Title: Cupids’ Flight

Series: Wings, Book Two

Author: Mell Eight

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 09/22/2026

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 18800

Genre: Paranormal, MM Romance, Halloween, Samhain, anthropomorphic, interspecies, magic/magic-users, Japanese mythology and folklore

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Description

Betrayed by love in the worst possible way, Leo spends his days alone. He works alone, lives alone, and that’s the way he prefers it until he rescues a strange creature named Hei from the goblins, and Hei refuses to let Leo be. During Samhain, a time of transition, falling into Hei’s embrace is all too easy. However, Hei’s wish to stay with the cupids requires they embark on a quest to fulfill love, a quest that might prove unsolvable as Hei’s past comes calling with a vengeance.

Excerpt

Cupids’ Flight
Mell Eight © 2026
All Rights Reserved

The quarter moon overhead glowed, but the streetlights glowed brighter. In fact, every house in the suburban neighborhood Leo was walking through was bright and welcoming with pole and porch lights, and every other outside light on and illuminating the yards and driveways. Fake cobwebs, blow-up spiders, and plastic graveyards dotted lawns everywhere Leo looked, and throngs of kids walked the sidewalks in elaborate costumes. Leo estimated only some of the costumed people were actually still children. That said, no matter their age, everyone seemed equally happy to hold out open bags already full of candy to get more sweets at every door.

Halloween. Leo honestly didn’t mind this particular human holiday. Normally when he traveled to Earth from his home in the clouds with the rest of the cupids, he was forced to conceal his wings. He hated feeling so restricted, as if someone had tied a band around his chest and squeezed. To do his job properly the wings had to be hidden, so he endured the discomfort. The one exception was on Halloween.

“Dude! Your animatronics are sick!”

One of the boys, whom Leo really thought ought to have grown out of costumes and candy, jogged over with his group of friends following. He wore a green mask representing some sort of Earth superhero, jeans, and a black shirt. His friends also only wore the bare minimum of a mask as their nod to the holiday, but they all wore something different so at least there was some effort.

“Do they move?” green mask asked.

“They do,” Leo replied. He stuck a hand in his jeans pocket, trying to act like he thought the movement was covert, which ensured they all saw him and thought he was palming a remote, before straightening out his wings. He flapped slowly twice before folding them along his back again.

“I have got to get me one of those!” another member of the superhero group said, sounding awed.

“They’re expensive,” Leo warned, although he honestly had no idea what animatronics actually cost.

“A worthy goal!” green mask declared.

Before anyone could say anything else, another superhero ran up to the group.

“You’ve got to hurry!” he said. “The Artogos are giving out full-sized candy bars, but I think they’re starting to run out!”

With a parting wave, the group ran off, heading to yet another brightly lit house. Leo continued on his way, dodging sugar-hyped, overstimulated kids and their suffering adult chaperones until he reached the only house on the block that was completely dark. Only a dim light through a crack in a window shade indicated anyone was home. Leo headed up the driveway, then ducked around the side of the house where he found a nine-foot privacy fence separating the front yard from the back. None of the bright light from the neighboring houses reached the fence. Hidden within those shadows, Leo jumped and flapped his wings just enough to get him over the fence and into the backyard.

The shades had not been pulled closed over the French doors separating the back deck from the dining room inside, letting light spill out into the overgrown yard. In the kitchen, a woman leaned heavily against the counter, a mixing bowl full of something in front of her, although she wasn’t stirring. She looked thin and wan, bone-tired, and generally not well.

To the left of the dining room, Leo found a living room. The TV flickered on commercials, shedding their glow over an easy chair where a man lay, snoring. The table in front of him was full of empty, half-crushed beer cans.

Leo’s mission tonight was simple: help the woman find the courage to leave her drunken fool of a husband.

His power as a cupid was the best way to help her. Two types of cupids lived up in the clouds that Leo called home. Love cupids helped couples find each other, and encouraged people to take the next step in building a beautiful relationship together. Leo couldn’t stand them. The only thought filling love cupids’ heads was how to make people happy, but they never bothered to dig deeper to see where true happiness lay. Actually… Leo shook his head. That thought was wrong. He had recently met love cupids who weren’t that foppish. His nephew, Sable, was married to one, and since Sable seemed happy, Leo tried hard not to judge all love cupids the same. He found it extremely difficult though. After nearly three thousand years of fixing love cupids’ mistakes—where they thought they had brought about true love and instead caused pain—finding a handful of love cupids who were actually capable wasn’t nearly enough to fully change his mind.

For Sable’s sake, Leo was trying, but he definitely wasn’t finding it easy.

