The Delta's Cursed Mate

Denying the Alpha

Leon’s POV

6 months later.

Ginger, it’s time to come home. I mind-linked my little spitfire.

I could feel Emerald’s annoyance. The forced shifts decreased, but Emerald still didn’t allow Reina to talk about the trauma of her past. I had told her all my secrets. Everything that had happened at the lab, how we helped Deacon rescue Delilah from Dylan. The whole thing about Blackstone. We visited James and Brea very frequently. They had six small children; Brea was exhausted. Between trying to keep up with their kids, her Luna duties and making sure James was doing his schoolwork, I wasn’t sure how she was getting anything done. I was working with him as much as I could to get their pack up and running. Since they had taken over Blackwood’s territory, they would have the largest packlands in North America, boarding on the world.

Come on, baby. I need to see you. It’s been days. I miss you.

Emerald huffed in my head, but she never stayed shifted longer than four days. Closer and closer to that feral line. I felt her come closer to the back of the packhouse. The house I should have grown up, had Dylan not been a f*****g prick and kept me from my family. My parents were so afraid of losing another child, so they never had another. My father refused to give the line to his brother, and when I finally was able to come back, he handed it over without a second thought. Him and Mom were still ‘catching up’ on all the missed vacations. They came home long enough to see Reina. Dad was pissed I hadn’t marked her the day I brought her home, but once he learned of her special situation he relented.

I was sitting on the back porch when a large fire bright red wolf broke the tree line. Her green and silver eyes shone brightly. One thing I had learned about her wolf was since she lost one sense all her others heightened. Her eyesight was stronger than even Delilah, the True Alpha. Her sense of smell had even my best tracker jealous. Keira was less than excited to be bumped from her position as lead tracker. Even if Reina didn’t want it. She didn’t even want to be Luna. All she wanted was to keep up with the tech that she had put up all over the territory. I had a blanket ready for her to shift.

I don’t know why you do this. I’m not shifting back. Emerald grunted pulling the blanket from the chair. She circled it before laying down on it. Her tail wrapping around her.

Emerald, can I please talk to Reina? I’ve been gone for days, and I miss you both.

Emerald groaned but shifted back as she buried her body under the blanket. She had yet to let me see her naked. I marked her three months into our relationship. I didn’t have a choice. Kane was becoming depressed. It’s almost impossible for an Alpha not to claim their mate, and Kane being a part of the True line was that much worse. I had a massive case of blue balls and the shower had washed many many, many nights of my own pleasure.

“Hello, beautiful.” I signed to her as she pulled the blanket tight around her chest.

She waved.

“Are you hungry? I have dinner set up in our dining room upstairs.” I lead her to the make shift dining room I had set up. Reina and I usually had dinner alone. When Emerald would let me close enough. The pack really wanted to meet their Luna. They had quickly learned sign language to make Reina as comfortable as she could be. The pack went through classes each day for the past six months to ensure that their Luna could talk to them whenever she felt like it. She was loved and I wanted to make her feel as comfortable with our pack as she possible could be. I just wanted to spend time with her. I really did miss her. Though Kane hadn’t pushed us to mate, he still craved her presence. Even with as closed off as Reina was, there were moments when it seemed like she wanted to ask for something more.

As we walked up to the 5th floor of the packhouse, I could feel Reina’s exhaustion. We might have been wolves, but it still took a lot to stay as a wolf on a person’s mental health. Especially someone like Reina who had been so closed off for so long. She would talk to her therapist, but Emerald kept me at arm’s length. Since she was marked I could get a feel of her emotions. Kind of. A lot of it was fear and hurt. Whatever my mate had gone through, I could only hope and pray she would trust me enough one day to let me in.

We ate our dinner, with me telling more stories of my rogue battles with James. His new pack had grown much larger after accepting the rogues that had haunted the Red Rock territory line, he was constantly building homes and had to update both packhouses.

“I don’t know why you gush over him so much. It’s not as if he’s God or something” Reina signed.

I knew how she felt about my relationship with James and Axel. They were my brothers, and we would consult on each other’s pack often.

“Because they’re my family, baby. It’s not like I have pups or little siblings.”

She raised her eyebrow in combat. I hadn’t brought up pups yet. Hell, I hadn’t even pushed her to mate with me. I was mostly content that she was here with me. Even if her heart wasn’t fully mine.

“I’m sorry, Ginger. I… it’s just you don’t talk to me. Not really.” I looked down in shame.

