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18

AUbrEY

I can feel the blood drain from my face as Jensen’s words hang in the air.

A horrible chill washes over me, one that has nothing to do with the relentless mountain wind howling outside the cabin. My mind races, pulling together fragments—Lainey’s obsession with the Donner Party, my mother’s descent into madness, the recurring nightmares of blood and snow that have plagued me my entire life. They all come together like puzzle pieces until I’m looking at them as a whole new image, in an entirely new light.

“That’s impossible,” I hear myself say, but the words sound hollow even to my own ears. “There’s no way to know that. I would know that!”

Jensen’s expression remains steady, patient even. He’s been waiting to tell me this, I realize.

Waiting and dreading it.

“I know, because your sister told me,” he says quietly. “Three years ago, when she and Adam hired me to guide them into these mountains.”

My eyes widen. The world seems to tilt beneath me, the cabin’s sturdy floorboards suddenly uncertain. I grip the edge of the table, steadying myself.

“What?” I manage, the single word barely audible over the crackling fire.

“Lainey came to Lost Trail Ranch in May of 2022,” Jensen says, his eyes never leaving mine. “She and her boyfriend Adam. They hired me to take them up here, just like you did.”

I shake my head, unable to process what he’s telling me. He can’t be saying what he’s saying. “No. That’s not possible. The police reports…they said Lainey and Adam were last seen at a gas station near the state park. There was nothing about a guide. Nothing about you.”

But even as I say the words, I slowly realize the truth.

Jensen isn’t lying.

“Because I never came forward,” Jensen admits, shame flickering across his features. “After what happened, I couldn’t.”

I can’t breathe.

I can’t fucking breathe .

“What happened?” I whisper, though a part of me doesn’t want to know. Doesn’t want to hear what he’s been hiding from me all this time. Doesn’t want to feel like a fool.

Such a god damn fool.

Jensen runs a hand through his hair, his gaze shifting to the fire. “Lainey was…intense. Driven in a way I’d never seen before. She kept talking about dreams she’d been having her whole life. Dreams about the mountains, about snow and blood and hunger. She said she needed to find something up here, something connected to her family.”

My stomach twists. “The McAlisters?”

He nods. “She had documents with her. Old adoption records, journals, letters—things she’d spent years tracking down. She’d figured it out, Aubrey. That she—that you both— were direct descendants of Josephine McAlister, the baby born during the Donner Party ordeal.”

I close my eyes, memories surfacing unbidden. Lainey at thirteen, stealing our father’s car to drive to the library two towns over because ours didn’t have enough books on the Donner Party. Lainey at sixteen, spending her summer job money on a “historical research trip” to Donner Memorial State Park with a friend who probably had no idea what she was getting into. Lainey at twenty, drunk and crying about how our mother used to tell her stories about the hunger when she was too young to understand what it meant and that she worried one day she’d turn into her, that the stories would come true.

Stories she never told me.

Stories I’d dismissed because of course my mother would ramble on like that sometimes. I’d grown up learning to compartmentalize it and ignore it, because if I didn’t, it would have killed my childhood.

“She knew,” I say softly. “All those years, she knew. Or at least suspected. And she never told me.”

The betrayal hits deep. Not just that Jensen had been lying, but that Lainey had been. My sister. My own flesh and blood. She’d been keeping it from me.

“I think she was trying to protect you,” Jensen says, seeming to read my face. “The way she talked about you…she wanted to keep you safe from it.”

A bitter laugh escapes me. “By disappearing without a trace? By letting me spend three years wondering if she was dead or alive? That’s not protection, Jensen. That’s cruelty.”

“She didn’t plan for things to happen the way they did,” he says, his voice rough with regret. “None of us did.”

I force myself to meet his gaze, to face whatever terrible truth comes next. “Tell me everything,” I say. “From the beginning.”

Jensen takes a deep breath, settling into the chair across from me. Outside, the storm continues its assault, snow hissing against the windowpanes, wind moaning through the eaves like a living creature.

