Ride: Maelíosa and Sage: Episodes 9-12 (Puca Mates Collection Book 3) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Ride: Maeliosa & Sage

  Puca Mates Collection, Volume 3

  A.C. James

  Published by Swoon Worthy, 2018.

  Table of Contents

  A.C. James Starter Library

  Episode 9

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Episode 10

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Episode 11

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Episode 12

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  A.C. James Starter Library

  A.C. James Starter Library is the perfect way to dive into hot stories of vampires and bad boy shifters. Her stories feature strong heroines and alpha heroes, with plenty of action, twists, and turns that will keep you turning pages.

  GET YOUR FREE BOOKS NOW!

  Welcome To Ride

  The book you’re reading is part of the Ride series, stories set in a modern day world that collides with a Realm where the púca reign. Humans have nearly forgotten their existence, but now the veil separating their worlds has lifted. Welcome to a paranormal world with sexy stallion shifters, curvy women, and a dash of humor...

  Introduction

  EPISODE 9:

  Sage is an ex-navy seal, and a single father who lives for his daughter. It's now or never and he must risk everything or regret it for the rest of his life... and with his secret that might not be too long. He treks to THE STABLES, an exclusive mating service for the púca shape shifters on the Aran Islands as a last ditch effort. He’s greeted by a curvy, annoying, scrumptious package named Maelíosa. She makes him want what he hasn’t dared to hope for: love, a mate, and a home for him and his daughter.

  EPISODE 10:

  A supernatural investigative blogger took the púca stallions from the shadows and thrust them into the limelight by releasing a tell-all book. This old enemy surfaces and a new danger threatens the púca shape shifter clan. It gets loads better with a hot hunk of Navy Seal willing to face any danger in order to protect what’s his, especially his curvaceous mate. Will Sage and Maelíosa defeat the evil hate group determined to destroy the clan?

  EPISODE 11:

  It’s one sexy, curvy, mare of a match. Mostly. Sage’s plans are put on hold when the evil places the clan’s queen in danger. Not. Happening. Not on his watch. He’ll stop at nothing until they end the threat once and for all. He finally has a home and nothing will come between him and Maelíosa, his fierce, stubborn, curvy mate. Or will it...?

  EPISODE 12:

  Maelíosa’s his mate, but she’s in trouble. He’s so screwed...

  Sage is between a rock and a hard place. Just when he thinks he’s found happiness, a hate group rocks the púca shape shifter clan. He's out of time and out of options when a rescue goes wrong. Will he save his sexy, sassy, curvy mate in this explosive series finale?

  Puca Mates Series/Serial Reading Order:

  Ride: Awakening – Episode One

  Ride: The Bet – Episode Two

  Ride: Out Cold – Episode Three

  Ride: The Veil – Episode Four

  Ride: Bad Hangover – Episode Five

  Ride: Choices – Episode Six

  Ride: Mistake – Episode Seven

  Ride: Wild Ride – Episode Eight

  Ride: The Stables – Episode Nine

  Ride: Only Human – Episode Ten

  Ride: Taken – Episode Eleven

  Ride: Finale – Episode Twelve

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  Episode 9

  Chapter One

  One Year Later

  Maelíosa’s head snapped up as the old-fashioned telephone jangled on the front desk. “Kieran, could you get that? I’m shattered!” She pillowed her head in her arms, letting her dark hair cover her eyes. The shrill ringing of the phone continued, and she was about to shove it off the edge of the desk before Kieran came to her rescue. Human technology... The shite they come up with.

  “The Stables, can I help you?” Kieran’s thick, confident brogue cut through the pounding in her skull. She listened with vague interest as he carried on, evidently speaking to a potential client. By the time he’d hung up the phone, she’d straightened up on her stool and was looking at him expectantly.

  “Anyone interesting?”

  Kieran pulled a face. “A real git, by the sound of it. Said his mating paperwork wasn’t filed by the date he’d been promised.” Kieran rolled his eyes. “Told me I could go shove it up my arse.”

  Maelíosa smirked.

  He pretended to glare at her. “I saved you, now you owe me one. For real.” He raised his eyebrows at her, and she ignored the lustful look in his eyes. Maelíosa wasn’t exactly psychic, but she could tell the male púca was quite attracted to her...and every other relatively cracking woman in a twenty-kilometre radius. It was probably why she’d never given him the time of day. Women were conquests to Kieran.

  Maelíosa laughed. “Thanks, then...you really saved the day.”

  Kieran rolled his eyes again. “Did you ever think we’d have this much success?”

  Maelíosa shook her head. Her hair whipped back and over her shoulders, and with some irritation, she tied it into a low ponytail. “No,” she said bluntly. “I didn’t want to tell Da, but I thought this whole idea was complete bollocks.”

