I woke up to a familiar warmth pressed against my side. It's Chloe, she had her naked body curled into mine with her breath soft and steady against my chest. Because my cock was hard...it was always hard in the morning...while she'd draped one leg over my thigh in her sleep, leaving her pussy warm and damp against my skin.
Six weeks...and everything had completely changed.
There was a completely different layout to the main chamber now. There were sleeping areas separated by hung tarps...a proper cooking station near the ventilation shaft...and weapon racks lining the far wall to hold our growing arsenal. And the right tunnel...the one I'd ignored that first day, it turned out to lead to three smaller chambers that stayed dry and secure.
Meaning I claimed the largest one for myself...where Chloe slept with me every night, while the others rotated based on my mood.
There was a good news to the men.
Isaac, he was completely back on his feet...thinner and weaker, but alive. Because Martha had saved him with jungle herbs and sheer stubbornness...but he never forgot that I was the one who carried him out of that cage. As a result, he operated as my right hand...scouting, hunting, and reporting to me every morning like a soldier to his commanding officer.
And the kid...David, he was completely different too. He'd been broken and suicidal those first few days. And right now he was something else entirely...not strong, but obedient and useful. Because I'd tested him dozens of times over the weeks. I handed him a loaded gun and sent him hunting alone...left him in charge of the women...put him in situations where he could run or try to put a bullet in my back.
He never did.
He'd accepted his place...always below me.
In fact, the women had all settled into their routines. There was Martha running the domestic operations...cooking, cleaning, and tending the herb garden she'd started near the entrance. While Lydia helped her...and Rachel stayed close to David, even though she came to my chamber at least twice a week.
But then there was the youngest...Mia.
She had been completely avoiding me. Ever since she discovered Chloe was my girlfriend...her own cousin...she put distance between us, refusing to look at me or acknowledge what happened at the lake.
*It bothers me...*
*Not because I need her. I have three women who will spread their legs the second I look at them...*
*But because she is the one saying no...*
And I don't hear no very well.
There was a soft knock on my chamber door. I pulled on my pants and opened it.
And the girl standing on the other side...Mia, she wore an oversized t-shirt from the hunters' supplies that hung to her mid-thighs. It swallowed her tiny frame...her black hair messy from sleep as her huge dark eyes blinked up at me.
Then her gaze dropped.
Because I wasn't wearing a shirt...the lantern light catching my bare chest, while my cock was still half-hard and pressing visibly against my pants. The outline was impossible to miss. Her cheeks flushed bright red. She quickly looked away...her small hands twisting together.
"Good morning...I...I want to see Chloe."
"She's inside...sleeping." I leaned against the doorframe without moving to let her pass.
"Oh..." Mia shifted on her bare feet...her toes curling against the cold stone. "I can come back later..."
"What do you need her for?"
"I just...she was going to teach me how to set snare traps today...she said we'd start this morning."
"I can teach you."
"No...that's...that's okay. I'll wait for Chloe. Really."
She still wouldn't look at me. And I could see her nipples hardening under the thin t-shirt...two small points pressing against the fabric. Because the shirt hung off one shoulder...exposing her pale collarbone and the delicate curve of her neck.
"Mia."
She flinched. "Yes?"
"Look at me."
She hesitated...then slowly raised her eyes to mine.
"You've been avoiding me."
"I haven't..."
"Don't lie."
She bit her small bottom lip. "She's my cousin...Chloe is my cousin. And you're her boyfriend...what we did at the lake was..."
"Was what?"
She swallowed hard. "Wrong."
I studied her for a long moment. Her small body was trembling slightly under that oversized shirt...her nipples rock hard and her thighs pressed tightly together.
"Was it?"
Before she could answer...the voice of her cousin...Chloe, it came from inside the chamber.
"Mia...is that you?"
Mia's face flooded with relief. "Yes. Big sis, I'm here."
She squeezed past me through the doorway. And the contact lasted less than a second...but her small breasts pressed against my arm while her hip grazed my thigh. Her breath hitched audibly as her body touched mine...her cheeks going from pink to crimson. Then she was inside...bouncing onto the cot next to Chloe like nothing had happened.
"Big sis...are we still doing the snare traps today...you promised."
