Beast Master's Ark

Hosteen Storm, a Native American soldier for Earth, barely escaped his doomed home world when the Xik destroyed it. Armed with his soldier's skills, his ancestors' insights, and an uncanny ability to communicate mind-to-mind with animals, Storm is a hero unlike any other in science fiction.
Now, science fiction Grand Master Andre Norton has teamed up with Lyn McConchie to pit Storm against his most dangerous enemy yet: Death-Which-Comes-in-the-Night.
It is silent. It leaves no tracks. The only evidence that remains is the perfectly cleaned bones of its victims. And it has developed a taste for humans.
No one has survived an attack yet, and the natives of Storm's adopted planet, Arzor, are moving in on human territory as they try to escape the silent scourge. The already high tensions between Humans and Natives soar, sparking a race against time as Storm attempts to solve the mystery of Death-Which-Comes-in-the-Night before Humans and Natives clash.
But he can't do it without help from Tani, a genetic engineer from the Ark, a ship traveling space with genetic material from across the galaxy, including the destroyed Earth. But Tani has been poisoned against Beast Masters by her mother. She must conquer her own unreasoning hatred, and awaken the powerful Beast Master in herself, before she and Storm can conquer Death-Which-Comes-in-the-Night and uncover the great conspiracy that threatens not only Arzor, but all human-occupied planets.