Kurt is sitting at the desk.
He stands up, tall, and healthy looking, his body fit, his face full, but still chiseled. Almost as if he’s been on a really good vacation.
“Ana,” he says. “It’s been too long.” He rounds the desk and steps in front of me, and I can see the green of his eyes, with the little orange flecks that reminded the sixteen-year-old me of the fires of hell when he was screaming training commands at me.
I stand there, stunned, unable to move, my feet planted to the ground as if the carpet were cement. “How are you here? What is this?”
“What the fuck, Kurt?” Luke demands, stepping to my side.
I’m remotely aware of a door opening. Of footsteps behind the three of us, and I want to shout for them to leave, to allow us time to process and claim the answers we deserve. That I deserve.
“Everything is not what it seems,” Kurt says. “It’s a lot worse, Ana.”
“What does that mean?” I demand, my voice trembling, while Luke’s possessive, protective energy pops beside me.
“Start talking, Kurt,” Luke demands tightly, and it’s really not a shock when he draws on him, aiming his weapon at him, “because I haven’t decided if I should be celebrating right now or shooting you.”
Suddenly the dynamic changes. Another person enters the picture. “Kurt, you bastard. You really need to just die already, but at least I can finally make you pay properly for your stupidity.”
I whirl around to find Parker holding a gun over my head, pointing it at Kurt. Adam and Savage are not here, at least not in this moment, and I don’t know why. I can barely process what is happening. Why is Parker here and they are not? I never get a chance to ask. The next thing I know I’m grabbed from behind and Kurt has a hold of me, with a gun pointed at my head.
He eyes Luke and issues a command. “Kill him.”
I’m his shelter because he fears Luke will kill him. And I think he might have to.
My fiancé was forced to kill my brother. Now I think he might be forced to kill the only man I’ve ever really looked at as a father.
THE END…FOR NOW