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“It’s an acronym. Hills of shivers and shadows. He said he came up with it the night his mother died.”
“Helena Weiss?”
“Yeah. Leo was three when Denver brought them here. She lasted four years. That’s a long time, given the track record of the others.”
“What happened?”
“She found Denver in Leo’s bed. Leo was seven.”
“Oh, God, Wolf.” Thorny chills slice through me. “I can’t…”
“She couldn’t, either. She tried to stop Denver amid the assault, but Denver locked her out of the room. According to Leo, she hid somewhere in the cabin and waited until Denver fell asleep. Then she attacked.”
“She attacked Denver?”
“Yep. Hit him over the head with something. Knocked him out. Tied him up. And left him to starve.”
“She left Hoss? How?”
“She and Leo hiked south with as much food as they could carry. But as we already know, there’s nowhere to go. When they were forced to return to Hoss, Denver was still tied to the bed. Still alive. Barely. She tried to bargain with him. Said she would free him if he flew them out of here. When that didn’t work, she put a gun to his head. He chose death.”
“But she didn’t kill him.”
“Obviously. She and Leo were starving right along with him. There wasn’t enough food to last the winter. She needed Denver to survive.”
“She released him.”
“She had no choice. He regained his strength, went on a supply run, and when he returned, he buried her alive.”
“Buried?” A death knell tolls in my ears. “As in…?”
“In the ground. In the hills. Leo watched it happen.”
The night his mother died in the hills of shivers and shadows.
I can’t process this. I can’t breathe. “It’s too much.”
“It’s only the beginning. That same year, Denver kidnapped Kaya Knowles and her two-year-old son, Kodiak. They’re Native Alaskans of the Arctic. Inuit.”
“I figured. Kaya’s address on her license is a coastal town in the north.”
“Yeah. He was born on the northern coast. Comes from hardy, cold-resilient bloodlines that descend from the Birnirk of Siberia. They’re built for this climate. But Kaya only lasted two weeks here. When she discovered what Denver got up to with seven-year-old Leo, she killed herself.” He points a finger gun at his head and mouths, Bang.
“She left Kody unprotected with a monster?”
“Everyone has limits, and when those limits are breached, they break.”
“I can’t imagine.”
“Can’t you? What would you have done if you’d known all this when you arrived? While you were pregnant?”
I would’ve killed myself. Me and my baby. I’m so ashamed to even think it that I can’t say it out loud.
“How does he choose his victims?” I ask. “Is there a pattern? Are all the women…small-framed? Child-sized?”
“Small, yes. Most are already pregnant. All of them are alone, cut off from their families, desperate in one way or another. Penniless. Lost. Not missed by loved ones.”
“I don’t fit that profile. I’m married—”
“Was married. Denver knew how that would play out. You have no living relatives, no parents, no siblings, no close friends. Correct?”
“Yeah.” I swallow around a lump. “What happened to the other women? And their babies?”
“Gone. Dead. In the end, they all give up. It never ends well. That’s why we decided to keep you in the dark.”
“Who decided? You and your brothers?”
“Yes. The other women were told why they were here and what was expected. If they weren’t already pregnant, they knew they would soon be with child. Denver’s child. Or his grandchild—if his sons took the bait. He doesn’t care how or who. He just wants more small bodies to love and dominate.”
Hot acid rises to my throat as I strangle on a cry. My child. My baby. That’s the plan he had for us?
“When the other women learned this,” he says, “they didn’t last long.”
“So you thought by keeping me in the dark that I would become a breeder for Denver’s sick desires and…what?”
“Leo promised us he had a plan.”
“The birth control pills?”
“Yes. As long as we stayed away from you and tried our best to hate you, the bargain would never materialize. Denver would have no leverage. He would fuck you, fail to impregnate you, and when you become useless to him…”
He’ll kill me.
It hangs in the air between us, twisting with regret.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.
“Don’t be. You didn’t know me, and you were protecting yourselves.”
If Denver had raped me right away, his sons would’ve viewed me as Denver’s possession and kept their distance. That’s why Denver waited. He wanted me to get comfortable and let the bond between his sons and me form organically.
“I get why you tried to keep me at a distance,” I say. “But for the record, it was a terrible plan.”
“Was it? If you weren’t so…you, I wouldn’t have agreed to the devil’s bargain. He hasn’t touched me in ten years.”
“He hasn’t? What about your brothers?”
“It’s been even longer for them. He tried to use the other women as leverage, tried to lure us into caring about them, but it didn’t work. We stood our ground, refused the bargain, and left them to their fates.”
