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.

m-me and I-I’m holding a piece of

I-I promise to c-come back so w-we can put our fam-family

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss Talia one

I nod, pecking Talia on the

love you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

turns around,

word and for what seems like an eternity, they

Interesting...

to himself, leaving me to

gets the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his

and kisses her gently on

he snaps, pushing past me and opening

all of us staring at

once again yells at me to

kiss my pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

time," he shouts back without looking at me as

troops will mobilize soon and we have to prepare the islands

"B-but Agnes-"

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

her,"

"And?"

huffs, walking

mate.Why

widen

I ask, completely

heard me,"

to demand a proper

not an afterthought to me," he

I think

to face me,

hurt her.I just thought you should

his father who

to not notice his son’s obvious hatred and gestures for me to step

change of plans," Toran

not just teleport us

a portal to what

has its

places I have been and I do not know Ravenstone.The airport is as far

I greatly appreciate your

gesturing for us to step through the

been an honor to be

accepts the compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into

follow after him and I take a deep breath to calm my nerves as

office, with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table and a large monitor mounted on a wall near the end

cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there

Toran pulling up a map

Haven are located along the Samish Bay in

Ravenstone is

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

missile silo located on a fifth island and a series of underwater tunnels connect

bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories

outsider, the island appears insignificant and uninhabited but it contains an

mobilized his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using a laser

is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds,

main dock on the

as they study the map intently in search

greatly outnumbered," Tylen

have to utilize guerilla warfare if we want

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?"

and he thinks

and Tylen will lead a team on the bunker island and make sure Sebastain’s men don’t find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of war experience, you will follow

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

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