Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1273

Chapter 1273: Chapter 1273

Zoey knelt, eyes closed, humming faintly under her breath. Only a week ago, Zoey would’ve had a blade drawn, posture tense, eyes sharp. Now, she looked at peace. Too much peace.

Jude took a step back.

Rose smiled, not cruelly, but tenderly. "You’re afraid. You don’t have to be."

"What is this?" he asked, voice low and hoarse. "What are you becoming?"

Rose tilted her head. "Not becoming. Returning. This is what we’ve always been. This place is a mirror. It shows the truth, not the lie we brought with us."

"This isn’t you."

"But it is," she said gently, stepping forward again. "You just never saw it. We never did. Until we touched it."

"The shimmer?" he asked.

"The pulse. The roots. The hum. It’s all connected. It chose us."

He turned to Zoey. "You said you were suspicious. You followed them into the woods. You knew something was wrong."

Zoey opened her eyes, met his gaze, and nodded slowly. "I did. But it’s not wrong, Jude. It’s deeper than that. I was wrong to fight it."

He looked at Layla, her lips curved in the same smile Rose wore. "And you? You changed first. What did she say to you?"

Layla moved toward him, placing a warm hand on his chest. "She didn’t say anything. I felt her. I saw the truth when she kissed me. Not words. Not thoughts. Just connection."

"And now you’re... what? Hers?"

"No," Rose answered. "Ours."

He stepped back again. "What about Sophie? Lucy? Emma? They haven’t changed."

"They will," Rose said. "Not because we’ll force them. But because they’ll feel what we feel. We’re not trying to steal anyone. This is... expansion."

"It’s a hive," Jude muttered.

"No," Layla said. "It’s love. Without fear. Without separation. The kind of love that doesn’t need names or limits."

His heart pounded harder.

Stella brushed her fingers along a nearby tree and the bark rippled under her touch. Grace knelt beside her, planting something at the base of its roots. The forest seemed to welcome every movement like it had known them for centuries.

Rose looked back at him. "We haven’t hurt anyone, Jude."

"You almost drowned."

"And I came back. Changed. But not broken. Not twisted."

"Then what do you want?"

"To show you. To let you choose."

He looked at them all again. Layla, Grace, Stella, Zoey. All smiling. All still themselves in voice and shape, and yet something deeper shimmered beneath the surface, like they had been lit from within by some ancient spark.

Jude didn’t know if it was magic or madness.

He took a breath. "Then let me talk to Sophie. Let me talk to Emma and Lucy. Let me take time."

"You already have," Rose said gently. "We’re not rushing. But the island is changing. It won’t wait forever."

At that, she turned.

And walked away.

The others followed her one by one, disappearing back into the fog-draped woods until Jude was alone again with the humming trees and the fading warmth.

He didn’t go back to the treehouse right away. He sat near the river for what felt like hours, his legs submerged, the current cold but gentle against his skin. He needed that sharpness, that bite of the real. The kiss from Rose still lingered on his lips, the way she used to taste and yet didn’t. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her smiling - tenderly, lovingly, unnervingly. He still loved her. That hadn’t changed. But the woman she was now... he didn’t understand her.

By the time he returned to the treehouse, the sun was higher. The others were waiting for him - Lucy sitting on the steps, Sophie pacing near the hammock, and Emma perched on the platform railing like she’d been watching for him all morning.

Sophie looked up first. "You were gone too long."

"She was there," Jude said.

"Who?"

"All of them. Rose. Layla. Grace. Zoey. Stella."

"They took you?"

"No. I followed."

Lucy stood slowly. "And?"

"They’re not monsters," Jude said quietly. "But they’re not the same either."

Emma crossed her arms. "What does that mean?"

"They’ve changed. Not violently. Not physically. But something deep inside. Like... the island let them see something we haven’t. And they accepted it."

Sophie walked up to him, frowning. "Are you saying they’re right?"

"I don’t know," he admitted. "But they think they are. And they believe we’ll see it eventually."

Emma narrowed her eyes. "That’s how cults work."

"It didn’t feel like a cult," he said. "It felt like..."

"Seduction," Lucy finished for him.

He met her gaze. "Yes. But not just physical. It was emotional. Spiritual."

"They’re calling to us," Sophie said softly.

"They said the island is changing," Jude continued. "That we’re running out of time to stay apart."

"They threatened that?" Emma asked sharply.

"No. Rose said it gently. Like a warning. Not a command."

Silence stretched between them.

Lucy stepped forward, touching his face with trembling fingers. "And what about you? Are you changing?"

He covered her hand with his. "Not yet."

"But you want to."

"No," he said. "But I want to understand it."

That night, none of them slept easily. They laid close together - Jude between Lucy and Sophie, Emma resting against his chest. They held each other like anchors, like warmth was the only weapon they had left. There was no humming. No strange sounds. Just quiet breathing and the occasional rustle of wind in the trees.

But when Jude finally drifted off, he dreamed.

Not of Rose.

Of Layla.

She stood at the edge of a cliff, naked and glowing in moonlight. Her body shimmered like it was carved from starlight. She didn’t speak. She just beckoned.

And behind her, the others waited.

Smiling.

Humming.

When he woke, Lucy was gone.

He sat up instantly, heart lurching. The bed beside him was still warm.

He turned - and found her standing in the doorway, bathed in pale dawn light, her hair loose, her eyes dazed.

"Lucy?" he whispered.

She turned toward him.

And smiled.