“They came to the ranch in early May,” he begins. “Lainey was excited, almost manic, talking a mile a minute about the research she’d done, the connections she’d made. Adam was…different. Quiet. Controlling. He’d cut her off mid-sentence, squeeze her arm when she said too much. Like he was embarrassed of her. I didn’t like him from the start.”

I nod, remembering the few times I’d met Adam. How Lainey seemed smaller in his presence, less vibrant. How she’d call to cancel plans at the last minute, always with an excuse that sounded rehearsed, like he was standing off to the side and making sure she did it.

“He had money too. I don’t know where he got it, but I suspect drugs. Didn’t matter to me, though. Payment was payment. And Lainey wanted to go deep into the mountains,” Jensen continues. “To the places where the McAlisters had been—not just the main Donner camp by the lake, but where they’d moved to get away from the others. Where Josephine was born. Where the transformation began.”

“And you took them,” I say, unable to keep the accusation from my voice.

Pain flashes across his face. “Yes. I took them. To be honest with you, I was curious. I wanted to believe her theories—about the curse, about the hunger, about people living in the mountains for over a century. It aligned with what Jake McGraw passed down through the generations of my family, stories about how he and his wife, Eve, met, searching for survivors in the area when yet another party went missing. About what they saw. About what creatures they’d defeated. These hungry ones. It was the closest I’d gotten to having someone believe in my own family history, from someone outside the family, of course. And your sister’s enthusiasm, her passion, was contagious.”

I swallow hard. “What happened up there?”

“We made good progress the first few days. Camped at the same spots we’ve been staying at. Took the same trail. Lainey was…exhilarated by it all. She kept taking notes, taking pictures.”

“The alcove by the creek? With the bracelet and the sky pilots and the markings. Was that her?”

He shrugs. “When I saw it with you the other day, that was the first I’d seen it. But she had been in the area, off exploring with Adam. She may have left it on purpose. Perhaps for you. Maybe even had seeds on her, who knows.”

My throat tightens with unexpected emotion. Even in her obsession, even running toward something dangerous and unknown, Lainey had thought of me. Had left pieces of herself for me to find.

Did she know she wasn’t coming back?

When she said the mountains were calling, did she know the answers would hold her hostage?

That they would possibly kill her in the end?

“Tell me more about Adam,” I demand.

Jensen’s expression darkens. “He thought they were up here for some kind of spiritual journey—at least that’s what Lainey told him. But I got the sense he was just humoring her, letting her have her little adventure before he…” He trails off, jaw tightening.

I press my fingers into the table. “Before he what?”

“Before he pulled her away from everything she cared about,” Jensen says bluntly.

“The way abusers do,” I whisper.

I swallow hard, guilt settling like a stone in my gut. I’d known Adam was bad news. Had seen the warning signs. But I’d been too wrapped up in my own problems, my own life, too willing to take Lainey’s assurances at face value. Too much the FBI agent who could see clearly on the job but was blind to what was right in front of her at home.

Some investigator I am. I deserve to have my badge taken away.

“On the fourth day,” Jensen continues, “we reached a spot just beyond Benson Hut. Down in the valley. Close to Soda Springs.” He pauses, rubbing his palms against his thighs as if trying to warm them. “Lainey was convinced we were close to where the McAlisters had camped. Where Josephine was born. She wanted to explore some caves she’d found on old survey maps.”

“And did you?”

He nods, eyes distant with memory, the flames from the fire jumping in them. “We made camp at the base of the ridge. Plan was to explore the cave system in the morning. But that night…”

He falls silent, gaze fixed on something I can’t see. Something that still haunts him.

“That night?” I prompt, trying to be patient but still frustrated at the same time.

“Adam and Lainey had a fight,” he says finally. “I couldn’t hear everything—I was keeping watch a little ways from camp—but it was bad. He was shouting, calling her crazy, delusional. Said it was time to stop indulging her insanity and go home. I heard a slap, saw her stumble out of their tent. She had a red mark on her face.”

Rage blooms hot in my chest. “He hit her?”

“Yes,” Jensen confirms grimly. “I was about to intervene and beat his fucking ass when Adam stormed off into the woods. Lainey followed him, telling him to come back, that it wasn’t safe. I went after them both, but the terrain is treacherous even in daylight. At night…”

“You lost them,” I finish for him bitterly.