I watched them from the doorway. Two cousins...one who was mine, and one who was pretending she wasn't. As a result, I just smiled to myself and walked out.
There were carved wooden shelves holding spices...a flat stone serving as a cutting board...and a small fire built near the ventilation shaft. And the woman running it...Martha, she stood at the cooking station stirring a pot.
"Morning."
She glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes dropped to my bare chest for a second...tracing the scars and the V-line that disappeared into my waistband...before she caught herself.
"Put a shirt on."
I stepped closer. "Good morning to you too...look who woke up. Me and my dick."
"You need to be decent, Jack...there are..."
"I didn't lie though...want to check?"
"You're disgusting." But the corner of her mouth twitched.
Six weeks ago she would have screamed and slapped me across the face. And right now she just kept stirring.
"What's for breakfast?" I leaned against the wall next to her...close enough that my arm brushed hers. She didn't move away.
"Fish stew...again. We need variety...the canned supplies are running low."
"I'll hunt something today."
"You say that every morning."
"And I deliver every time."
She turned to look at me. Her face was close...close enough to see the flecks of gold in her brown eyes and the fullness of her lips.
"Martha."
"What?"
"You smell good."
She paused mid-stir. A flush crept up her neck...spreading to her cheeks.
"I smell like fish and sweat."
"Exactly."
She turned to look at me fully...her eyes dropping to my mouth as her lips parted slightly. Then she rolled her eyes and pushed me away with one hand on my chest.
"Go bother someone else."
But she was smiling. Because her hand stayed on my chest for a beat too long...her fingers spreading to feel my heartbeat before she pulled away to stir the pot.
"Isaac's been looking for you...says he found something important on his scout yesterday."
"I know...he told me."
"Then go deal with it instead of standing here trying to seduce me."
"Is it working?"
"No."
"Liar."
She threw a piece of fish at me. I caught it and ate it.
"Get out of my kitchen."
I walked away...still chewing.
I was just pulling on a shirt when Isaac came in.
"Good morning, Jack."
"Isaac...Martha said you had something."
"Yeah." He set his tea down and pulled out a folded section of the map from his back pocket...the one he'd been updating with trails and water sources from his daily scouts. "Yesterday I pushed further along the northeast ridge than I've gone before...about four miles out. And I found these."
He pointed to a series of penciled marks.
"Tracks...boot prints. At least three people...maybe four. Moving in formation...single file and evenly spaced."
"How fresh?"
"Two days...three at most."
I studied the map. The northeast ridge ran along the spine of the island...rising to peaks before dropping into an unexplored valley on the far side.
"That's not all...I found trail markers. Cut marks in the tree bark...three horizontal lines. Deliberate. And about a mile further in...I found warning signs."
"What kind?"
"Animal skulls mounted on stakes...and a message carved into a tree trunk."
"What did it say?"
"Turn back or die."
I leaned back to process it. "So we've got at least three people...probably armed...who've been here long enough to build permanent trail markers."
"And they're territorial...these aren't random survivors, Jack."
I looked at the map again. Because the trail markers led toward the one valley we'd never reached.
"We need to see what's over that ridge."
"Agreed...but carefully."
"Obviously...get David. We're going today."
Isaac led us along the northeast ridge. He followed a path most people would have missed entirely...noticing broken twigs at ankle height and disturbed soil patterns that most eyes would dismiss. While David walked behind me...carrying a rifle across his chest with the easy familiarity of someone who'd been trained. Because I'd drilled him daily...making him practice until his hands stopped shaking.
The canopy was so dense here it turned midday into twilight. And after about an hour of moving in single file...Isaac raised a fist. He pointed at a cluster of trees to our right.
There were clean...deliberate slashes in the bark of a large palm. Three horizontal lines. Trail markers.
"These are the ones I found yesterday...they continue that way."
I knelt down and brushed aside dead leaves. There were boot prints pressed deep into the soft earth...heavy-duty soles similar to what the hunters wore.
"At least three people...maybe four. Moving in formation."
"Same as yesterday...the trail continues northeast for about a mile before it drops into the valley."
We followed the trail carefully. The jungle was eerily quiet here...no birds or insects...the absence of sound acting as its own warning. And twenty minutes later, we found them.
