Free The Melier: Home World (Women of Dor Nye Book 2) by Poppy Rhys Page A

side of the room, and perch on a stack of books belonging to Soren.
    Once again, she assumed her hunters stance.
    Tiptoeing toward the bug, she was honestly surprised it had its back to her once more. Maybe it was just dumb. A big, dumb beetle.
    One can always hope.
    Again, she got close enough to swing. This time her aim was considerably better, but she still missed the damn thing. The piece of wood whizzed just above the beetle, skimming the shiny black shell of its back, and bouncing into the wall with such force, vibration jittered up the length of her arms and nearly chattered her teeth. Knocked off balance, she squawked, and tumbled to the floor, flat on her bum.
    “Jeeezzuuuzzz,” she moaned as she rubbed her tailbone, and watched the stupid bug skitter across the room once again, evading her efforts to end it.
    Frustrated she stood, grabbing one of the books it was previously sitting on and flung it with a screech. The book missed the beetle, as expected, but it unfortunately caught its attention.
    The beady, black eyes assessed her after it turned around and she watched as its shell cracked open, revealing four very large wings.
    She made a surprised sound and took a step back.
    The beetle took a step forward.
    Its mandibles chittered at her, and she watched in terror as its wings began to beat in an attempt to lift its fat body off the ground.
    Lucia let out a strangled cry, her hand flying to her throat and she took a few more steps backward.
    The beetle lifted from its place, and she screamed and hopped over a cushion.
    It hit the floor as if it was regaining its strength. Once again, its hard, black shelled wings flipped up as it prepared to fly, flexing its pincers once, then twice.
    Lucia lost her damn mind.
    She turned and ran , screaming until her own ears felt like bleeding. Every time Lucia chanced a look behind her, the beetle’s many black legs were scurrying faster, closer, which only made her scream like a wild animal.
    As she neared the entrance to the suite, the sensors tripped and the doors opened automatically, Lucia nearly slamming against the opposite wall of the hallway before she could gain traction to turn and fly down the corridor. The beetle gained on her and she thought she was going to faint from lack of oxygen and her mounting fear as images of being maimed by giant pincers flitted through her mind.
    When she turned a corner, she crashed into a chest of muscle that barely flinched. She hit it so hard she went bouncing backward and nearly landed on her ass before multiple hands caught her. The fear was too strong as she continued to shriek, and climb whoever she’d run into, like a tree.
    “Loo-Sha!” Val’Zun rasped, wincing and trying to control her jittery, flailing limbs. They were drawing the attention of half the palace, but she was too out of her mind screaming ‘big ass bug’ to even care. She only desired keeping her feet attached to her body.
    Lucia was clawing, and thrashing, and climbing until she nearly sat on Val’Zun’s shoulders. He pulled her down and clamped a hand over her mouth, panting with frustration and the pain her screams had caused his ears. His gaze bore down into her panicked face with a glare that would naturally have the hairs on her body rising to attention, but that was furthest from her mind.
    Her eyes kept looking back at the beetle that continued to gain on them, and her peels of shrieks started up again as she pushed on Zun’s chest to get him to run .
    Run anywhere, really, but preferably in the opposite direction.
    Val’Zun saw the beetle then.
    He took a step back.
    “Loo-Sha,” he whisper-hissed. “You must cease screaming. It is attracted to loud noises.”
    Immediately she stilled, eyes darting from Zun to the beetle that had finally stopped scurrying toward her. Her blood was whooshing in her ears and she struggled to breathe while her fear riddled veins wore out in her rigid body.
    A palace guard with a cinching net attached to a