Leo was the opposite of a love cupid; he was a loss cupid. Where love cupids brought people together, loss cupids like Leo helped to separate them. When a relationship needed to end, a loss cupid was able to help convince people it was time to move on. In a perfect world, Leo would then deliver the newly separated couple to a love cupid to help them find a new love. That was why Sable and his husband Wynn worked so well together. Love and loss cupids were working together more often these days, but Leo worked alone for a reason. Most of the cases assigned to him just weren’t suitable for a love cupid.

The couple he was looking at separating right now was a perfect example of when the influence of a love cupid would only cause harm. Most of the woman’s bruises were emotional, but abuse was abuse. Words were far more painful than fists, but far less visible. What she needed was the courage to free herself and then take the time to heal. A damned love cupid wouldn’t give her that time, instead attempting to match her with her true love before her heart was repaired enough to be ready to try again.

His simple recurve bow appeared in his hand, and an arrow appeared in his other hand. Leo nocked the arrow and lined up his shot, waiting a moment to be certain the woman wasn’t going to suddenly move, then let the arrow fly.

The glass doors were no impediment to his arrow, which slid through as if they weren’t even there. The arrow landed with a solid thud in the left side of her chest, right in her heart. She didn’t move, as if she didn’t notice, or care enough to notice. The arrow shimmered for a moment and then faded away, leaving behind a completely unblemished shirt and no sign of blood.

The woman suddenly shook her head and pressed one hand to her forehead, but then her jaw firmed and she stood up straight. She briefly glanced over at her snoring husband, and a sneer tilted her lips as she strode away from the kitchen, vanishing from Leo’s view. When she returned a few minutes later, she carried a large suitcase. She vanished from view again, and a moment later a light came on in an upstairs window.

She would pack what she could carry and likely go to stay with her sister. Within a week, divorce papers would be served. Leo’s work here was clearly done.

He hopped the fence again and melded back into the crowd. Fewer very small children were out and about now, and more of the older ones who should have grown out of the holiday had appeared. Leo wended his way through them, trying to return to the secluded park at the end of the street where he could call on a portal to take him back up to the clouds. He would report his success and then head to his house. The first Samhain celebrations back home had no doubt already begun. Sable had invited Leo to the party his husband Wynn was throwing, but Leo had politely declined. After tonight’s mission, what he really needed was some time to relax in the peace and quiet of his own home. Maybe tomorrow he could stop by the main square in town to see the decorations, although going alone to see the intricately carved pumpkins and turnips lining the square had lost its shine a long time ago. The last time Leo had any fun at a solstice event was when Sable was still a child and Leo could bring him along. These days, Leo found it better to just stay home.

“Purple, it’s been a long time,” a voice said from Leo’s left.

Leo looked over, but he already knew who he would see. Only one bastard called him “Purple” after the color of his wings.

“Giblets. It’s been five hundred years, I believe?”

Leo tried not to remember what event had occurred five hundred years ago that had resulted in him being somewhat friendly with a goblin, but when your ex-lover had tried to destroy cupid society and killed your brother in the process, it was hard to forget. Leo had thought his ex was a gentle soul, but Elder Ortho was only using Leo to further his plans to become king of the cupids. Never mind that cupids didn’t have kings and lived in a fairly socialist society, Ortho believed he could unravel their societal structure and place himself on top. Giblets was one of the goblins who had helped the cupid elders bring Ortho’s reign of terror to an end.

“I hope you’re not out shopping for dinner right now,” Leo continued. “Even though it’s Halloween, I suspect the people running around will be missed.”

Giblets snorted. “You know we only eat the flesh of evil souls, and kids might be evil-hearted at times, but not properly evil enough to make a good meal. Only one truly evil person lives around here,” he added, throwing a thumb in the direction of the only dark house. “But now that you’ve been by, we’re happy to let the meat stew a little longer while he gets some comeuppance. He’ll be very tender soon.” His grin showed off all his pointed teeth, flashing bright in the streetlights. “No, I’m here for another reason, Purple. We raided an underground nest of nasty demon worshipers last night for some good eating and found something. Or someone. We’re not really sure what he is, just that he’s got wings. Since you’ve got wings too, maybe you can talk to him and figure out how to get him home again?”

“Lead the way,” Leo replied, his answer immediate.

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Meet the Author

When Mell Eight was in high school, she discovered dragons. Beautiful, wondrous creatures that took her on epic adventures both to faraway lands and on journeys of the heart. Mell wanted to create dragons of her own, so she put pen to paper. Mell Eight is now known for her own soaring dragons, as well as for other wonderful characters dancing across the pages of her books. While she mostly writes paranormal or fantasy stories, she has been seen exploring the real world once or twice.