There were two animal skulls mounted on sharpened stakes on either side of the trail. Beyond them...carved into the trunk of a massive tree in deep letters...
TURN BACK OR DIE.
"Jack...we should go back."
"Not yet." I studied the carving...the deep cuts made with a heavy blade. Someone had claimed this territory...and they wanted everyone to know it.
"Something feels off...David."
He looked at me.
"Go forward...past the sign. Scout ahead for two hundred yards. Whistle twice if it's clear...once if you see anything dangerous...and don't whistle at all if you're compromised."
He looked at the skull stakes...then at the carved warning...then at me.
And he nodded.
Because six weeks ago, he would have begged not to go. And right now he just checked his rifle...adjusted his grip...and walked past the skulls into the jungle beyond.
"You trust him?"
"I've tested him forty times...given him weapons and opportunities to betray me. He hasn't failed once."
"That doesn't mean he won't."
"No...but it means the odds are in my favor."
We waited. One minute...two...three. Then two sharp whistles cut through the air.
"Let's move."
We pushed forward past the warning. David was waiting for us two hundred yards ahead...crouched behind a fallen tree with a tense face.
"What did you see?"
"The ridge drops off about fifty yards ahead...there's a valley below. And there's..." He swallowed. "There are structures down there. Wooden walls...raised platforms. It looks like a permanent settlement."
"How many people?"
"I couldn't tell...I didn't want to get too close."
"We should check it out...but not now. Not in daylight."
I agreed. Because moving in during the day against an organized force was suicide.
"We come back tonight...after dark. And we bring Goliath."
"The bear?"
"The bear...if things go sideways, eight hundred pounds of muscle is a good insurance policy. Mark the trail, Isaac...discreetly. I want to find this exact spot in the dark."
Isaac nodded and started making small, subtle marks on the tree trunks.
I looked at David. "Good work."
He blinked in surprise. "Thank you."
"Don't get used to it...let's go."
And we headed back.
We reached the cave in the late afternoon.
"Well?"
"We found something...a settlement on the other side of the ridge. Permanent structures...multiple people."
The room went quiet.
"People...what kind of people?"
"The kind that mount skulls on stakes and carve death threats into trees."
"We're going back tonight...Isaac, David, and me. We need to know who they are and what they want."
"Is that safe?"
"No...but neither is not knowing who's living four miles from where we sleep."
Martha's jaw clenched...but she didn't argue.
"I'm coming with you."
"No."
"Jack..."
"You're staying here with the women...if something goes wrong, you're the best shot we have besides me. You protect them."
Chloe stared at me for a long moment. "Fine...but if you're not back by dawn, I'm coming after you."
"Deal."
I looked around the room. "Everyone eat and rest...tonight's going to be a long night."
We left the cave after midnight.
Because the jungle was different in the dark...alive with insects screaming and things moving in the undergrowth. And the shadow walking beside me...Goliath, his massive form was nearly invisible in the dark. He was eight hundred pounds of muscle and fur gliding through the jungle like a ghost.
David was on my left with Isaac on my right. We followed the trail markers through the jungle...moving slowly and stopping every few minutes to listen. It took two hours to reach the ridge.
"Slow from here...no talking. Hand signals only."
We crouched low and moved along the ridge until we reached the observation point. And the valley spread out below us...bathed in pale moonlight.
There it was.
There were six or seven buildings arranged in a rough circle...wooden walls and raised platforms with a twenty-foot watchtower at the far end. There were three fires burning low in the clearing...casting orange light across the buildings.
I pulled out the rifle and sighted through the scope. Four...five...six figures moving around the camp. Most of them were broad-shouldered men with rifles slung over their shoulders and machetes on their belts. Moving with the casual confidence of people who owned this space.
I spotted a Older woman near the central fire...stirring a pot.
Then I saw her.
And the gilr sitting near the largest fire...Sophie, she had her back to us while talking to a bearded man across from her. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail...wearing clean clothes that actually fit her slim build.
Because Mia had described her friend Sophie as having brown hair and a slim build. Meaning this woman matched perfectly.
"Is that..."
I held up a fist to silence him.
And I just watched Sophie through the rifle scope...watching as she said something to the bearded man.