Her eyes doubled in size. “No, no, I can’t do that anymore!” She glanced over her shoulder. Shane was approaching with a hard glare as he saw Eric’s tight hold on Olivia. “I’m not a djinn! I changed!”
Because she’d been bitten by her lover. Transformed into a vampire.
Or so Shane had wanted him to believe. But Eric wasn’t a fool. He’d been paying attention. Olivia had plenty of bite now, but he didn’t think she’d lost her djinn power. At least, not fully.
“You have to make a wish,” he said.
“Get your hands off her, Eric!” Shane blasted.
Eric glanced toward the screen. Ella was getting too close to Cedric. “She needs to stand back.” His heart pounded faster in his chest. “She can’t get too close.”
“Let Olivia go!” Shane ordered again.
“Make a wish,” Eric said. His gaze was on the screen. On that terrible video feed. And he saw Cedric’s claws burst from his fingertips. He saw the bastard get ready to attack—
But Cedric’s claws didn’t head toward Ella. He sank them into his own chest.
Into his own heart.
“Make a fucking wish!” Eric begged, voice gone hoarse. “Keep her with me!”
Then he was running, kicking in that damn door, and racing into Cedric’s containment cell.
Eric’s wings burst from his back. He flew across the room. He yanked Cedric’s hand out of his chest and broke the bastard’s wrist.
Blood poured down Cedric’s shirtfront. So much blood. He was choking and laughing. “Won’t…go to…your Purgatory…”
Eric tried to stop the blood. He—
Cedric had nearly clawed out his own heart. Sick bastard.
“Without her…” Cedric rasped. “You’ll be…one in…Purgatory…living…” Blood poured from his mouth. “Hell…”
And he stilled. Eric had his fingers on the bastard’s heart. He was trying to squeeze it. Trying to make that damn thing beat because if it stopped, that would mean that Ella was gone. Ella couldn’t be gone. She couldn’t. She—
“Eric…”
His head snapped up. She was on the ground, cradled in Olivia’s arms. He hadn’t even heard the others rush in after him.
Ella had gone pale. Her lips were trembling.
He leapt to her side.
Not her last breath. It can’t be. Her heart had to keep beating. She had to keep breathing. She had to stay alive.
“Baby, no, please.” And his heart was breaking. Everything was breaking. His life. His world. His mind. She couldn’t leave him. They’d just found each other. Too fast. He had to have more time with her. He needed forever with her.
And she wasn’t breathing.
Her eyes were still open. Those beautiful eyes. Open and on him. But it was like he was looking into a doll’s eyes. There was no emotion there. No life. No Ella. She was gone. He touched her neck, but there was no pulse. He put his hand over her chest, but her heart wasn’t beating.
“No!” His wings snapped back behind him. He jerked Ella out of Olivia’s arms. Held her to his chest. “No, come back!” His eyes locked on Olivia’s desperate expression. “Wish it!” he ordered. “Wish that she breathes. Wish that she comes back to me.”
Pity flashed in Olivia’s eyes. “You know my wishes—”
“I don’t care!” Eric yelled. “I need her—more than anything.” And he bowed over Ella. “I need her. I need…”
Her heart to beat.
“I need her more than life,” he said. Then Eric put his mouth on hers. He’d tried to make Cedric’s heart keep beating. That had been wrong. He should have been giving Ella breath.
Giving her life.
“I wish…” Eric dimly heard Olivia say. But he was too focused on Ella to hear the rest of Olivia’s whispered words.
He breathed for her, pushing air past her lips. Giving her the breath that he had. Once. Twice. A dozen times. He kept breathing for her. He’d give her all that he had. He couldn’t let her go. He couldn’t do it. Nothing had ever mattered more. He wouldn’t stop. Not until she came back.
The minutes ticked by.
How long do I go without that breath? A minute? An hour?
He kept breathing for her. Kept giving her air.
Her eyes were open and so heart-breakingly blank. She was too still.
He pressed his lips to hers.
Connor’s hand curled over his shoulders. “She’s gone. I am so damn sorry, man I—”
“I won’t give up on her.” He sucked in another gulp of air, then tenderly gave it to Ella. Mouth to mouth. He’d keep it up. “I won’t.”
