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62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkaITLyhDOO
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQ8fEMw9GK
He wasn't supposed to survive.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNmUXP15aN
But he did.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9dJV6R78J
He didn't just endure - he evolved.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqJMiAaWbu
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk13dsiUp5Z
He learned to survive not by running, but by watching. By studying. Learning the rules.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVuSnEzHlV
Then mastering them.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzkXkPDtW9
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gtKL6TbW0
The hunters who had once looked down on him now whispered his name. Some with respect. Others with unease.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyhidus2Cx
Jax was no longer just a player in their twisted game. He was a force. A ghost.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6R7RvFfLx3
A legend in the making.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEbcMzPZKQ
At first, he hunted to survive. Now he hunted to dominate.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWuPmY7xnMo
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ665KkotI7n
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQPgrVdYSN
But Jax remembered everything.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Zw93kEE1O
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWECoPwyX31
He trained. He waited. He calculated.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiVt2bADiW
And when it moved, it moved like nightfall.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobYH7pnz78
The women who came were no longer sisters in suffering.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpaNwXQ24r
They were pieces. Booty. Currency.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWu3BW2QvcV
Currency. Strategy. Each one had value - and Jax decided how to use it.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMBgFs7nXg
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpM7TMlbr8v
And then, when the thread holding them together was thin enough to snap - he struck.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRugGwG27uO
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuW2RWEj9ks
Just obeyed.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOZzSf1u5D
Jax had become the dark balance of the island.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuKjyKjrvNU
Not its saviour.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIZSbZBBGR
Not its devil.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxaKYFNKHc
Its law.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTDqozB3ZU
And the law was cruel.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHdQgWwqPj
There were no fairy tales here.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOrxYcPT5a
Only choices.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1k18b4IHg
Only consequences.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCCrMwMyuX
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1UbpjYTnO
New arrivals.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gN6NFA6b7
New eyes.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxRzKEf3hB
New fear.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbu6fBW7nBK
New fires to put out - or to test.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxU01e4rpAK
And maybe, just maybe...62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡosiGXWMGib
Someone worth breaking.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkQ3T0QjXn
He turned away from the edge and disappeared into the trees, the forest swallowing him whole. The birds scattered. The leaves fell silent.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSi5pyXqcS
The hunter was on the move.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFdGOzsjhE
And this island?62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizdycfvmql
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURwuUW1Uh4
Jessica narrowed her eyes at the map in her hand, turning it over for the fifth time.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLXVCpo1tM
"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."62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfAJogHNSm
Tom leaned over her shoulder, studying the faded lines. "So... if this isn't it, then where the hell are we?"62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtsO5X9FeE
"Even if this map is ancient," Jessica said, "there should be some landmarks. Unless the trees have decided to replant themselves."62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25RZ1jkgJd
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."62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ991TyVR8ZB
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lkp1kZ4LY
And for the first time since his arrival, a flicker of unease danced behind her confident demeanour.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtWMplca4U
Tom bent over the map again - and that was when the sound came.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsMxBRVwFC
Deep. Muffled. Mechanical. An engine.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm336SKWBJ8
It didn't roar. It didn't roar. It pulsed through the floor like a whisper in metal.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY57DX4adUS
Jessica straightened instantly, her eyes narrowing as she turned her head towards the sound.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3s9U7sKrz
"That's... an engine," she said in a hushed voice. "A truck, maybe. Not close. But not far."62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGILsOW2Sxd
Tom nodded. Slowly. He tightened the straps of his pack and stood.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuo9YImwjUi
"Let's move. Carefully."62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DYuxKxSXN
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6q9Pq3dtE
The sound became clearer. Not louder - but more defined.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARwhY3LFRE
A rhythm. A vibration.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEk6OrrZN9z
Not natural.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1EtDBYSkM
And definitely not alone.
Jax remembered the first time he saw them.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KSj7rAyAm
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIE24FF2Tg
That moment, the moment he first laid eyes on the woman and her daughter, was etched into him like fire into flesh.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72C2LynIon
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Fxg9Y6htD
To Jax, she looked like a forest nymph, something not quite real.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IIVGqRPrH
But the mother—she was different.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ICDSQlKWg
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjYgcl2zyG
She belonged to Jax’s world.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc14vGjUIIm
They were both prey.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwyvfIqy7La
But the girl? She would break too easily.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGUcGpZRxF
The mother? The mother was the real game.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdthN252jKu
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETZBzUPhFS
But the island had spoken to him.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHWkw3sMS7K
It had taught him that survival wasn’t enough.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOShGlGRZzo
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLK4nlSLEID
Now, at twenty-one, Jax wasn’t just a survivor.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgeeKt6mgC
He was the island’s reckoning.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLwwYPV8Wy
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsM4J2U5gv2
And the island had begun to offer him gifts.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZPWJd9DTM
Women. Girls. The lost, the trapped, the forgotten.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVJKSE8dGd
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrM9kyyVAY
He had become more than a hunter.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5iVuSYTO4
He had become a collector of choices.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzUnNQbNLB
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoiGBekcAbV
Power wasn’t in dominance. It was in knowing when someone broke.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqvysLl2Dm
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBljJ1Lym27
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhKrONkXbcy
And then, in the pause between one breath and the next, Jax saw something in her face.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYmFlHX792
Uncertainty.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjERldDq1L
It broke through her mask for a second. A tremor. A memory. A hope.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIJYiizWpg
And Jax felt it.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLEsK7S81nl
Empathy. Just a flicker.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqxHLGtity
He crushed it.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyMeZprFW9
Empathy had no place here. He was not the boy who came to the island crying. He was the man who ruled the night.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZp9hPpXi03
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShGWNRMTQL
She was dangerous.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4i01Cdp5vJ
She was perfect.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXc4nxUggae
She would take longer to break. But that was what made it worth it.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7tw1BLh43
He didn’t want them to die.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fyhwN1vff
He wanted them to surrender.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsIMI4h6xS
Not with screams.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wf5dj1ErO
But with silence.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3vjjNXMox
With acceptance.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9ir0U8SKV
That night, something shifted in Jax. A stone rolled into place. A decision was made. And in that decision, there was no turning back.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOaLcD9fWi
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.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZo7TJwj3uU
And everything it had given back.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXh2DUJI9x
Jax knew the game now.62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5E3ndoB80
And he was done playing by anyone else’s rules.
