Ride: Part One - Awakening
Subtitle:
(BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Puca Mates Short Book One)
Series:
Puca Mates
Description
Part One:
PUCA
MATES SHORT #1
***
This a NOT a full-length book. This novella is part one of a serial romance. ***
Felicity
Forrest has the perfect job as an investigative blogger for Everyday
Supernatural. This curvy girl gets sent to the Aran Islands to find out whether
a púca shape shifter is responsible for the strange accidents haunting a
construction site.
Niall
O’Leary is tall, broody, and totally alpha. His mission is to discover why the
veil between the human world and the Realm has lifted. And as the Chieftain’s
son he must find a mate or his twin will be promised to a stallion he despises.
He has a duty to his family, his clan, and a need for offspring. Otherwise the
púca could become nothing more than folklore.
Passion
and frustration ignite when a curvy human female tempts his inner stallion like
no other. There’s only one problem... She just got out of a relationship that
left her broken hearted. Is she ready for a second chance at love?
Reader Note: This book is for those who
are 18+. It contains explicit language, sexual situations, and one helluva
cliffhanger. However, if you like curvy shifter romance, a stallion who can’t
resist his curvy woman, and a dash of humor, then this is the story for you.
Please read these installments in order. Enjoy!
Puca
Mates Series/Serial Reading Order:
Ride:
Awakening – Part One
Ride:
The Bet – Part Two
Ride:
Out Cold – Part Three
Ride:
The Veil – Part Four
Buy Links:
Amazon
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WC20C02
Amazon
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00WC20C02
Amazon AU: http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00WC20C02
Amazon
CA:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00WC20C02
Excerpt:
Chapter 1
A smile
curved Felicity Forrest’s mouth when her cell phone rang and she saw the name
that flashed across the screen. “Hello.”
“Are you
ready for tomorrow night?” Cyn asked.
Felicity was
taking the Tube back to her flat in London to get ready for a weekend with Cyn.
Her friend planned to celebrate her birthday by getting utterly pissed and then
getting laid. She’d encouraged Felicity to find someone too, regardless of her
nasty break-up six months ago. Felicity wasn’t really over it, and didn’t plan
on opening herself up to getting hurt again, but after all it was her
best friend’s twenty-fifth birthday. The two of them had been friends ever
since attending university together, so for her sake, she’d try to sound
energetic and positive. Cyn kept going on and on about being a quarter of a
century old, to which Felicity just rolled her eyes.
She wanted
to grab a pint or two and go dancing, but Felicity had never been comfortable
on a dance floor. On the outside, she projected a false confidence about her
curves—she’d come to terms with the fact that she’d never be a tiny little
tart—but dancing made her more aware of her size. And gyrating would only draw
attention to her lack of rhythm.
“Right,
it’ll be smashing.” Just because Felicity didn’t enjoy her way of celebrating
didn’t mean she’d ruin it for her friend. She wasn’t an out-and-out liar, but
little white lies were always good for sparing the hurt feelings of a friend,
weren’t they?
“Rubbish!
Don’t lie to me.”
Felicity
sighed. Unfortunately, Cyn almost always knew when she wasn’t telling the
truth. It defeated the purpose of filtering those little nuggets that Felicity
knew would sting. She wondered why she hadn’t learned by now that it was easier
to be honest, even when it hurt like hell.
“It’s just…
You know that I don’t dance.”
“How long
have I known you?”
She could
see where her friend was going with this. They’d had countless conversations
about Felicity letting her hang-ups get in the way, but right now an
emotionally draining break-up was making her edgier than usual.
“For a long
time, and you know I bloody love you too, but I don’t relish the idea of
bouncing my bum around and making a fool of myself.”
“Felicity,
you’re stunning. I really wish you could see that. You sparkle on the inside
and there’s nothing more beautiful than that.”
Felicity
smiled even though Cyn couldn’t see her through the phone. She’d always hated
that ‘beauty comes from within’ bollocks, but it didn’t sound so cliché when
Cyn said it. And Cyn was the only one who knew how vulnerable Felicity could be
about her body. It was easier to be a bitch to anyone else who made her feel
like crap.
“I promise
we’ll have fun,” Cyn said. “Besides how long has it been?”
“How long
has what been?”
“How long
has it been since you’ve been shagged proper?”
“As a matter
of fact it was just the other night,” she fibbed. No need telling her she’d
helped herself in the shower. Cyn would argue that it didn’t count at all.
“Right,” Cyn
said, sounding totally unconvinced.
Felicity
could picture Cyn rolling her eyes. “All right! Not since I broke up with
William. Satisfied?”