  Kieran stared. “Really? And you went along with it anyway?”

  “It was either come work here or mate with someone in the clan.” Maelíosa shrugged. “And you know how I feel about mating.”

  Kieran held her gaze, but a slight flush appeared on his cheeks. “Aye,” he said, and let out a sigh. “You don’t have to remind me.”

  Maelíosa frowned. She glanced down at her hands, folded on top of the front desk. For some re
ason she was unwilling to tell Kieran the rest of the deal she’d made with her father, Fallon. Working at The Stables, the clan’s new mating resort, had been put on the table as an option...but only if Maelíosa eventually promised to mate with a suitable human. Just the thought of it made her nose wrinkle. She couldn’t stand the idea of mating—especially not now, not when everything was finally back to normal.

  The past year had been a real mess, though it’d shaped up better than she’d expected after Nathan revealed their existence to the world. It had weakened the veil, however, which they now had to guard against stupid human tourists who’d likely stumble through while trying to snap a photo. Maelíosa rested her chin in her hands. Even when she was resting, she still felt as though she were legging around, frantically putting the finishing touches on The Stables.

  After Archer’s death, Fallon and the other púca discovered his true intentions for the property in the Aran Islands: a tourist attraction, one that promised to let humans spy on the púca in their natural habitat. Thankfully, Archer was dead now. So Fallon had purchased the abandoned resort property, and turned it into the classiest of...what was it, exactly? Maelíosa giggled to herself as she tried to come up with a suitable term. It wasn’t exactly a house of ill repute. More like a matchmaking service. A very high-end matchmaking service, with supernatural clientele.

  “What’re you laughing about?”

  Maelíosa snapped back to reality. Kieran was staring at her, and as usual she met his gaze with her own fiery stare. “Nothing,” she lied.

  Kieran raised his eyebrows and she laughed.

  “Fine. I never thought that git’s book would get so much attention.”

  Kieran shook his head. “More than a git, I’d say. Nathan’s a real arsehole. As if a blog post didn’t cause enough damage.”

  “Aye.”

  He sighed. “But something good came out of it, right?”

  “I’d say more than something.” Maelíosa gazed around the opulent front hallway of The Stables. She and the clan had all worked together for almost a year finishing what Archer had started.

  Kieran chuckled. “I can’t believe you work here, even though I’ve seen it with my own two eyes.”

  She wrinkled her nose and changed the subject. “Still, there’s that nasty group of eejits. What’re they calling themselves, Only Human?”

  Kieran nodded. “They’re a dangerous bunch of gits,” he said darkly. “Racist arseholes. You know what Finn told me?”

  Maelíosa shook her head. Finn was a big, goofy púca who worked at The Stables with Kieran occasionally. The two púca would always make a go of it at Tí Joe Watty’s, the local pub, after their shifts.

  “Some tourist was making bloody jokes about us,” Kieran said. “Kept saying his ex-bird would need a horse around for the size of her fanny. Finn got into it—the tourists eventually backed off, but not until Finn had scared them right proper.” He raked a hand through his dark hair. “That bloody book turned us arseways!”

  Maelíosa narrowed her eyes. “And think, Felicity used to like that piece of shite. He’s responsible for all of this!”

  Kieran exhaled sharply. “She didn’t know what a real git he is, and neither did Cyn. It’s not their fault. You can’t go blaming someone for someone else’s arsehole behaviour.”

  The two fell silent. Ever since Nathan Wood had published an entry on his popular blog, Everyday Supernatural, the lives of the púca had been drastically altered. And when he’d published a tell-all book, revealing even more information about Fallon, Maelíosa, and the púca clan, things went from bad to worse. Nathan was a friend of Felicity’s and Cyn’s from their old lives back in London, but when they’d travelled to the Aran Islands to report on supposed púca sightings, everything had changed. Felicity and Niall, Maelíosa’s brother, had fallen in love and mated. And after a little difficulty, Cyn and Fallon, Maelíosa’s father, had done the same.

  Maelíosa and Cyn hadn’t always had a warm relationship, but things had improved in the past year. Working together on The Stables brought the two of them into almost daily contact, and Maelíosa eventually overcame her grudge against her stepmother. Even though Nathan had complicated matters for the clan, she couldn’t deny how happy Cyn made her father. They’d made an alliance, albeit a shaky one.

  “Aye, you really can’t,” Maelíosa said agreeably.

  Kieran nodded. “Aye.”

  “Our alliance with the humans, that’s a bonny thing, right? Everyone knows we’re bloody skilled healers. It’s done heaps for our reputation.”

  Kieran arched an eyebrow. “That’s all grand. But what if that arse from the pub is a member of that Only Human group?”

  Maelíosa sighed. “Don’t think about it. We can’t go around worrying about who could be associated with the OH and let paranoia get the better of us. Besides, you and Finn are paranoid enough for all of us.”

