CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER 69 PLAYED LIKE A FOOL

Draven’s POV

When Caroline and I collapsed exhausted onto the bed, the sun was already shining through the windows.We’d made love for hours-I’d kissed her, touched her, loved every inch of her body. We gave ourselves completely to the passion between us, and now I was certain that the same desire that made Alaric howl and my heart race, she felt it too.

I fell asleep with my beautiful mate in my arms, exhausted from the pleasure we’d shared and the happiness of finally being together. But I was too euphoric to sleep long,having her in my arms again was everything I’d been craving.

When I woke up, reality hit me like a silver bullet. My happiness evaporated instantly. I woke alone in bed, jumping up to search the room, desperately hoping she was just in the bathroom or the kitchen, but instead found a note on my nightstand.

I picked it up with trembling hands,she was gone.

[Dear Draven,

Last night was perfect. Our bodies fit together in ways I never imagined possible. Unfortunately for you, you still lost our little game, and you haven’t won back my heart. I will always love you, but I cannot forgive how you hurt me. So I must leave you again.

Caroline]

She’d even drawn a little smiley face on the note. Impossible woman! My eyes burned with tears I couldn’t hold back. So she’d fucked me last night, then left nothing but a note before running away? How could she torture me like this?

Alaric howled in pain inside me. She had left me, turned me down again. The words in her note cut deep, and for a moment stole every hope I had of winning her back.

I read and reread that note several times, and just when I was about to give in to despair, my eyes fixed on that small part where she said she would always love me. That was what I would hold onto. I would never give up on her,I couldn’t. I wouldn’t allow it; it was impossible.

Since she loved me, she would forgive me eventually, no matter how long it took or what hell I had to go through.

I reached out through the mind-link to Ryan,"Ryan, I need you."

His response came instantly, annoyingly cheerful"What’s up, Alpha? Good night?"

"It was incredible and she left without forgiving me. I need your help."I growled.

"Want me to gather our friends?"

"Yes. Get Joseph, Luke, and Nate. Storm Valley Club in an hour."

"Of course, Alpha. Your command, our duty. We’ll be there."

I broke the mind-link and headed for the shower, trying to wash away our sex scent. I was about to start my mission to win back her forgiveness.

An hour later, I arrived at the Storm Valley Club where my friends were already seated, waiting for me. The exclusive werewolf establishment was quiet at this hour, perfect for pack business.

"I hope I didn’t mess up anyone’s plans," I said while greeting them, my Alpha energy somewhat subdued by my misery.

"Relax, Caroline beat you to it," Nate said with a knowing smile.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She woke Elle up and said she needed to gather the girls urgently. According to Elle, they were going to have lunch somewhere and support Carrie. I don’t get it, you two left the bar together last night," Nate said, looking confused.

"Elle called Kyle too. She told me the same thing and rushed out. Right when I was about to get the whip..." Luke said with dreamy eyes.

"We don’t need details about your sex, Luke," Ryan said, making everyone burst into laughter. "And you, Joseph, aren’t you going to complain that Ava ran out too?"

"Oh, I wish I’d been that lucky," Joseph sighed. "And what about you and Ruby?"

"I only got her phone number and nothing else," Ryan admitted, running a hand through his hair.

"You guys got tangled up with some tough she-wolves, huh?!" Nate mocked. "Let me tell you something, Draven better get Caroline’s forgiveness soon, or before we know it, even our perfect little matings will be threatened. These females stick together like pack bonds, believe me!"

"That’s exactly why I called you guys," I said, taking a seat at the head of the table. "I need to come up with a strategy! Eleanor is supposedly supporting me, but I need more help." I spoke as if I were leading the most important pack meeting of my life.

"Moon Goddess, Draven, you’re so naive!" Nate said, putting his hand on his forehead.

"What do you mean?" I didn’t understand his comment.

"You really think Elle is helping you?" Nate asked incredulously. "She’s making you grovel! And she’s already told Caroline everything. Haven’t you noticed that everything she’s had you do is send messages and gifts to Carrie? She hasn’t set up a single meeting between you two. Yesterday, I was the one who told Joseph where we’d be. She’s not trying to convince Caroline to forgive you, she’s encouraging Caroline to punish you!"

"Son of a gun! ! She’s playing me?" My eyes flashed violet with anger.

"You bet she is! I love my mate, but she’s impossible and downright Machiavellian when she’s upset with someone! And she’d never do anything behind Caroline’s back." Nate said with a smile while the others were laughing their heads off. Great, I’d become a joke among my own pack. "After we left the restaurant that day, she was triumphant, said she was going to teach you a good lesson. The first thing she did was tell Caroline everything."

"And here I was thinking I had an ally!" I couldn’t believe I’d been outmaneuvered by a female.

"You have no idea what Elle and Caroline put me through when she thought I’d betrayed our mating bond. But at least she realized you really care about Liam, that’s good." Nate gave me this information, and it really was something positive.

"So what do I do?" I asked, unsure whether to keep following Eleanor’s words.

"You’re going to do everything she tells you to, because you really need to grovel and because if you cut her off or let her know that you know, she’ll rip out my tongue and eyes and feed them to the rogues." Nate said seriously. "But you won’t just do what she says. I’ll help you, but she can’t know about it."

"Well, then it’s time to devise a parallel strategy," Joseph concluded, his tactical mind already working.

"I think we need to go out more as a pack," Ryan said. "That way, Draven, while you’re crawling back for Caroline’s forgiveness, Joseph and I might have better chances with the girls, and Nate and Luke can please their mates."

"That’s a good idea," Luke chimed in. "Especially since none of them will do anything without the others’ advice and support. It’s like they have their own mini-pack."

"Are you serious?" Joseph looked at him in disbelief. "You mean we now have a damn female alliance where they’ll only mate us if the others approve?"

"I have a mate, and Luke has a mate. You guys just have females driving your wolves crazy," Nate mocked us. "But that’s how it is. Eleanor says it’s part of female pack bonding. She-wolves support each other. And it’s going to be way worse than that."

"How could it be worse?" Ryan was curious, his wolf clearly unsettled.

"If one of them gets pissed at one of us, all the others get pissed too and will punish all of us," Luke explained, and seeing our confused faces, he clarified, "For example, Caroline is hurt by Draven, so all of them are mad at Draven and will punish each of us because we’re Draven’s friends."

"You two," Nate pointed at Joseph and Ryan, "won’t get what you want until Caroline forgives this idiot here," he said, pointing at me. "Elle and Kyle will mind-link us constantly demanding to know everything you do and say, and support Carrie in anything, including challenging you to dominance fights, and if we don’t comply, they’ll refuse the mate bond, my friends."

"So you two are like their spies?" Joseph couldn’t believe the organized society those females had formed.

"Right now it’s us. In the future, the next time someone screws up, it could be any of you or us," Luke agreed. "The important thing is that we’ll have to feed them information in small doses.We don’t need to tell everything, but we need to be well-rehearsed to tell the same story because they’ll use female tactics to get what they want, and they’ll cross-check information with each other through their own pack bonds."

"I think I get it," Ryan scratched his head. "Man, managing a pack of fifty wolves is easier than dealing with one determined woman."

"Yeah, my friend, this week I learned that female werewolves are more dangerous than any rogue!" Joseph said with raised eyebrows.

We laughed hard at the expressions on everyone’s faces. At least I was establishing a really good pack brotherhood that would support me. That eased Alaric’s distress a bit, though Alaric was still howling for his mate.

I would win Caroline back. A true Alpha never gives up on his mate, and I would fight until my last breath to make her mine again - completely and forever.