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.

now ho-holding a piece of m-me and I-I’m holding a piece

y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

snaps when I kiss

nod, pecking Talia

love you Talia," I

"I love you."

following Tylen towards the door when

he turns around, storming towards Agnes

word and for what seems like

Interesting...

himself, leaving me to be oblivious

ask but Grayson never gets the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and

word, Tylen leans in and kisses her gently on the cheek before

snaps, pushing past me and opening

in place, all of us staring at

again yells at me to move, the sound

my pup and mate goodbye once more before running

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

looking at me

will mobilize soon and we

"B-but Agnes-"

Agnes?" He says, stopping in his tracks and looking at

her,"

"And?"

huffs, walking

kiss your mate.Why can’t I

eyes widen in

I ask, completely blindsided by

heard me,"

me and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation,

not an afterthought

all I think

face me, his

won’t hurt her.I just thought you should

his father who is busy speaking with the

obvious hatred and gestures for me to step

a change of

"Why not just teleport

opening a portal to what appears to be a

its limitations," Aurora

teleport to places I have been and I do not know

greatly appreciate your help, your

us

honor to be in your

the compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into

take a deep breath

with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table and a large monitor

atmosphere and there is a

a meeting, Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone

and Scarlett Haven are located along the Samish Bay

peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is

a main island where most of the pack lives and equipment, food, and

island ring, there is an abandoned missile silo located on a fifth island and a series of underwater tunnels connect the islands

into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground with layers of

an outsider, the island appears insignificant and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my father can’t seem to

the island near the

these years, I know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds, pointing to

on

map intently in

are greatly

to utilize

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

yet located the entrances to our tunnels so we'll use them to our advantage to strike and slip out unseen between the islands.We'll have teams stationed here, here and here, and the rest will remain scattered Toran stops mid sentence and studies me for a moment, his lips pressed firmly into a tight

few weeks but are still

nod silently and he thinks for

sure Sebastain’s men don’t find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of war experience, you will follow all of

your gift does your father understand?" Tylen asks, keeping his eyes on the

what m-my gift