He was wrecked on the inside, and he knew his sanity was barely hanging on but he had to—
Ella shuddered in his arms.
It was his turn to stop breathing.
Then he looked into her eyes, and Ella was there. His Ella. She stared back at him with life and love and she was there.
She was breathing now. Sucking in deep, desperate gulps of air. And he hugged her, pulling her against him and holding on as tightly as he could.
So tight. Never let go. Never.
“Eric,” she said his name hoarsely. “I was trying to find you. For so long.”
And he’d almost lost her. He eased back, just so he could stare into her eyes once again. Just so he could see her. Eric brushed her heavy hair off her forehead. “I fucking love you.” She was the one who owned him. Did she realize it? His heart and mind and soul. Everything.
“I know,” Ella smiled at him. “I could hear you saying that. I was in the dark and I couldn’t find you. But you were in my head. Telling me you loved me…helping me to reach you.”
He didn’t know what she was talking about, but as long as she was alive, that was all that mattered.
“I love you,” Ella told him.
Hell, yes. Yes! Cedric had been wrong. Eric wasn’t in hell. He had his Ella. He had a lifetime to spend with her—maybe far longer. Not hell. Not Purgatory.
Paradise.
Heaven.
With Ella.
His forehead pressed to hers, and he held onto her, tighter than he’d ever held on to anyone or anything.
Epilogue
When he heard the faint knock at his office door, Eric glanced up. Olivia stood there, biting her lower lip and looking as if she wished she could be anywhere else.
Considering what she was, the woman should be more careful with her wishes.
“Do you have a moment…to talk?” Olivia asked him.
Eric nodded and waved her toward a chair.
“No, I’ll just stand. I-I have a patient waiting but I needed you to know…what I wished.”
He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. “She’s alive. She’s with me. That’s all that matters.”
Her hands twisted. “You breathed for her, for over forty-five minutes.”
Eric just shrugged. He hadn’t been paying attention to time. He’d just been desperate to save her. So desperate that he would have done anything. Even ask a djinn for a wish. Those forty-five minutes had seemed barely longer than a second to him.
“I tried to be careful,” she said. “But you know it doesn’t really matter how much care I use…”
He waited.
“I almost wished that Ella wouldn’t be hurt. But then I thought about how wrong that wish could go. Suddenly her body could be made of stone—something impenetrable so that she’d never feel pain again.” She exhaled slowly. “Then I realized that Ella had stopped breathing because she was tied to Cedric. Bound to him. So I wished that she wouldn’t be bound to him. Not him. Not anyone.”
I was in the dark, and I couldn’t find you.
“I don’t know if my wish worked or if maybe that was just the way things were supposed to end—she came back and he didn’t. Ella was the real Fey, after all. Maybe they are far stronger than anyone realizes.”
He knew Ella was strong. No doubt about it.
But he also suspected…she’d chosen. She hadn
’t been tied by fate or magic to anyone. She’d had the choice.
And she’d chosen to come back to him.
Eric cleared his throat. “Thank you, Olivia. I owe you…very much.” More than he’d ever be able to repay.
But she shook her head. “No, you don’t, Eric. We’re friends. Friends don’t keep tabs.” She turned away and nearly bumped into Lawrence.
No longer under anyone’s compulsion, Lawrence had healed. Sure, he might have a wicked new scar, but Eric was damn glad to see his agent back in fighting form once more.
“Thought you’d want to know, boss,” Lawrence told him, “the last of Keegan’s pack have been transported to Purgatory.”
Good. “Thanks, Lawrence. Now why don’t you take the night off and get some rest? You sure as hell deserve it.” They all did.
Olivia and Lawrence walked away, talking softly. He caught Lawrence’s words as they left his room. “I don’t know about you, Liv,” Lawrence said to her, “but I sure do wish that nothing like this mess with Cedric ever happens again.”
A faint smile curved his lips. Be careful what you wish for. He rather hoped Lawrence didn’t get too chatty with Olivia…she might just decide to grant more wishes.
