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98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nBQHDx4l5
At eighteen, Jax had arrived on the island as nothing more than a broken soul - a boy dragged through hell, his chest bound with chains of grief and fear. He had been prey then - his wrists bound, his mouth gagged, thrown into the wild like discarded meat.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5ZTqjDONR
He wasn't supposed to survive.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbGYE47Tif
But he did.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyFIJmgCrG
He didn't just endure - he evolved.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVu9Pp5jOE1
Three years later, Jax was no longer the hunted. He was the hunter - a predator sharpened by pain, forged by the island itself. Day by day, it had stripped away his humanity, layer by layer, until only something raw and deadly remained. What had once been dreams became tools. What was once innocence became memory.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzCRkEqZcv
He learned to survive not by running, but by watching. By studying. Learning the rules.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkHsizNDPC
Then mastering them.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZymgJWsVze
His body had changed - muscle built over lean bone, reflexes honed like weapons. He could read the trees, hear danger in the wind, disappear into shadows like fog. He moved like rumour. Like fear.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNJKsgvjGh
The hunters who had once looked down on him now whispered his name. Some with respect. Others with unease.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0Uwr7PluK
Jax was no longer just a player in their twisted game. He was a force. A ghost.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVkyIz4W1v
A legend in the making.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡocabCgnaVO
At first, he hunted to survive. Now he hunted to dominate.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDc4DYRHlRp
He carved out his own territory deep in the forest - a brutal network of shelters, traps and lookouts. No one approached without his knowledge. His camp was invisible to the unwary, untouchable to the weak.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFT7I4g4ys
The island's newest prisoners spoke of him as a myth. The shadow in the trees. The silent one. The predator who knew your name before you knew his.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4KZn3byjD
But Jax remembered everything.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXocnp7rUiy
He remembered the bruises. The screams. The girl who had tried to save him. The way her voice broke as they dragged her away. That sound lived inside him - no longer as grief, but as purpose.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUoFTHZiTj3
He trained. He waited. He calculated.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAnGtBfIfF
And when it moved, it moved like nightfall.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcA1HFtPUc
The women who came were no longer sisters in suffering.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6gDCfuy3S
They were pieces. Booty. Currency.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgR6Mli650r
Currency. Strategy. Each one had value - and Jax decided how to use it.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYViiHY4h6
He didn't take them all. That would have been clumsy. Predictable. No - he was methodical. He studied them. Watched. Waited. Understood what made them tick. What made them tremble.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZHl7GyZot
And then, when the thread holding them together was thin enough to snap - he struck.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXuXMxT6Yz
Some followed him out of fear. Others, finally, out of something colder. Something that looked like loyalty. Affection was a rare and irrelevant thing in Jax's world. He didn't need to be loved.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYwqj33y37
Just obeyed.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdaEUaJchg
Jax had become the dark balance of the island.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrvwXi3zNt
Not its saviour.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiqoPRby95
Not its devil.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDzUUE9gLF
Its law.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2c6frUv9fW
And the law was cruel.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVcpM9mm9r
There were no fairy tales here.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhutmQDE6Yi
Only choices.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vgzcgMMdE
Only consequences.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bHxXOwcMH
From the top of the cliffs, he watched a new transport cut through the water far below. His fingers curled slightly, the familiar thrill already crawling under his skin.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXsJPGELRR
New arrivals.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCpZg9QTvq
New eyes.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zs5wFAG19
New fear.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDuxlmJIhwk
New fires to put out - or to test.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6W2DpoTin
And maybe, just maybe...98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKKGceyJF7
Someone worth breaking.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CNPVi0gjs
He turned away from the edge and disappeared into the trees, the forest swallowing him whole. The birds scattered. The leaves fell silent.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkDMkq56Dd
The hunter was on the move.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCqgp2pkRK
And this island?98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYDL3T4rDG
This island was his.
