The Silent Alpha

***Zane*** 

"Please marry me,"

Talia repeats, her eyes full of tears as she sets Kota down on the floor.

"W-what?" I ask, unsure if I just imagined her proposal.

She steps on the tips of her toes, cupping my cheeks in her warm, soft hands and repeating the most wonderful words to ever leave her lips.

"I love you," she murmurs, my heart pounding against my chest as I struggle to hold back my own tears.

"And I just realized that I’m going to wake up tomorrow...And you won’t be there," she shrugs with a sad smile on her face.

"And that scares me," she whimpers softly.

"Because I-I don’t ever want to wake up without you.I want your face to be the last face I see at night and the first one I see every morning...for the rest of my life." I can’t seem to gather my thoughts and for once, Grayson is as useless as I am.

"I used to be so afraid of your love," she whimpers.

"But now I fear living without it.Please marry me, Zane,"

Talia whispers, gently brushing her lips against mine as sparks tingle across my face.

"I want to be your wife."

No words seem sufficient enough to express the blissful joy I feel in my heart right now as my mate kisses me with all her heart, begging to be mine for the rest of our lives.

I grew up thinking the and now it seems surreal to have a mate love me enough to give me her broken heart.

Despite all her fears, Talia loves me and I love her with all of the light of my soul.

"Y-yes," I reply, wrapping my arms around her waist.

"Y-yes.I-I’ll marry y-you."

She smiles against my lips as I accept her over and over again, forgetting the horrible truth of our reality to share a single moment of true happiness with my mate.

She's going to be my wife! Thank Goddess! Grayson howls ecstatically.

I thought we were going to die alone at this rate! lignore my wolf’s commentary, lifting my beautiful mate in my arms as I deepen our kiss.

"Come back to me, Zane," Talia murmurs between kisses.

"You have to come back so I can be your wife." I nod emphatically as I set her down, taking her hand and kissing it.

"I-I promise.I-I promise I’ll come back to y-you and Kota." I cup her cheeks and shower her head with kisses, Kota hopping up and down with excitement.

"Ewww!" Kota squeals, a huge grin on his face as I kiss his mother.

"No more kisses," he shouts, running up to us with his hands in the air.

I bend over and pick him up, Kota placing his hand over my mouth to stop me from kissing him. Aren’t you forgetting something? Grayson says, his tail flicking side to side.

What? I ask, completely confused.

Must I do everything, he sighs tiredly.

A ring, you gump! You need a ring for our mate! Oh! Right! I gasp, realizing I don’t own anything that remotely resembles a ring.

I’ll have to improvise.Pushing his little hand aside, I whisper instructions in Kota’s ear, the little boy nodding obediently and running off to complete his task.

"Zane, we have to go," Tylen insists.

"We don’t have a lot of time-"

"I-l know," I interrupt him, lifting my hand to silence him.

"J-just give m-me one more minute, p-please."

Tylen eyes Talia and I, sighing tiredly to himself as he gives in.

Just then, Kota returns with the four bead bracelet he made for me a while back.

"Here you go, Daddy," Kota says, placing the bracelet in my hand.

I untie the string, removing the pink and blue beads from the bracelet and handing the blue one to Talia.

"K-Kota made this for m-me.It's our family," I explain, pointing to each bead.

piece of m-me

for y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come back so w-we can put our fam-family bead in my

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

I kiss

I nod, pecking Talia

love you

"I love you."

on my heel, grabbing my bag and following Tylen towards the door when he suddenly halts,

around, storming towards

what seems like an eternity,

Interesting...

to himself, leaving me to be oblivious

is? I ask but Grayson never gets the chance to answer me as

leans in and kisses her gently on the cheek

past me and opening the

in place, all of

can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me to move, the sound of his booming voice startling

jump in a fright and hurriedly kiss my pup and mate goodbye once more before running out

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

looking at me

and we have to prepare the islands

"B-but Agnes-"

He says, stopping in his tracks

her," I say

"And?"

walking

your mate.Why

eyes widen

ask, completely

me," he

and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation,

afterthought to me,"

all I think

me, his features strong and

hurt her.I just thought you

who is

notice his son’s obvious hatred and gestures for me to step

have a change of plans," Toran

"Why not just teleport

flicking her wrist and opening a portal to what appears

its limitations,"

and I do not know Ravenstone.The airport is as

greatly appreciate your

for us

been an honor to be in your

the compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into the portal

and I follow after him and I take a deep breath to

with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table and a

sophisticated atmosphere and

Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone on the

are located along the Samish

ocean but Ravenstone is very remote, positioned across five

of the pack lives and equipment, food, and the

there is an abandoned missile silo located on a fifth island and a series of underwater

has been converted into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground

the island appears insignificant and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable

source tells me Sebastian has mobilized his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using

years, I know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller

our main dock on the western front for an

they study the map intently in search for a

greatly outnumbered,"

have to utilize guerilla warfare if we want to

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

our advantage to strike and slip out unseen between the islands.We'll have teams stationed here,

me you’ve been training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?"

silently and he thinks for

make sure Sebastain’s men don’t find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of

of your gift does your father understand?"

father doesn’t kn-know what m-my gift is," I reply