The Purlieu Experiment. The Mascot Trilogy, #1

Donte is beyond fury and grief - all the way to quiet determination. His mate and children have been murdered and he is going to exact revenge. He knows he will be terminated afterward, but it doesn't matter. His life is over without them. To find the men who murdered his family, he must agree to an unholy task. He isn't concerned because he will not be alive to fulfil his part of the bargain. Donte is a mascot - a genetically modified human.
He is the offspring of mascots designed by a group of scientists known to the inhabitants of planet Purlieu only as "The Parliament." Mascots were programmed for leadership. They live longer, are stronger and more intelligent than their human counterparts. And yet, the humans were resistant to a plague that swept through all the colonies but one. The plague killed many of the male mascots and left most of the remaining sterile.
Donte, safe in his mother's womb throughout the plague, is an exception. Being the only fertile male mascot in two colonies has made him distinctive enough, but Donte is also a descendant of the leaders of two colonies. His heritage makes him a target and integrity holds him captive because a Mascot does not renege on a vow. Things do not go as planned. Instead of terminating the raiders who murdered his family, he terminates the insane King who sent them.
He escapes beheading by seconds and rescues a captive. Ahead of him is a hungry trek over a snow-capped mountain in scant clothing and the crossing of an unfamiliar desert to take the captive to her colony. His only knowledge of two colony territories is what he gained by looking at a map for a few minutes - and the information he read on spaceship Moeder when he was twelve. Donte has a destiny that unfolds in a series of dangerous encounters.
He cannot escape destiny, but will he live through it - and can he live up to it?This soft science fiction adventure reads more like general fiction, so it is often enjoyed by people who don't normally choose the science fiction genre. It is clean - void of profanity or explicit sex.