Chapter Text
As soon as Hunter walked in, he knew something was off. Willow was standing in the middle of the rest of his friends, fidgeting with her hands. “So, Hunter… while you were… out, Luz said something about Grimwalkers. Would you, uh, happen to know what that’s about?”
He froze. Shit, what had she said? He looked to Luz, who was pointedly avoiding his gaze. Of course she was, she’d betrayed him.
Hunter schooled his expression back to neutral. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Upon his lack of response, the group turned to Luz. “What did you mean when you said that?” Amity said, “No more hiding, remember?”
So they didn’t know everything yet. Not that it mattered. Luz was going to give him away, right here and now.
“I’m sorry, Amity. It’s not mine to tell,” she said.
What? Why would she do that? It must have been because he was here. She didn’t have the heart to stab him in the back while he watched, that’s all it was. He looped his arm through hers, muttering something about needing to talk to her, and pulled her away from the group.
When he decided they were out of earshot, he released his grip on her like he’d been touching boiling rain. He didn’t look to see the hurt on her face. It was only fair. She’d hurt him first.
“I,” he started, “I trusted you. Why would you—” Oh no. He knew why she’d told them. “You were trying to convince them to kill me, weren’t you? Get rid of the Grimwalker in case he turns into Belos again, we can’t trust him, right? You wanted them to throw me back in the water and let me drown.”
Luz stared at him in what can only be described as abject horror. “Oh my God, Hunter, no!”
“It’s fine, Luz. You don’t have to explain yourself. Why would you ever want me around? I was his fucking puppet. Titan, it was stupid to think I could actually,” he stopped himself. “Forget it.”
He stood up to leave. He didn’t know where he would go. Now, he’d had two homes ripped from underneath him. Before he could decide, Luz grabbed his hand.
“Hunter, wait.”
It was stupid, but he stayed.
“When you were,” she hesitated, “unconscious, none of us knew what to do. They were talking about calling an ambulance, taking you to a hospital, and I was scared that your body would be different, and they wouldn’t be able to help you. I thought,” her voice cracked, “I thought you were going t—,” and then she was crying.
Oh. He’d had it all wrong. Hunter thought back to the conversation they’d had in the basement of the house. She’d called him family. Looking now at what might as well have been his sister, he could see just how much she meant it.
“I’m so sorry, Hunter. I never meant to betray you.”
Now, it was his turn to pull her crying form closer. (If the shoulder of his wolf shirt got a little wet, well, it would dry.)
“And I’m sorry for assuming the worst. It was just hard for me to believe that,” he stumbled over the words.
“That I wouldn’t hurt you?”
“That you cared that much,” he said, shame heating his cheeks like a furnace in his face.
“Oh. Well, I do.”
He sighed. As terrified as he was to admit it, they all cared about him and he cared about them too. “I have to tell them, don’t I?”
She shrugged. “I think you should.”
“And what if they hate me?”
“They won’t.”
He hugged Luz tighter. “You’ll be there?”
“Of course,” she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Okay,” he said, and together, Luz and Hunter returned to their family.