All Chapters of Cherish Me, Daddy: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

LUCEN'S POVThe sea had been calm when I excused myself from the Alpha of the southern ridge. Calm enough to deceive. The music from the ballroom spilled out onto the open deck in waves... laughter, crystal clinking, the low hum of satisfied alphas congratulating one another. Lanterns cast golden reflections over the dark ocean, and for a fleeting second, everything looked serene.“I’ll have my people finalize the winter trade routes before the frost sets in,” the southern Alpha said, gripping my forearm in a firm warrior’s clasp. “It’s been too long, Lucen.”“Likewise,” I replied, my tone steady, expression composed. Control had always been my armor. I wore it well. I had to.When I turned away, another familiar presence intercepted me.“Still standing like a spear rammed into the ground,” Alpha Osen laughed, clapping my shoulder with brotherly force.For the first time that evening, a faint hint of ease touched me. The warmth in my chest was real. We’d trained together at the Alpha

ELI'S POVThe water was a black curtain, the pressure a cold hand that pressed against my ribs. I could feel the world shrinking to the dim glow of the ship’s hull far above, a distant lantern I would never reach. My thoughts were a tangled skein of regret... Lucen’s icy stare, Liam’s cruel laughter, the endless contracts that had turned my life into a ledger of debts. I was about to sign my name on the final page when the world went white.It wasn’t the white of death. It was the white of a star that had been waiting for me all my life.The darkness dissolved in a burst of phosphorescent light that seemed to come from inside me. My skin, my bones, the very marrow of my limbs glowed a soft, almost ethereal blue. I could feel the light seeping outward, curling around my heart like a living thing. My breath... if it could still be called that, stopped and then resumed, deeper, slower, as though the air itself had become a viscous liquid I could sip.A voice, not in my ears but in the ho

ELI'S POVWhen Marin pulled the boat free of the tide and dragged it onto that jagged stretch of rock, the moon was a thin sickle hovering behind a veil of clouds. It is already midnight. I could still taste the brine on my tongue, the cold that had gnawed at my ribs the moment the sea tried to claim me. The waves muttered against the cliffs in a rhythm that felt like a summons; each slap of surf against stone was a reminder that the ocean never truly lets go.“Can you walk?” Marin asked, his voice a rasp that blended with the wind.“I can,” I said, but the words stumbled out thin‑skinned and cracked. My legs, still raw from the night’s frantic rescue, shook the moment the soles of my boots met the uneven ground. Something thrummed beneath my skin—an unfamiliar strength that felt like a second heartbeat, low and steady. I didn’t have the luxury of questioning it; I only had the need to stay upright.He didn’t linger on my answer. Without a word, he slipped a dark, weather‑worn cloak o

LUCEN'S POVSleep became a stranger to me.Not the kind that drifts lightly and disappears at dawn... but the kind that stands at the edge of my bed and refuses to come closer. Every night I dismissed the servants, barred the doors, and sat across from Drew in my private study with maps sprawled between us like open wounds. The ink‑stained coastlines were more than paper; they were the edges of a promise I could no longer keep.Asterhaven.The name felt like a splinter lodged beneath my skin.“We’ve confirmed again,” Drew said quietly, tapping the marked coastline. “Every other territory responded. Some allowed our scouts limited access. Some sent written confirmations. Only Asterhaven remains silent.”“Not silent,” I muttered. “Deliberate.”Drew studied me carefully. “You believe he’s there.”“Yes.” My voice sounded thin, as if it were traveling through a long tunnel. It wasn’t a guess anymore. It was instinct.Vulk stirred restlessly at the back of my mind, claws scraping against bo

LUCEN'S POV I looked back at Marin. “You’re going to tell me everything you know about Asterhaven’s estate layout. Guard rotations. Cody’s habits.” Marin exhaled shakily. “I will.” The words seemed to settle a storm inside him, but the tremor remained. My gaze drifted toward the dark window overlooking the estate. Four weeks. He had been there four weeks, trapped behind gilded doors while the world pretended the tide would wash him away. The image of his beautiful face, eyes hollow, stitched into the memory of the storm that had brought him to me, surged through my mind. I felt something cold and precise set inside my chest, a blade of purpose sharpening with each breath. The pack members shifted, their murmurs a low tide beneath the surface. I knew the politics of Asterhaven well enough to read the ripple on each face: fear, curiosity, the thin veneer of loyalty that could crack at any moment. I could feel Vulk’s twin‑headed roar in my veins, a promise of violence I could unleash