Page 238 of The Cruelest Undead

“Please,” Alex whispered. “Please let her come back to me. She’s my mate,” he said, and then, he began going gray. “Oh, God!” he whispered. “Her spell. We’re bound,” he said. “She bound us together. If she goes, I go, and if I go, she goes.”

Jolie began panicking.

“I can’t undo that either,” Death admitted. “Two lives for two lives. In order to bring her back, I have to do drasticthings. She’s human, and that means she can die, even with Rinnon’s protection. Marie found the right spell.”

“Rinnon, stop time!” Flynn said.

Jolie did it for him. She whispered the words that Rinnon taught her.

Everything stopped around her, and when she touched Flynn and Jacques, they both moved.

“You can’t do this,” Jacques said. “You love them, and it will hurt you.”

What choice did he have?

We can’t lose Alex, one of our best fighters, and our witch, Kiera. My parents are human—were human. There’s only one choice,” he said, a tear slipping from his cheek. “I have to make the sacrifice.”

“Flynn,” Jolie whispered.

He stopped her.

“Let me make the sacrifice. Just let me say goodbye, Jacques. That’s all I ask. Please. Give me that opportunity to say goodbye this time.”

“I’m sorry, Mate. I’m so sorry. I wish I could change this for you.”

He really felt horrible.

“It’s not really them, right? It’s just magick and ash, bound back together.”

Jacques lied for him.

“Yes.”

Flynn appreciated his lie. As mates, he could feel it.

“Save them, and I’ll make the sacrifice. I’ll say goodbye to them.”

This was exactly what he knew would happen. Deep down, this was why he didn’t want to get attached to them.

Because he would lose them again.

“Are you sure, Flynn?”

He nodded.

“Yes. Thank you for letting me have this moment with them. I need to tell them myself.”

“Okay, my love,” Jacques said, touching his cheek.

“I’m sorry, Flynn,” Jolie said, crying. “I’m so sorry that I did this to you. I brought them back.”

He said nothing.

“Release time.”

When she did, Alex continued to change. He was slowly going to ash. His fingers were numb, and he couldn’t feel his body.

Kiera slipped from his fingers.

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