The Curious Case of Cat and Cupid [manxman]

Chapter Five

Sunday, February 12th

Somehow, things felt like they were going even worse than they were when everything began. Between Cooper and I, we had worked tirelessly for almost twenty-three hours straight trying to find his soulmate. We'd contacted Ms. Eros to inform her of the situation, and she'd provided a copy of the information sheet on his soulmate, but that was all she could give him. The tracker was one of a kind, and it had been destroyed in his fight with the witch.

I'd been using all the information Cooper had given me to attempt to narrow down a long list of potential soulmates, but every lead ended up being nothing but disappointment.

So far, all we knew with any certainty was that his soulmate was a male who lived just outside of city limits but made frequent trips to the city, most likely for work. He helped a lot of people, which narrowed the list to doctors, nurses, teachers, police, soldiers, and first responders. He was also a sorcerer. Unfortunately, not all sorcerers just did freelance sorcery work like I did, which meant aside from thinning out species within our occupational groupings, we still had a shit-ton of people to go through in a disgustingly short amount of time.

The door creaked softly as it swung open, causing me to glance up from the map I'd been glaring holes into. Cooper stood at the front of my desk holding a brown paper bag and what looked like a to-go coffee cup. He set them on the edge of the counter.

"Any luck with Dr. Graham?"

Cooper shook his head and sighed. "Nope. What makes this even worse is that I'm not even sure what's supposed to happen once I find my soulmate. Some get marks from physical contact, some just know... Maybe I walked by him three times already today and just didn't know it."

I put my hand atop his and squeezed it softly. "You'll know when you've got him. Just have a little faith."

"You're right." He nodded and leaned against the counter, propping his chin on his fist as he nudged the bag closer to me. "I brought you a snack, since you didn't eat this morning."

I started to refuse, but my stomach chose right then to growl obnoxiously. Forcing myself to not look as embarrassed as I felt, I thanked him graciously and took the bag. Inside was a small square of strawberry shortcake.

"I don't know how well that'll pair with the coffee, but—"

"It's great," I said. "Thank you."

Cooper nodded with a grin as he peered around the bag to get a look at my map. "So, how have things gone here?"

"Not great. I think I've got another lead for you to chase down, though. And I've managed to pull in a few resources to lend a hand."

"Oh?"

"Scott is going through the files of every name I send him, and Nina is getting information on anyone Scott can't find through more nefarious means."

"Thank you. You really don't have to go to all this trouble just for me, though."

"Yes, I do." If I didn't, not only would he be recycled, but his soulmate would be abandoned without a fucking clue that Cooper ever existed. It wasn't fair to either of them, and if I had a shot at keeping them alive and happy, I wanted to take it.

Before Cooper could get another word in, the door creaked again. Scott strode into the room with a stack of files propped under his arm. He came right over to us and leaned next to Cooper. "So you're the pussycat?"

Cooper grinned. "In the flesh."

Scott nodded approvingly before turning to me. I averted my gaze and set to work on digging my piece of cake out of the bag. Knowing him, something ridiculous and awkward would shoot out of his mouth at any second.