Page 45 of Blood for Blood

“It wouldn’t have changed anything, Luna.” I tip her chin up to look at me, tears streaming down her face. “It would have gone the same way, but there would be two sets of grieving parents instead of one. Amara helped my mother raise me. We did the right thing by having her raise Leo.”

We stand there for quite a while, just hugging each other, while she cries against my chest. When she pulls away from me, she turns to see Alaric still standing in the doorway, naked. She laughs as she walks toward the dresser, grabbing a few things and handing them to him. “Sorry about that.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He grabs the clothes, kissing her on the forehead. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I chime in.

“I appreciate it.” He nods, putting the clothes on. “If you need anything at all, you know where to find us.” He leaves the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

“We need to go to the morgue and make arrangements for him.” I inform her, walking up behind her, rubbing my hands up and down her shoulders. “Grimm has been waiting for us.”

“Can we bury him here?” She asks, her head dropping forward.

“Of course we can!” I spin her so she’s facing me, grabbing her shoulders again. “Whatever you want, Baby Girl. If you want a church service, I’ll pay whatever I have to so it happens for you.”

Tears fill her eyes once more as she looks me in the eyes, “Mateo Tomasso Rossi, I wouldn’t survive this life without you.”

“Shh,” I whisper, kissing the top of her head. “You don’t have to, but you’re the strongest woman I know, you can survive anything.”

Thirty minutes later, we pull into the parking lot of the morgue. Grimm is around the side of the building, waiting to let us in. Since none of this is happening officially, we have to go about things a little differently.

“I got the casket ready for him, boss.” Grimm speaks once we’re inside and the door closes.

“You already picked a casket?” Luna gasps behind me.

Grabbing her hand, I tuck her against my side. “I did, but if you don’t think it’s perfect for him, we’ll get another one.”

“Are you ready to see it, Miss Luna?” Grimm asks, leading us down a long corridor.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” He swings a door open allowing us to walk in ahead of him. He walks to the stand against the back wall and pulls the cover down. “Oh god.” She cries out. I pull her tighter against my side just as her knees buckle.

“Do you want to change it?” Grimm asks, looking between the two of us.

I place my hands on the sides of her neck, looking into her eyes. Her pulse keeps increasing, making me nervous as hell. “What do you think, Baby Girl?”

“I hate it!” She sobs, still looking at the small coffin. “It’s perfect and I fucking hate it. This is so unfair.”

“I know it’s not fair.” I grimace, seeing the pain in her eyes. If I could take the sorrow away from her, I would do it in a heartbeat. “I’ll do whatever I can to make you feel better, every single day for the rest of my life!” She sniffles and I use my thumbs to wipe the tears from her face.

“What’s next?” She turns to face Grimm, rubbing the rest of her tears away. My heart hurts every time she tries to lock her emotions down. She’s probably the most emotional person I’ve ever met, but she hates that about herself, like having feelings makes her weak or some shit like that. Pot, meet Kettle.

“Whatever you want, Miss Luna.” Grimm smiles sadly at her before grabbing a notebook from a stack on the shelf in the corner of the room. “I’m sorry that it’s not exactly professional, but these notebooks have lists of everything you need to have a traditional funeral. Everything from the flowers for the service, to catering a dinner afterwards. You can take it home with you, look it over, and let me know what you decide.”

She grabs the notebook from his hands, thumbing through the pages quickly. “Thank you, Grimm.”

“It’s what I do.” He smiles brightly at her, then leads us back out of the building. “Call me as soon as she makes a decision and I’ll get started right away, boss.”

“I will. Thanks again, Grimm.” I nod. Wrapping Luna’s hand in mine, I lead her to the passenger seat and hold the door open for her. Once she’s seated, I close her door and walk around to the driver's side. Before climbing in, I pull my phone out, sending a quick text to a friend to meet me at the house.

Chapter 30

Mateo

When we arrive home, Luna practically runs inside to find Aurora and get started on planning the best funeral possible for Leo. I walk inside after her, heading straight upstairs. My phone buzzes from my pocket, I quickly answer the call and hold the phone to my ear.

“I’m here.” Comes through the speaker.

“Guest room. Now.” I end the call before she can respond, knowing she’ll have something snarky to say about being bossed around. A few seconds later, I hear someone stomping up the stairs.

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