“No, and
neither are you. We should remedy that this weekend.”
Felicity
wasn’t ready. Not bloody likely she’d be prepared to let someone into her bed,
or anything else for that matter. She and William had been together nearly four
years, and they’d lived together for three of them. She’d been the one to break
it off with him, but that didn’t make it any easier. When you’re with someone
you’ve grown comfortable with, sometimes you overlook the bickering and
fighting, because at least you have someone to take to weddings or introduce at
parties. Someone who’d put up with your crazy family on Christmas. Although, he
had made a total arse out of himself at the last family gathering.
And William
never understood her job as a paranormal investigator and blogger for Everyday
Supernatural. He’d called it a tabloid rag that wasn’t worth her time or
talent. Most of the pieces she’d blogged were about cases that turned out to be
anything but supernatural, but the few times she’d come across something that
couldn’t be explained by a very real and human element were moments she’d never
forget.
Felicity
loved to discover the truth. Her job was certainly never boring, and the blog
gave her an opportunity to travel. But her constantly being on the go wasn’t
why they’d split up.
They’d been
together long enough for him to see the vulnerable side that Cyn knew all too
well. Except William used it to fight unfairly. Especially when he drank too
much, which was more often then she cared for. Felicity could hardly stand to
look at herself toward the end of their relationship, and to maintain any sort
of self-respect she decided she wouldn’t stick around and let him make himself
feel better by tearing her down. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she
remembered their last fight—the one that had ended it once and for all.
“Felicity?”
“Sorry, I
was distracted.”
“No you
weren’t. You were thinking about that good-for-nothing shite that broke your
heart. I swear I could kick him right in the teeth.”
Felicity
laughed. Cyn always spoke her mind even if it wasn’t entirely appropriate, but
at the moment she was glad her friend lacked a filter. “Then you’d be sitting
in jail for your birthday, and what would be the fun in that?”
Cyn let out
an overly dramatic sigh. “Right you are.”
“Is your
sister coming out with us tomorrow night?”
“I asked
her, but she and Jack are having dinner with his parents this weekend. It’s the
first time she’s meeting them, so I forgive her lapse in sisterly duties.”
Felicity
raised an eyebrow. “Sisterly duties?”
“Yes,
getting me pissed for my birthday, of course.”
Felicity
laughed, just as her phone buzzed with an incoming call. It was her boss. Cool
air wafted past as the tram stopped and the door slid open at the stop before
hers. A stream of people fled the crammed compartment while another multitude
pushed past to take the place of the ones who’d departed.
“I’m going
to have to let you go. I have a call coming in,” Felicity said.
“Speak to
you later,” Cyn said before the phone clicked and Nathan’s voice sounded in her
ear.
“Felicity?”
“Yes.”
“I have an
assignment for you,” Nathan said around what sounded like a mouthful of food.
“Can it wait
until next week? I’m taking Cyn out for her birthday. Remember?”
“I’m afraid
not, and I’ve already made accommodations for you.”
“What’s the
assignment?”
Felicity
couldn’t help the excitement she felt bubbling in the pit of her belly. The
adrenaline spike was a familiar sensation that always rippled through her
whenever there was a new mystery to solve.
“There’s
rumours of a púca haunting on Inis Mór. There’s a local priest who seems to be
at the root of the story, and some real estate developer is building one of
those golf resorts that are so popular on the mainland. I reckon he’s trying to
take advantage of the island’s spectacular ocean view and the tourists that
visit, but recently there have been accidents on the construction site,” Nathan
said. “And it appears that a púca is to blame.”
She could
hear the amusement in his voice. Likely it was some local behind the whole
thing. There was usually a reasonable explanation, but their blog readers loved
watching the story as it unfolded. Felicity would have to research this one.
They’d received tons of reported ghost sightings, a fair share of vampires, and
even claims about the true location of the Loch Ness monster, but she’d never
heard of a púca.
“What’s a
púca?”
“They’re
shapeshifters that can take the form of horses, rabbits, or goats, but they
always have black fur and glowing eyes. They can bring good luck, or they can
be quite mischievous. I think this one is of the mischief-making variety, given
the accidents that have been reported.”
“Accidents?”
“It’s
harmless, really—just some missing tools and minor injuries—but it leads me to
believe that someone really doesn’t want this resort to be built.”
Felicity
sighed. That had been exactly what she was thinking as he relayed the story.
Some of the initial excitement at the prospect of her new assignment deflated.
Not so
supernatural after all.
A.C. James’s
Ride: Episode One – Awakening
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