Stealing Mercury (Arena Dogs Book 1) by Charlee Allden

Science Fiction Romance

From Goodreads:

Born a slave, Mercury is an Arena Dog, genetically engineered to fight and die in the Arena for the entertainment of others. Trained as a gladiator from boyhood in a violent world, where men must form alliances and share what little bounty they have to survive, his only goal has been to keep his men alive. But two are dead and the rest are condemned to be hunted down and killed for sport. Worse, their demise will leave a woman Mercury has sworn to protect, alone and vulnerable. And then there is Samantha—a courageous human he has no right to claim. But she is his. He feels it deep in his soul and with an ache in his body he can’t deny.

Samantha Devlin is an indie-freight pilot who has lost everything: her ship, her crew, and her father. When an old friend hires her as an emergency replacement to pilot a cargo carrier for the Roma Company, she’s shocked to learn her cargo is three, living, breathing, and dangerously sexy Arena Dogs. When Samantha learns she’s taking the men to their deaths, she must decide is she if willing to risking everything for a man whose customs require that he share her with one of his men and demands he return to Roma to protect another woman. Mercury, their leader, and Lo, his emotionally broken arena-brother, challenge all her notions of honor, loyalty, and love. Her heart tells her Mercury is worth any cost, but her head sees nothing ahead but disaster.

In Stealing Mercury Charlee Allden has created a fascinating world full of tension, danger, and interesting characters.  Samantha Devlin is a strong woman who has a strong sense of right and wrong.  That sense is at the heart of the story.

There is great interaction between Sam, Mercury and the other two Arena Dogs as she works to do the right thing.  In spite of their brutal upbringing Mercury and his brothers show that they are more forgiving and human than their creators. Stealing Mercury is a character driven story and the characters are very well developed and up to the job of moving the story along.

As the plot moves forward nothing is easy for either Sam or Mercury.  There is just the right amount of danger to keep the tension in the story high.  The interaction between Sam and Mercury starts with learning to trust and leads to romance.  Everything builds to a satisfying conclusion with enough loose ends for the next book.

Stealing Mercury sets the stage for a series that looks to be filled with adventure and romance.  I look forward to the next book in the series.

Amazon Digital Services published Stealing Mercury by Charlee Allden in 2015.

I received an ARC of Stealing Mercury from the author in return for an honest review.