close to death. When she was given the option of remaining in the container until her owner could turn her in for the reward, or being one of fifteen females going to a mining moon to pleasure the drillers who were willing to pay for her services, she chose the latter. At least there was the possibility she could escape from there and get back with her people.

Kirby Luka agreed to pay the astronomical sum to have his own woman, if only to have a companion. Someone to talk to and maybe to share a bed with. He never expected to have to contend with having to take the last female in the group. What was left over. A female Gyra who not only was a feared and dangerous humanoid, but a deadly enemy.

Their initial meeting is contentious. But when a deadly disease infiltrates the close community, Kirby knows the only way he and Taru can survive is to get off that rock. That means working together and sacrificing what they both wanted.

They never anticipated the consequences of their actions.

Warning! Contains ice cream, solitary confinement, unprovoked attacks, a virulent infection, Gyra fallakka (not Vespidan), drooling, life for a life, and two people coming to realize that kindness has a way of working miracles with the heart.