Alien Pirate’s Feisty Queen by Miranda Martin

Luna: I’ve spent the last year serving rotten meat to a species of snouted aliens that remind me of alligators. The vicious little beasts love to use their claws when they don’t get their way. My first mistake was clocking one with a metal food tray when he tore a hole in my best friend’s wings. He ended up demoted, humiliated and a laughingstock among his people. I can tell by the look in those beady black eyes that he’s just waiting for an opportunity to get a little payback.

My second mistake was stirring up a mutiny among the crew of the nice dragon warrior who rescued me. I wanted him to go back and rescue my friends. Unfortunately, he’s a pirate and didn’t want to risk his ship and crew when there no profit to be made. I know I shouldn’t have turned his crew against him. He’s all kinds of furious and, he wants to throw me off his ship. I won’t last a day on some alien planet with no protector. I’m desperate enough to promise anything if only he’ll let me stay.

Warvoc: I spent my entire life trapped under the claw of a vicious Draconian queen. After years scheming ways to escape, I’m finally free and not only the captain of my own destiny but Captain of the junkiest ship flying, The Decrepit. She might not be much to look at, but she’s all mine.

I don’t know what got into me when I saw the small, pale, childlike alien females being sold. It was impossible to look away from their bruised faces and the hurt in their eyes. Closing in, I see they’re not children, but fully grown queens. When one of them attacks her captor, I can’t stand by. I manage to save two of them. I’m proud of my very first benevolent act for all of ten microns. That’s when the trouble starts. The mouthy one instigates a mutiny on my ship.
She convinces my crew to fly my bucket of bolts back into the heart of darkness to face an enemy we have no hope of defeating. I want to hate the feisty queen. I want to despise her. But I can’t.

I understand her. Her drive, her passion, and instead of hating her, I want her.
When she offers herself, I jump at the chance. I don’t know why I’m surprised when she double crosses me and steals my ship along with half my crew. I’m going to track this wretched female to the ends of the galaxy but what I’ll do when I find her is anyone’s guess.