Eric shut down his computer and, a few moments and a quick elevator ride later, he was in front of his apartment. He wouldn’t be living in that base much longer. They wouldn’t be. A place at the base—that wasn’t home. He wanted a home with Ella.
A real life.
Before he could open the door, it swung inward. Ella smiled at him. “I’ve been giving this some thought…” she said. “And I really think I’d make a killer Para Unit Agent.”
Her smile was big. Her eyes gleamed. And she truly was his world. “Killer,” he agreed, then wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her, and Eric knew he’d waited his whole life for Ella.
And he was so damn lucky that she had found him in the dark.
###
A Note From the Author
I love paranormal stories—anything can happen in them (and it usually does!). It was an absolute pleasure to write DEAL WITH THE DEVIL, and I sure hope that you enjoyed Eric’s story. Thank you so much for taking the time to read his book.
If you’d like to stay updated on my releases and sales, please join my newsletter list www.cynthiaeden.com/newsletter/. You can also check out my Facebook page www.facebook.com/cynthiaedenfanpage. I love to post giveaways over at Facebook!
Again, thank you for reading DEAL WITH THE DEVIL.
Best,
Cynthia Eden
www.cynthiaeden.com
If you enjoyed DEAL WITH THE DEVIL, check out the other Purgatory books…
The Wolf Within (Book 1)
Don't miss the other books in the Purgatory series.
FBI Special Agent Duncan McGuire spends his days–and his nights–tracking real-life monsters. Most humans aren’t aware of the vampires and werewolves that walk among them. They don’t realize the danger that they face, but Duncan knows about the horror that waits in the darkness. He hunts the monsters, and he protects the innocent. Duncan just never expects to become a monster. But after a brutal werewolf attack, Duncan begins to change…and soon he will be one of the very beasts that he has hunted.
Dr. Holly Young is supposed to help Duncan during his transition. It’s her job to keep him sane so that Duncan can continue working with the FBI’s Para Unit. But as Duncan’s beast grows stronger, the passion that she and Duncan have held carefully in check pushes to the surface. The desire that is raging between them could be a very dangerous thing…because Holly isn’t exactly human, not any longer.
As the monsters circle in, determined to take out all of the agents working at the Para Unit, Holly and Duncan will have to use their own supernatural strengths in order to survive. But as they give up more of their humanity and embrace the beasts within them both, they realize that the passion between them isn’t safe, it isn’t controllable, and their dark need may just be an obsession that could destroy them both.
Marked By The Vampire (Book 2)
Vampires exist. So do werewolves. The creatures that you fear in the darkness? They’re all real. And the baddest of the paranormals…those who love to hurt humans…they’re sent to Purgatory, the only paranormal prison in the U.S.
His job is to stop the monsters.
Deadly forces are at work within Purgatory. The monsters are joining together—and their plans have to be stopped. FBI Agent Shane August, a very powerful vampire with a dark past, is sent into the prison on an undercover assignment. His job is to infiltrate the vampire clan, by any means necessary.
She wants to help the prisoners.
Dr. Olivia Maddox wants to find out just why certain paranormals go bad. What pushes some vampires over the edge? Why do some werewolves turn so savage? If she can understand the monsters, then Olivia thinks she can help them. When she gets permission to enter Purgatory, Olivia believes she is being given the research opportunity of a lifetime.
Olivia doesn’t realize that she’s walking straight into hell.
To survive, they have to rely on each other.
When the prisoners break loose, there is only one person—one vampire—who can protect her, but as Olivia and Shane fight the enemies that surround them, a dark and dangerous passion stirs to life between the doctor and the vamp. Shane realizes that Olivia is a woman carrying secrets—powerful, sinful secrets. Secrets that a man would kill to possess.
And Olivia realizes that—sometimes—you can’t control the beast inside of you. No matter how hard you try. Some passions can push you to the very limits of your control…and the growing lust that she feels for her vampire…it’s sending her racing right into a deadly storm of desire.