“I heard screams,” he says, voice dropping to almost a whisper. “Adam’s, then Lainey’s. By the time I reached them, there was blood on the ground. Drag marks leading into the trees.”

My heart hammers painfully against my ribs. “Like with Hank.”

“Yes. I followed the trail as far as I could, but it led into a cave system at the base of the ridge. I…” He hesitates, shame evident in the set of his shoulders. “I was afraid. I was fucking afraid, like I’d never been before. I’d seen movement—shapes in the darkness that moved too fast, eyes that reflected blue in the moonlight. Feral people. Hungry people. One of them started toward me, and I ran. Didn’t have my rifle on me. Should have had my rifle on me. They came for me like an animal and I leaped out of the way, fell down a cliff, broke my leg.” He taps his right one. “Screamed for help but there’s no one to hear you scream in these mountains. So I dragged myself back to camp for supplies, for my rifle, but by then a snow storm had moved in. Like this one, but one of those late spring surprises.”

“And you never found them,” I grind out. “You just let her go.”

“I couldn’t get anywhere,” he says, his brows coming together in a plea. “I tried. Managed to get a signal eventually, stroke of luck, then Eli came to get me but by then I was delirious. I couldn’t have searched then, but I did as soon as I healed enough. Came right back up here despite knowing what I saw and I searched for three days. There were a few signs of a struggle, blood. But no bodies.”

“And you didn’t report it to the authorities? Didn’t tell anyone what happened?”

Jensen looks away, unable to meet my gaze. “No. I was scared. Scared of what I’d seen in those caves. Scared of what the police would think—a man alone in the mountains with two missing people? Above all, I was scared of Marcus.”

“Marcus?”

“Marcus Thorne. The man who owns most of my debts. The man who effectively owns the ranch.” Jensen’s face is carved with bitterness. “He’d be uncovered. The ranch would be finished. My mother’s care would be finished. Everything my family worked for and tried to protect over the generations would be gone.”

Uncovered is a curious choice of words, but I leave it alone for now. It only solidifies my suspicions that Jensen’s ranch is a front and his crew is involved in criminal activities.

But right now that’s the least of my damn worries.

I sigh, sucking my lip between my teeth, trying to make sense of everything all at once and coming up with nothing. I want to be angry at his selfishness. I want to hate him for keeping this from me, for leading me astray, for lying. But far beneath my anger is a current of understanding. That terrible weight of responsibility. The impossible choices we make to protect what we love. Even if my anger is driving me right now, I get him on some level.

Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Fuck. Lainey.

The thought of her is visceral, a knife to my heart that leaves me flayed.

He knew her. He brought her here.

He lost her here.

“So you let them vanish,” I say, swallowing hard. “You let my sister become just another missing person statistic. Another cold case.”

Colder than ice , I think.

“I’ve regretted it every day,” he says, his brows knitting together, voice choked with pain. The guilt is etched into every line of his face. “When you showed up at the ranch, when I realized who you were…I thought maybe it was a chance to make things right. To give you the closure I couldn’t give Lainey. I thought maybe it could be absolution for us both.”

“By taking my money.” I can’t keep the bitterness from my voice. “And saying nothing.”

“By finding out what really happened to her,” he protests. “And yes, by using the money to save my ranch, my mother’s care. I’m not proud of it, Aubrey. I’ve never been proud of the man I’ve become. But I need you to understand. These mountains…they hold onto their secrets. They protect their own.”

“Their own,” I repeat. “You mean the…hungry ones. The transformed. The things that took Hank. The things that took Lainey and Adam.”

He nods. “I believe Lainey found what she was looking for that night. Her connection to the McAlisters, to Josephine, to the hunger. I think she found her family. What I don’t know is what happened next. Whether she died or…”

The implication hangs unspoken in the air between us.

Whether she was killed by them in the end…

Fuck.

She can’t…she can’t actually be out there still, can she?

No. I can’t let myself think that way. Not even for a minute.

I rise from the table, unable to remain still with the storm of emotions raging inside me. Betrayal, grief, rage, shame—they swirl together like the snow outside, blinding in their intensity.