  Kieran scooted closer to her and batted his eyelashes like a girl. Like all of the púca, he was stunning in human form as well as in stallion form. Maelíosa had noticed that, but Kieran was too much of a flirt for her to consider anything else.

  “I’ll think about something juicy instead,” Kieran said with a wink. He leaned in close. “Fancy a pint after work?”

  “Oh, hump off,” Maelíosa said mildly.

  She jerked her head toward the door. There was a tall man standing in the foyer. He had close-cropped dark hair, tan skin, and grey eyes. Interestingly enough, he also had a young girl with him. She stood beside him with those same serious grey eyes, a tall and resolute wisp. Maelíosa was immediately reminded of her younger sister Darcy, except that while Darcy could never sit still, this girl’s sedate appearance made her seem years older.

  “Blimey O’Reilly,” Kieran muttered. “He’s brought a little bird with him, too!”

  Maelíosa chewed on her lower lip. “Aye.”

  She couldn’t deny the grey-eyed man was quite attractive, but who’d bring a child to fill out a mating application? And why?

  Chapter Two

  Sage let his gaze travel around the lobby of The Stables. He’d never seen anything quite like this—his years in the Navy had brought him all over the world, but usually with sparse accommodations. This was a level of grandeur he’d never envisioned, especially given that the service provided seemed a little seedy at its core.

  “Dad,” Carina said. She tugged once on his wrist. “Look, there’s some comfy chairs over there. I’ll just go read, okay?”

  Before Sage could agree, Carina walked confidently across the lobby and sat on a red, tufted pouf chair. He watched his nine-year-old daughter with a mix of pride and sadness. In a year, she might be on her own. Sage swallowed the lump in his throat. This whole trip was because of her. And although Sage could tell that Carina knew the somber importance of the journey, she was as quiet and self-possessed as ever. She’d always been an easy kid. It broke his heart to think that he might not be around to see her grow into a woman.

  Sage couldn’t believe how nervous he felt. He shook his head, thinking of how his fellow sailors would laugh if they saw him now. For two years, he’d been in charge of a SEAL platoon of fifteen other men. They’d been to hell and back, and Sage had stayed strong through all of it. But now, getting nervous at the prospect of mating with a púca? That was total bullshit.

  “You gonna stand there with your trap open or are you planning to have a blather with us?”

  Sage straightened his shoulders. At the other end of the long hall, two people stood behind the front desk. Wait, he thought. Are they still technically people? Or are they púca even in human form? This is fucking confusing! He couldn’t remember what that memoir about the púca his daughter had read said about it. It’d been all over every television station and bestseller list for weeks now.

  Sage walked over to the desk without replying. The man who’d called out to him was young and had the strapping good looks of an action-movie star. The woman standing next to him was ev
en better. Sage realized that even though she wasn’t smiling, she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. Her long, dark hair was shiny and full, and her dark eyes sparkled with intelligence and humor. She hadn’t even opened her mouth, but Sage could tell that she was both sarcastic and incredibly observant.

  “Hey,” Sage said in a low voice. “I’d like to fill out a mating application.”

  The woman raised an eyebrow at him. Her lips twisted into a sexy smirk, and she pushed a clipboard over the counter toward him. A quick glance down told Sage that the paperwork was much more businesslike than he’d expected. Although, upon further reflection, Sage wasn’t exactly sure what he’d been anticipating. The forms were complicated, almost similar to everything he’d had to fill out before starting chemo. It didn’t seem romantic at all.

  “You can fill it out over there,” the woman said, pointing behind Sage toward the red pouf chairs where Carina sat with her book. “If you have any questions, just ask.”

  He nodded. “Thanks.”

  Sage took a seat in a chair across from his daughter. His mouth hardened into a line as he picked up a pen and began to write. There was a detailed medical history section, and he let the pen hesitate over the paper as he thought about how to summarize his situation in the few brief sentences that the space would allow. Maybe it was better to skip that part for now. If they asked him he’d tell them the truth, but there was no need to blow his chances of finding a willing mate. He moved onto the next section. They really didn’t give you a lot of space, despite the in-depth questions.

  “Is there more room?” He glanced up at the young woman. At rest, her face had a sullen look about it that still managed to be alluring.

  “You can write on the back if you need to,” the woman replied. “You’re American?”

  Sage tapped the questionnaire with the nib of the pen. “Yeah. From Jacksonville, in North Carolina, by the coast.”

  The woman stared. A twinge of arousal tightened his pants around his crotch. He inhaled sharply and tried to return his attention to the mating application. All the information they wanted spelled out his entire life story, but the way the sexy woman at the desk was looking at him, it was almost as though she could see into his soul. Sage kind of wondered what sort of powers púca had, and if she really could.