Welcome to Purgatory…a place that’s a real hell on earth…
Charming The Beast (Book 3)
He’s a man with a beast inside…
Connor Marrok never intended to work for the Seattle Para Unit. He’s not one of the good guys—he’s a real monster, and the beast he carries doesn’t exactly play nicely. But now he finds himself being blackmailed into a new assignment. It’s supposed to be his last gig. His mission? Protect the beautiful Chloe Quick. Keep her alive. Destroy her enemies. Easy enough…until he starts to fall for Chloe.
She just wants to escape.
Chloe is tired of being a prisoner. She wants to get away from her Para Unit guard and run fast into the night. So what if Connor is the sexiest guy she’s ever met? Chloe knows trouble when she sees it, and Connor is one big, dangerous package of trouble. But, when an obsessed werewolf begins stalking Chloe, she realizes that her paranormal bodyguard may just be the one man she needs the most.
Their attraction is primal.
Every moment that Chloe and Connor spend together increases their attraction. Chloe has never felt a need so strong or a desire so dark. The beast that Chloe carries inside has always been silent, but Connor is stirring up her animal instincts. And as the danger and desire begin to twist together, Chloe wonders just how far she’d be willing to go…in order to spend one more night in Connor’s arms.
About The Author
Award-winning author Cynthia Eden writes dark tales of paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She is a New York Times, USA Today, Digital Book World, and IndieReader best-seller. Cynthia is also a two-time finalist for the RITA® award (she was a finalist both in the romantic suspense category and in the paranormal romance category). Since she began writing full-time in 2005, Cynthia has written over fifty novels and novellas.
Cynthia is a southern girl who loves horror movies, chocolate, and happy endings. More information about Cynthia and her books may be found at: http://www.cynthiaeden.com or on her Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/cynthiaedenfanpage. Cynthia is also on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cynthiaeden.
Her Works
Paranormal romances by Cynthia Eden:
BOUND BY BLOOD (Bound, Book 1)
BOUND IN DA
RKNESS (Bound, Book 2)
BOUND IN SIN (Bound, Book 3)
BOUND BY THE NIGHT (Bound, Book 4)
*FOREVER BOUND - An anthology containing: BOUND BY BLOOD, BOUND IN DARKNESS, BOUND IN SIN, AND BOUND BY THE NIGHT
BOUND IN DEATH (Bound, Book 5)
THE WOLF WITHIN (Purgatory, Book 1)
MARKED BY THE VAMPIRE (Purgatory, Book 2)
CHARMING THE BEAST (Purgatory, Book 3)
Other paranormal romances by Cynthia Eden:
A VAMPIRE'S CHRISTMAS CAROL
BLEED FOR ME
BURN FOR ME (Phoenix Fire, Book 1)
ONCE BITTEN, TWICE BURNED (Phoenix Fire, Book 2)
PLAYING WITH FIRE (Phoenix Fire, Book 3)
ANGEL OF DARKNESS (Fallen, Book 1)
ANGEL BETRAYED (Fallen, Book 2)
ANGEL IN CHAINS (Fallen, Book 3)
AVENGING ANGEL (Fallen, Book 4)
IMMORTAL DANGER
NEVER CRY WOLF
A BIT OF BITE (Free Read!!)
ETERNAL HUNTER (Night Watch, Book 1)
I'LL BE SLAYING YOU (Night Watch, Book 2)
ETERNAL FLAME (Night Watch, Book 3)
HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT (Midnight, Book 1)
MIDNIGHT SINS (Midnight, Book 2)
MIDNIGHT'S MASTER (Midnight, Book 3)
WHEN HE WAS BAD (anthology)
EVERLASTING BAD BOYS (anthology)
BELONG TO THE NIGHT (anthology)
List of Cynthia Eden's romantic suspense titles:
WATCH ME (Dark Obsession, Book 1)
WANT ME (Dark Obsession, Book 2)
NEED ME (Dark Obsession, Book 3)
MINE TO TAKE (Mine, Book 1)
MINE TO KEEP (Mine, Book 2)
MINE TO HOLD (Mine, Book 3)
MINE TO CRAVE (Mine, Book 4)
MINE TO HAVE (Mine, Book 5)
FIRST TASTE OF DARKNESS