Claiming the Warlord

Kade Mercer flies salvage through contested space and doesn't ask questions. Then a Huru dreadnought locks him out of his own controls and a warlord named Envoy-Vhar takes his cargo, his ship, and — under salvage law — Kade himself, on a ninety-day bond. Envoy-Vhar has not left his throne ship in four years. He does not speak more than he has to, he does not explain himself, and he does not kill Kade for sabotaging four of the ship's systems in the first month, which is the strangest thing about him. When the Huru council orders Kade handed to a rival warlord as a diplomatic gift, Envoy-Vhar refuses — and the refusal triggers a duel in the throne room. Envoy-Vhar wins the duel and bleeds out on the floor, and Kade has to keep a nine-foot alien alive with a welding torch and a stolen med-kit. The ninety days ends. Kade stays. A dark sci-fi alien romance for readers who like their heroes armored and their endings loud.