Betrayal by Jensen, who lied to me from the start. Who knew all along what might have happened to Lainey but kept it from me, who led me into a potential death trap.

Betrayal by Lainey, who never shared the truth of her obsession. Who kept me at arm’s length from the very thing that defined her life and ultimately claimed it.

And shame. Deep, burning shame that I didn’t see through the deception. That I, an FBI agent trained to notice inconsistencies, to read people, to find the truth, had been so utterly blind.

I had missed all the signs.

“You should have told me,” I say, my back to him as I stare into the fire. “From the beginning, you should have told me.”

“Would you have believed me?” he asks quietly. “If I’d told you your sister hired me to guide her on a quest to find her cursed ancestors who live in the mountains as flesh-eating monsters? Would you have believed that?”

“I would have believed she told you that,” I admit, the truth bitter on my tongue. “Doesn’t mean I would have believed Lainey.”

“I thought the same about Lainey at first,” he says. “Until I saw them with my own eyes and knew that she was right.”

A tear slides down my cheek, hot against my cold skin. I brush it away angrily, but more follow. “All this time,” I whisper, feeling choked from the inside out. “All this time I’ve been looking for answers. Feeling like I failed her. Like if I’d just been more attentive, more present, I could have saved her. And honestly, I was right. I did fail her. I could have saved her.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Jensen says, rising to stand behind me. His presence is both comforting and infuriating as he lays his large, capable hands on my shoulders. “Lainey made her choices. She followed the path she felt compelled to follow.”

“And it got her killed.”

“But we don’t know that,” he says gently. “Not for certain. That’s the thing.”

I turn to face him, fury bubbling up through my grief. “What, you can’t seriously think she’s still out there? That she turned into one of those…things? Those hungry ones? You think my sister is some kind of mountain zombie preying on people?”

“I don’t know,” he admits. “But I know what I saw, Aubrey. They were people at one point. People who looked…changed. And they moved like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

I shake my head, rubbing the tears away with hasty swipes of my hands, willing them to stop. I can’t cry, I can’t lose it, not now. “This is insane,” I mutter. “All of it. I…I can’t—” My voice breaks, emotion overwhelming logic, training, everything.

God damn it.

Jensen reaches for me, but I step back, away from the comfort he offers. I can’t accept it. Not now. Not when the weight of his deception still crushes my chest.

“We’ll head back tomorrow to the ranch,” he says after a moment. “First light. Get everyone safely back to Lost Trail. Figure out our next move from there. See if we can get people out looking for Hank. People who aren’t us. We’re too close to this.”

The logical part of me knows he’s right. In this weather, with Hank gone and danger lurking in the darkness, retreat is the only sensible option. The cabin doesn’t feel safe anymore, not with those things out there.

But something else rises in me, pushing past fear and reason. The same drive that propelled Lainey into these mountains. The same hunger for truth, for answers, for connection.

“No,” I say, straightening my shoulders. “I want you to take me there. Where you took them.”

Jensen stares at me, disbelief written across his features. “Aubrey. You saw what happened to Hank. You saw the warning at Cedar Creek.”

“Actually I didn’t. We don’t know what happened to Hank and all I saw at the creek was a deer carcass,” I say, and mean it. “You owe me this, Jensen. You owed my sister, and you failed her. You owe me the truth. The whole truth. Not just the parts you think I can handle.”

“But the truth is there are things out there that will hunt and kill you. Things that I don’t even know can be killed in return.”

The fire pops and hisses in the silence that follows, casting long shadows across the cabin walls. Outside, the storm continues to rage, a fitting backdrop to the tempest inside me.

“Then I need to see it,” I say more softly, holding his gaze. “The caves where you lost them. Where Lainey found…whatever she found. I need to understand what happened to her.”

What could happen to me.

Her blood is in my blood, after all.

Have I always been just a few wrong steps away from madness?

For a long moment, Jensen says nothing, his expression unreadable in the flickering firelight. Then, slowly, he nods.

“Okay,” he says simply. “I’ll take you.”

The promise settles between us, as solemn as a vow. As binding as blood.

As dangerous as the hunger that waits in the dark.