The narrow path that wound through the forest had all but disappeared. Overhead, the trees arched like clasped fingers, filtering the sunlight into shards of green and gold. The air was thick, almost heavy, and the sound of birds had all but disappeared - replaced now and again by a faint, unfamiliar crunch in the undergrowth.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw7HqpRquQi
Jessica narrowed her eyes at the map in her hand, turning it over for the fifth time.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZv47MDet5
"This is complete rubbish," she muttered. "According to this, we should've hit 'Bottom of the Well' ages ago. There's no well. Hell, there's not even gravity that feels normal here."98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRV0GSST1N2
Tom leaned over her shoulder, studying the faded lines. "So... if this isn't it, then where the hell are we?"98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVw9qyyPdw
"Even if this map is ancient," Jessica said, "there should be some landmarks. Unless the trees have decided to replant themselves."98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtewr69j5Rq
Tom squatted down and dropped his rucksack. "Maybe whoever drew this map wanted it to be confusing. If this island is undocumented... maybe it's meant to stay that way."98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1xBxPBYiN
Jessica didn't answer immediately. She had taken a few steps forward and was leaning against a large tree, her eyes scanning the dense foliage. The sound of the ocean had faded completely - replaced by something quieter. Something deeper. The rustling of leaves. The call of a bird, distant and strange. The heartbeat of the forest itself.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjox4QqNFn
And for the first time since his arrival, a flicker of unease danced behind her confident demeanour.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpowew3D9qS
Tom bent over the map again - and that was when the sound came.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmN6tReJDF
Deep. Muffled. Mechanical. An engine.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8QGIkh4j4
It didn't roar. It didn't roar. It pulsed through the floor like a whisper in metal.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBDDlVNjNL
Jessica straightened instantly, her eyes narrowing as she turned her head towards the sound.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBvXBlDE4k
"That's... an engine," she said in a hushed voice. "A truck, maybe. Not close. But not far."98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbMmGbuOYY
Tom nodded. Slowly. He tightened the straps of his pack and stood.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFohWo2TY3g
"Let's move. Carefully."98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxFcqzwZHA
The forest swallowed their footsteps as they started again, slower this time. Jessica took the lead, her stance sharpened by instinct. Tom followed, each step measured, his breath held.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiCVQx6ySu
The sound became clearer. Not louder - but more defined.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Nrb7FwLcG
A rhythm. A vibration.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2Y124JI0o
Not natural.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2opAYlip7
And definitely not alone.
Jax remembered the first time he saw them.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NnB0RovKH
He had been hidden deep in the woods, his body woven into the shadows like a predator born of the trees. Not a sound escaped him. Every breath was a silent calculation, every twitch of muscle restrained by instinct sharpened over years of solitude. The wind howled in from the ocean, tearing through the branches, dragging the scent of salt and something sweeter—sweat, skin, life. The waves below crashed against the rocks in a rhythm only Jax understood now, a rhythm he had listened to for years. It was the pulse of the island. His island.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZhXrTHcn0
That moment, the moment he first laid eyes on the woman and her daughter, was etched into him like fire into flesh.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKBEkWR7zv
The girl moved without fear. She danced barefoot across the mossy stones and fine sand, her laughter rolling with the wind, piercing the night with something innocent, something that had no place here. Her long curls shimmered in the moonlight, her blue bikini catching starfire like scattered sapphires. She was light. Unspoiled. Untouched.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SnhGAYiiU
To Jax, she looked like a forest nymph, something not quite real.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmZw2lAqgW
But the mother—she was different.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTipPImRao4
Every movement was measured. Her feet tested each step before committing. Her eyes didn’t just look; they hunted. She read the trees, the silence, the shifting air. Jax could see it in her face—the weight of experience. This woman had seen pain. She had survived it. Her body, still graceful, moved like it remembered violence. She was danger wrapped in beauty. And unlike her daughter, she didn’t belong to the light.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNl0OJbU5P
She belonged to Jax’s world.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSWcBFXD4z
They were both prey.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICghiLmbvf
But the girl? She would break too easily.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpyogbswA0
The mother? The mother was the real game.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsSClz9aVk
