Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1748

The sanctuary pulsed.

Every climax sent golden light into the air. Every cry echoed in harmony. Jude lost count of the hours. The sky above never shifted, the stars always swirling, always reflecting their union back upon them.

Eventually, he lay flat again, breath gone, body vibrating. The women draped around him like silken shadows, their skin dewed and glowing. Lucy lay with her cheek against his chest, eyes closed. Rose spooned Sophie, arms wrapped around her waist. Scarlet sat cross-legged at Jude's head, humming low and hypnotic. Grace kissed Stella lazily between sighs, while Zoey ran her fingers through Natalie's hair as she curled into sleep.

Jude could hardly move.

He didn't want to.

And then a new sound stirred.

A soft, melodic pulse. Like wind through strings.

Everyone opened their eyes.

The sanctuary walls rippled, and the heartstone appeared again - this time glowing not golden, but deep crimson. The color of fresh blood, of desire, of birth.

Alara's voice returned, not aloud, but in all their minds at once.

"The rhythm is yours now. The island sleeps again, but your bodies remember. So will your children."

The words hit them like thunder wrapped in silk.

Children.

Jude sat up, heart racing. "What does she mean?"

Lucy lifted her head. Her hand moved instinctively to her stomach. "I feel something…"

Rose gasped softly. "Oh god."

All around them, the women were frozen, each one slowly reaching to her belly, to her core, to something blooming inside.

Sophie whispered, "We didn't bleed this moon."

Natalie swallowed hard. "None of us did."

Zoey's lips parted, eyes wide. "No wonder the island pulsed like that…"

Jude looked at each of them, his pulse hammering. "All of you?"

They nodded, some slowly, some with awe, some with trembling smiles.

Stella let out a breathless laugh. "We're not just part of the island anymore."

Susan smiled through tears. "We're carrying it forward."

Scarlet leaned down, kissed Jude's forehead, and whispered, "You're the root. We're the garden."

He couldn't speak.

Could only hold them.

Could only feel.

The heartstone flared once, twice, then faded.

The sanctuary dimmed, not into shadow - but into warmth.

A new beginning.

No longer just a union of lovers.

But of creators.

Mothers.

And one man who loved them all.

Jude didn't speak. He couldn't. Words felt too small, too shallow for the gravity that settled over them like velvet. Around him, the women began to shift - some touching their bellies with reverent wonder, some staring at their fingers as if the very lines of their palms now told a different story. Lucy nestled back into his chest with a tremble of awe in her breath. Sophie still knelt beside him, gaze fixed on the fading glow of the heartstone. But it was Rose who stood first.

She moved slowly, as if every step was part of a larger ritual, her palms gliding along her hips before settling on her womb. Her smile was calm, grounded, and radiant. She turned her face up toward the open dome above, where the stars swirled slowly in a spiral of gold and amethyst.

"We're the first," she whispered.

Scarlet stood beside her, her voice low and rich. "The island has made us its daughters… and mothers all at once."

Susan's laughter cracked softly through the stillness. "Twelve of us. Twelve children?"

"No," Stella murmured, her eyes half-lidded. "Twelve seeds. But who knows how many will bloom?"

Jude's breath came hard and slow. His chest ached, not with fear, not with burden, but with awe. They weren't just lovers now. They were a beginning. The realization made his hands tremble, his heartbeat louder than the waves or the wind or the whispers of the trees.

Natalie leaned into him, her fingers curling around his. "Are you scared?"

He nodded once. "A little."

Grace smiled. "That means you're ready."

Zoey brushed his hair back and kissed his temple. "We're not just carrying your love now. We're carrying the island's will."

"It doesn't feel like control," Emma said softly, sitting on the edge of the moss. "It feels like a gift. But… it's still overwhelming."

Sophie turned toward her, her voice low and tender. "Then we face it together. Like we always have."

Rose stepped back into the circle and reached for Jude's hands. He stood slowly, naked still, skin flushed and gleaming with the last vestiges of light. The women rose around him, forming that sacred circle again. Except now, there was more.

Expectation.

Purpose.

Their bodies weren't just vessels of union now - they were bridges. Between what the island had been, and what it would become.

"Should we go back to the camp?" Lucy asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Rose shook her head. "No. We should stay. Just a little longer. Let the island finish its song."

And it did. A soft hum rose from the very ground beneath them, subtle as a heartbeat, steady as breath. The trees around the sanctuary shimmered with golden dust, leaves fluttering as if clapping in silence. From the canopy above, glowing petals began to drift down again - slow, deliberate, settling in their hair, their lashes, their open palms.

Zoey reached up, caught one between her fingers, and pressed it to her lips. "Do you think they'll remember this? Our children?"

"They'll feel it," Stella said. "Even if they never see this place."

Scarlet knelt again and pressed her forehead to the moss. "We should thank it. The island."

Susan and Natalie joined her, and slowly the others followed, until all of them knelt, palms pressed to the warm, living floor. Jude did the same, bowing his head, letting his breath join theirs. It wasn't prayer. It wasn't worship.

It was gratitude.

A single note of harmony echoed through the dome, low and perfect, resonating in their chests, through their spines, down into the earth itself. When they rose again, the sanctuary had dimmed. The heartstone no longer glowed. The stars overhead softened into a warm, early morning hue.