Kane was always pissed when we thought about the fact we knew just as much as the rest of the pack. I knew her favorite color was purple, and she loved steak and eggs. She had a small scar on the base of her ankle, but I didn’t know what it was from. She hated her hair but didn’t want to cut it because it hid the scar on her back. Again, no idea where it came from. She almost tore my head off when I saw a part of it.

I looked at my mate. She was beautiful. I wanted nothing more than to push my face into her neck and inhale that scent I had come to need more than air.

“You smell like almonds to me.” She signed.

“What?” I laughed. Of all the scents, I had an almond.

“I like almonds. They remind me of something.” She put piece of steak in her mouth.

That was the most information she had given in six months. Almonds. I would remember that.

We finished dinner before Ginger went to shower. I knew she was exhausted. Being a wolf for days on end was tiring. I cleaned up the small mess and took the dishes downstairs. Keira was making yet another bowl of ice cream. The girl had an obsession. We had to keep the freezer stocked, and she had a personal freezer in her office full of the creamy goodness.

“Hey, cuz.” She said pushing a bowl in front of me.

“What are you doing up? Shouldn’t you be with Byron?”

She snorted, “Shouldn’t you be with Reina?”

I rolled my eyes. She never took s**t from me, and I was one to give it. We ate our ice cream in silence. I never knew how to talk to her. She grew up thinking she would be Alpha. Since I was gone for so long, she technically should have been. Then I showed up and ruined her plan. Well, her father’s plans.

My uncle was much less than pleased to find that I had come home, even as f****d up in the head as I was. I still was the rightful Alpha. A DNA test was taken, but not needed, I looked exactly like my father. My uncle had been one of the only wolves to challenge me. I looked into the eyes of my father as I defeated his brother, though Dad was disappointed in his little brother, it was still his brother. I couldn’t kill my uncle so instead I gave him mercy and banished him to the edges of the pack territory. Golden Sun wasn’t as large as Golden Valley but seemed larger as we extended into the uninhabited part of Canada. My father went to help his little brother build a small cottage and greenhouse to help him grow vegetables. I knew Kiera took him meat from the packhouse. I wasn’t upset. He was still a part of my pack; he was still my family even if I didn’t know him.

“Dad wants to leave.” Kiera said sadly, “he’s tired of being an outcast.”

I nodded. I could understand that, but I also couldn’t trust the wolf to be anywhere near me. It had hurt his pride to be defeated by me, but I was stronger than the average Alpha. I didn’t have a choice. It was strength or death at the lab.

“Mom’s leaving too. There’s a pack in California that I’ve heard about… the Iris pack.” Her voice was pleading.

“I know the Beta, I’ll call in the morning, Kiera.” I patted her shoulder.

It was hard for her to think about her family leaving, but she held a rank here. If she wanted to go she could, I just don’t believe she wanted to go. She grew up here. It was her home, it was her family’s home, but he had done this to them. I couldn’t fault her for being angry with me. She always said she wasn’t, but I sometimes was.

I had questioned my decision to come home. I held no memories of the place; I was only three when I got sick and was sent to Dylan for healing. I came home and a year later I was Alpha. The pack welcomed me. There were nights the first year I would wander the land, hoping and praying I could get any sort of remembrance, but it never came. Then came the nightmares. For months Dad locked me in the cells at night to keep me from hurting someone. I broke out one night though. I made my way to my favorite place as a child, the frozen river that ran through the territory, and stood for hours. When my parents found me I had frostbite on both feet and hypothermia.

I cleaned up our mess and went back upstairs to our bedroom. Ginger was in her usual sweater and pajama pants. She seemed to be cold all of time, even with the fire going in the large fireplace. Her long red hair was draped over her shoulder, and she slowly ran the brush through it.

In any other case, an Alpha would groom his mate. Especially when their mate was going through stressful times, but Emerald refused to let me touch her. Sighing I went into my closet and stripped and put on my joggers for bed.

I climbed under the throw blanket and pulled the sheet and comforter back for Reina, she enjoyed being under the layers of blankets. Not that she told me that, just another thing I had to learn on my own.

She climbed into bed after pulling her hair to the top of her head in a sloppy bun. She rolled over so her back faced me. Kane whimpered in the back of my mind like he did every night. We would never force her into anything, but it hurt us both to have her this close only to not be able to touch her. She tried sleeping in the guest room after I had marked her, but Kane took over while I was unconscious and brought her to our bed. He growled and snapped every time she tried to leave. We couldn’t touch her it didn’t mean we didn’t need her near us.

I let out another sigh and rolled over. “Good night, Ginger.” I mind-linked her before I fell asleep.