Back then, Jax had still been learning. The transformation from prey to predator had been violent, but it had also been necessary. He had come to this island when he was only eighteen, dragged into its shadows by those who thought he would disappear into the trees and never matter again. And for a time, they were right. He was just another broken thing dropped into the island’s silence.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguH6ODvbLN
But the island had spoken to him.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqCzCUIq5T
It had taught him that survival wasn’t enough.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjB1EcUgWYe
He had suffered. He had run. He had cried under the rain and curled into the roots of trees like a dying animal. He had been prey—beaten, hunted, used. But the pain hardened him. The silence became his armor. He learned how to move without being seen, how to listen when others made noise, how to wait when others acted. The island had taken him in like a wild thing and made him sharper than the thorns that tore his skin.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SeT7s4UXx
Now, at twenty-one, Jax wasn’t just a survivor.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3C3ekWjFob
He was the island’s reckoning.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NlKOjzDn1
He knew every trail, every cave, every blind spot. He knew how to avoid the hunters and how to hunt them in return. He had built a territory of shadows, where no one entered without him knowing. The island had its laws, unspoken and brutal. And Jax? Jax had rewritten them. He had become a law unto himself.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPFmDGP4Vy
And the island had begun to offer him gifts.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHJetd5c43
Women. Girls. The lost, the trapped, the forgotten.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLjCrsKaJM
Some came in boats. Others were dropped like coinless secrets in the night. They arrived frightened, defiant, angry. But none of them understood the rules. Not at first. Jax did. And that made all the difference.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRf2Rv4JUei
He had become more than a hunter.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKv726133L
He had become a collector of choices.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfecLiAeny
Every time he watched a new arrival, he measured the moment they crossed the line from hope to fear. From fear to desperation. That change—that precise instant when they realized no one was coming to save them—was the most exquisite part. It wasn’t about hurting them. It was about watching the light fade from their eyes, knowing he was the one who took it.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2IECNSc6S
Power wasn’t in dominance. It was in knowing when someone broke.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDTcAxUgX0
That mother and daughter, walking the shore that night—they were something different. Something rare. And Jax, hidden in the trees, had seen everything. The daughter had skipped toward the waves, throwing her arms up to the sky like she belonged to it. So open. So unaware.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMz6BZEYbO
The mother had stood back, watching the sea with a silence that Jax recognized. She was waiting. For a man who would not return. Jax didn’t need to know the story to read the outcome. Her body held the stillness of someone who had waited before.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBwTNuTmrP
And then, in the pause between one breath and the next, Jax saw something in her face.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYE7HWP8Vzo
Uncertainty.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKtsjZZDoI
It broke through her mask for a second. A tremor. A memory. A hope.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNUiacQJnL
And Jax felt it.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZkjAJcgov
Empathy. Just a flicker.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAAt3sz9V0
He crushed it.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMic7ZeslC
Empathy had no place here. He was not the boy who came to the island crying. He was the man who ruled the night.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtaToWwnd3
He remembered how he watched the mother’s shoulders stiffen. How she scanned the darkness. Almost like she sensed him. He hadn’t moved. He hadn’t even breathed. But something in her blood knew.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59nTefSq2L
She was dangerous.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlJnAyEavf
She was perfect.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpHYXob7Me
She would take longer to break. But that was what made it worth it.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EsDvSuil0
He didn’t want them to die.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyY5UrFVr5G
He wanted them to surrender.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGig3ZHdFb
Not with screams.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPyMc8t5PT
But with silence.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBaDX4ox3e
With acceptance.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hiXyi2t5G
That night, something shifted in Jax. A stone rolled into place. A decision was made. And in that decision, there was no turning back.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0dsupuFER
This wasn’t about the girl. This wasn’t even about the mother. This was about the island. About everything it had taken from him.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDUKQfO1Mr
And everything it had given back.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlCFXE4pE1
Jax knew the game now.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJp1pFroGU
And he was done playing by anyone else’s rules.
