Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt: Hunter x OC

Disorientation

"I'm sorry," Lyra began, voice thick with emotion as she choked back tears.

Hunter finally turned to face her, heart hard and eyebrows low. He took in her pounding heartbeat, the adrenaline coursing through her veins, the minute trembles that wracked her body, and he was surprised to feel anger welling up where he would have expected sympathy.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I don't know. This. All of it," she sighed, defeated by an uncooperative brain and a thoroughly overactive body. She wrapped her arms around herself, tensing as though she wanted to turn and go but remained where she was, much like a child receiving discipline and not allowed to leave.

Hunter didn't know what to do. A thousand things to say were crashing into each other in his mind, all tainted by the hurt he'd stuffed away and refused to fully acknowledge.

"I'm gonna go," Lyra whispered, apologizing with her eyes rather than saying it again. "Thank you?" she offered, as though searching for the right thing to say, then she ventured down the alley, around the corner, and out of the main part of town, stopping only when the path turned into a more rural route through trees and homes. She hesitated, looking fearfully into the darkness.

Hunter remained where he was for a moment, trying to ground himself. Strategy. What was the strategy here? Coming up with nothing, he sprang into action on a gut impulse, stalking after her with heavy steps. He saw her standing at the edge of town, still quivering, and walked loudly until he was a few feet behind her.

"Need an escort home?" he muttered, still startling her despite his efforts to make his approach obvious.

"I... You don't need to do that," she demurred, eyes on the ground as Hunter stared, jaw clenched and stomach churning.

"Come on," he said gruffly, jerking his head toward the path and leading the way, assuming she would follow. He heard soft steps close behind, so he focused instead on a quick scan of the forest ahead as well as the nooks and crannies of the last few tall buildings behind them.

"Thanks." The softness and shakiness of the single word tugged at his heart, but he patched it up quickly with a reminder that it had all been a facade. Somehow. Although, why hadn't she continued her mission to turn him in? Perhaps she still was. Perhaps he could take advantage of her shaken state to pry enough information from her to put the matter to rest once and for all.

They walked in silence past cozy houses as the waves crashed against the distant shore. The clouds had grown thicker, dimming the moonlight fighting to get through, and the storm inside Hunter grew with each passing step. Finally, they came to her fence, and he yanked the gate open forcefully, simmering in stillness as she walked past him, making herself as small as possible.

When she was a couple of steps from her porch stairs, he stopped abruptly with a loud sigh, and she turned to face him as he stood firmly planted a few paces behind, the glow from her cottage windows softening the sharpness of his face. He stood up straighter, chest expanding as he opened his mouth, prepared to begin a verbal assault, but the words were different than he'd planned as they came tumbling out.

"If you'd stand up for yourself, things like that wouldn't happen."

"I know," she conceded, staring at his feet. Somehow, that made him angrier.

"I mean all the time, not just tonight. He's been bothering you for months, no?"

"Years, probably."

"And you just take it? Try to avoid it? Try to run away? You see where that gets you?" His questions grew louder until he caught himself, glaring at the horizon instead of at her. Distant thunder rolled overhead, and he could smell the rising humidity in the air.