Page 33 of Incurably Cupid

I sat there for a while—much longer than I’d intended—watching the sun dip behind the Bernese Alps. I just couldn’t muster the willpower to move. The sunsets here were alwaysbreathtaking. I snapped a quick picture of the fading light, slid my phone back into my pocket, and, as my stomach grumbled, began considering dinner. This town had the best Rösti—a golden, crispy potato pancake topped with cheese, bacon, and a fried egg—and I wanted it in my empty belly yesterday. I was suddenly starving, no doubt thanks to all the fresh mountain air.

On the way out, I intended to grab some Swiss chocolate for my stash. Was there anyone in the world who made better chocolate than the Swiss? I seriously doubted it.

Unfortunately, I never got my Röstiormy Swiss chocolate because someone smashed the back of my head with what felt like a boulder, and in my last cognizant, hazy thoughts, I realized they’d slung me over their shoulder and were running off with me. I tried to yell for help, but I passed out instead.

I cameto with a pounding headache, blurry vision, and roiling nausea.

Great.

I groaned as I opened my eyes a tiny slit and squinted down at my ankles. I was tied to a chair with what looked like a long silk handkerchief. I couldn’t see my wrists behind my back, but I could feel that they were also bound to the chair.

My head swam. I blinked as the room began to come into better focus. It was still really blurry, but I could at least make out shapes now. I squinted at the figures around me, managing to make out four. The light from a window to my far left was blinding, and I had to close my eyes and turn my head away for a moment as pain knifed through my skull.

I was missing some memories, and my head continued to spin as I tried to recall anything leading up to being tied to achair. The occupants of the room were strangely silent—except for a sad, dog-like whine—and I was grateful. I didn’t need a villain’s monologue at that moment. I needed to figure out why I was tied to a chair. I kept my eyes closed as I tried to dredge up my memories from the last twenty-four hours.

Mesmer was staying with me. Dante had come... I’d taught my class... I straightened in the chair as I suddenly remembered. I was in Glacier Falls. I’d come to find a promising lead on a soulmate for Mesmer but hadn’t found anyone. I had been sitting on the bench, and then... I’d gotten smashed over the head and kidnapped.

I was ready to bust some heads! If only I had my candy bowl with me.

I groaned as pain spiked through my head. Anger, bad. Calm, good.

“I’m so sorry,” a masculine voice said near me. “I tripped and accidentally elbowed you. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just... needed your help. I panicked when I hit you, so I scooped you up and brought you here.”

First of all, how did youaccidentallyelbow someone? And second, where the heart and stars washere,and why had I been kidnapped?

He sighed. “I know it sounds unlikely, but it’s true. We just needed your help. I was going to ask politely, but I kind of freaked out when I hurt you.”

“Release me,” I demanded. We would start there. If they truly needed my help and the injury hadn’t been intentional, I would see what I could do. But I wasn’t going to do anything while tied to a chair.

“Now, wait a minute,” a female voice said. “How do we know she’ll help us if we let her go?”

I smiled, though it wasn't a pleasant one. “If you don’t release me, your chances of getting my help drop to zero. It’s up to you.”

The woman scoffed but didn’t complain further as the man next to me, who smelled like a shifter, untied my ankles and wrists. I rubbed the circulation back into my wrists and hoped my eyesight would clear up in the next few minutes because I was flying blind and very uncomfortable at the vulnerable position that put me in.

“Here, Miss, let me help you to the couch. It'll be more comfortable than this wooden chair.” The shifter helped me up, and we shuffled slowly across the room. The shadowy outlines of the other occupants moved aside as we passed.

My head was spinning, and my vision still wasn't right. At this point, I was concerned that I might have some kind of permanent damage, but it was likely just a bad concussion. I knew one thing—I needed a doctor.

“We’ve called a healer for you,” another voice said, as though reading my thoughts. I couldn’t see where the voice came from, but I thought it might be, from its blurry outline, a loveseat in a more shadowed part of the room.

“Thank you. Why did you bring me here?”

“Here, Miss,” the shifter placed an ice pack wrapped in a cloth in my hand, and I nodded at him as I gently applied it to the back of my head.

I could sense only high ceilings and streaks of shadows and sunlight filling the room, as well as the outlines of its occupants. My new position on the couch faced away from the windows behind me, a fact for which I was grateful.

The shifter sat next to me on the couch, giving me space so he didn’t crowd me.

A world-weary voice from the far corner of the room said, “There are four of us here with you. I’m sorry you were injured. We never intended to hurt you. This is my tavern,The Fiery Phoenix.We’ve been... unlucky in love over the years. Dieter, the lone wolf beside you, is clumsy to the extreme. This hasmade finding his mate impossible, as no other female shifters will go near him. Astrid is an oracle whom everyone is afraid to approach, lest she have an episode at dinner. Yvette is a mute siren, and I’m Felix, a vampire who can't seem to adapt to this modern age.”

I pulled the ice pack off for a moment, trying to process all of that, but the pounding in my skull made it nearly impossible to think.

I rubbed my forehead. “Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight: you four think that because I’m a cupid, I’ll be able to help with all of this?” I mean, I probably could, but...

“Yes,” the same voice replied. Felix, I assumed. “Cupids undergo extensive training—more than most other supernaturals could ever hope for.” He sighed. “Look, we’re not asking for a miracle, just a little help.”

I pursed my lips. “Your complaint was that you’re having a hard time fitting in with the modern era. What do you mean by that?”

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