The Delta's Cursed Mate

Leon’s POV They always say you know when you find your true love, the one person who makes you feel whole and completes you. In my case, I found my sweet Ginger. A redheaded, green-eyed spitfire who took no s**t from anyone. When I walked into that dingy thing called a packhouse, the spicy scent of ginger and the sweet smell of apricots filled my nose. My wolf, Kane, went insane. We had longed for the other half of our soul for so long, but much to Kane’s frustrations there was no mate bond within our pack, or James’ or Delilah’s. I had looked everywhere. Except of course f*****g Blackstone. I had no idea that that shithole of a pack would be the home of the only person in the world that mattered to me more than my Alpha. After James had forfeited the Blackstone pack to the Beta, which I didn’t agree with. I said it was a mistake, we all tried to show Benji how to run a pack. He had abolished Blackstone’s traditions and attempted to turn it into a pack worth being in. The shewolves trusted no one, the males were on a power trip and had challenged Benji for the title multiple times. Thankfully he was strong enough to win. He hated it, but he wanted to survive. I had decided to make a special trip to Blackstone, after my surprise visit to Golden Valley. There she was sitting at the duct taped dining table. She had tools thrown on the floor around her trying to fix something. She was so focused on whatever she was working on, that she didn’t hear me when I stepped closer to her. MATE! Go to mate, now. Kane growled. Kane had to have her in our arms. We needed her. I touched her arm, a growl coming from deep in my chest. As soon as my fingers brushed her skin sparks flew through my hand, and before I could blink, I was on my back a foot pressed against my throat. My mate had her hands balled in fists. She titled her head as she stared down at me. Kane was excited. He loved to pretend he was a big bad wolf, but he was a giant puppy in all honesty. This little Ginger was his master. “Hi, sweetheart.” I muttered, forcing myself to keep from looking up her skirt. Only a man who had his mate in his sights. She raised her eyebrow and smiled. Her fingers flew around trying to signal to something, but I had no idea what she was trying to say to me. “Reina! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Do you know who that is?” I heard Benji shout from the doorway. He was signing! She signed back to him, and he started to laugh. “Alpha Leon, this is Reina. She’s our tech girl around here, and when she gets going it’s hard for her to get out. It doesn’t help that she’s deaf.” He was still signing as he spoke to me. I smiled up at her, “Can you get your foot from my neck, baby. As much as I love the angle, I think you might need a little time to get used to my charms.” I flashed my best flirty smile. She was looking over at Benji who translated, as soon as the final sign was done, she slammed her foot deeper into my neck before removing it. Her hands flew into a tantrum, I looked at Benji who was trying and failing to hold back a smile. “She said she doesn’t care who you are, if you want her to go with you, you need to first learn to respect women.” I balked. Most wolves knew who I was, who I was close with. Delilah took no disrespect from anyone, and I took the same. I respected women, so much in fact that my very own Gamma was a female. Sure, she was my cousin, but still female. I didn’t care about what s*x you were, if you were strong enough to fight you had a place in my ranks. My head trainer was also female. Golden Sun was one of the very few packs that had females as ranked members. But to hear that this little one thought I had no respect for women, was more than frustrating. “I respect women. I have a female Gamma and head trainer. I don’t give a s**t what’s between anyone else’s legs but my own and hers.” I pointed to Reina. Benji raised his eyebrow between me, and the fire spirited she-wolf. He translated, and again I got a fist to the chest before she stalked off out the door. “I’m going to go with she doesn’t believe you.” Benji chortle, “Let’s go talk in my office.” I followed him to his small office. Though he had the title of Alpha, he had grown up a Beta. In a perfect world, he would have known about his pack’s activities and turned in the ranks long before Luna Brea had been forced into mating Jackson and giving birth to his first pup. Sadly, it wasn’t. Benji was kept out of the thick of things and though he knew about the s*x slaves, he didn’t participate, and had no idea that Jackson and his father had been selling she-wolves. It only made him partially better in my eyes, it wasn’t what a ranked member should be, and I loathed the idea that someone that could have saved so many people, but instead sat back and watched. My best friend’s mate was raised in a community like this and was brought here to be beaten, their son was pumped full of food and milk no matter if it hurt Brea or not. I sat in the chair in front of the desk noticing he had painted it a dull gray. He poured us drinks before he sat in the chair behind the desk. I threw the drink back in one swallow, I was never a big drinker despite the fact this small drink wouldn’t have any effect on me. “What brings you here, Alpha Leon? I just sent a report to Alpha James.” Benji asked. “I was just on my way home after a visit with Alpha James and thought I would stop by and see if you needed help with anything. How’s training going?” He shrugged, “We’ve got some strong fighters since Jackson was breeding ranks and we are having a few issues with the women joining. Reina is one of the rogues that Jackson had hidden.” He stared at me. I hadn’t even asked, but any wolf worth their salt would know that she was my mate. No one put their hands on me and still managed to stand after. Except my Ginger. Even just the thought of her had Kane stomping around. “You should know that Reina is deaf. Not much is known of her past. Few of us know sign language. She had completely disabled the cameras got through and put them back without us realizing she did it. If she wasn’t standing on the front of the packhouse we wouldn’t have known she was here. Jackson was livid.” “I’ve never heard of a deaf wolf. Does she have a wolf?” It didn’t matter to me, but the wolf less would usually go to live with humans. Very rarely did a wolf less find their mate. I would want my mate to feel as comfortable to her new home as much as she could. “Yes. She has a very strong wolf. In fact, You might want to avoid Emerald. At least for a few days before mating.” Kane growled and his heckles raised. Someone dared tell him how to handle his mate. He was usually very calm. Especially since we were released from the lab. He was different than most Alphas. Even more than Boston. Axel had to gain control of his wolf from such a young age that it was almost impossible to force him to the surface. Benji looked at me with his neck bared. I was the stronger Alpha and if I wanted to I could kill him in an instant. I took a deep breath to calm Kane. “Why would I need to avoid my mate’s wolf?” “Emerald is… different. We don’t know the things she went through; she doesn’t talk about it. Anytime we’ve asked, Emerald forces a shift, and she disappears until she can’t be in her wolf anymore and we find her in the forest.” A forced shift could be painful. Most wolves couldn’t survive the shift back and they became feral. After being feral for so long they would have to be put down. Only serious trauma could force a shift, the loss of a mate, assault, watching a violent death. Things of that nature could force a wolf to come forward and disappear. In special cases, such as being experimented on for almost twenty years. Kane huffed. If mate wants to come forward, then we shift with her and keep her safe. Kane, we can’t be shifted for who knows how long. You would lose your mind faster than she seems to. Not with all the s**t Dylan did. He rolled his eyes and laid his head on his paws. Fine. We will stay with her. I will give you control, but we are not leaving her. Our mate will not be feral. Agreed. That was the night I decided she would be my world. And that she has been