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 and

ring for y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come back so w-we

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

I kiss Talia one more

nod, pecking

you

"I love you."

door when he

he turns around,

them signs a word and for what seems like an eternity,

Interesting...

himself, leaving me to

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

leans in and kisses her gently on

pushing past me and

remain frozen in place, all of

stunned herself but before I can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at

pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I call out after him, Tylen marching quickly towards the pack

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

time," he shouts back without looking at me as I

have to move.Sebastian’s troops will mobilize soon and we

"B-but Agnes-"

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

her,"

"And?"

huffs, walking past

your mate.Why

eyes widen

ask, completely

heard me,"

satisfy me and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation, when Tylen slows down

afterthought

all I

me, his features strong and

won’t hurt her.I just

who

his son’s obvious hatred and

have a change of plans," Toran

Majesty "Why not just teleport us to

a portal to

gift has its limitations," Aurora

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

appreciate your help, your

for us to step through the

honor to be in your

the compliment with a nod, Toran

take a deep

leather seats gathered around a table and a large monitor mounted on a wall near the

create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight attendants

meeting, Toran pulling up

and Scarlett Haven are located along

a large peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote, positioned across five small

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

located on a fifth island and

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

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

eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using a laser pointer to indicate

have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds, pointing to a

reaches our main dock on the western

and Tylen fall silent as they study the map intently in search for a solution to this

are greatly outnumbered,"

utilize guerilla warfare if we want

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?" he asks,

nod silently and he thinks for

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 all of

does your father understand?" Tylen asks, keeping

doesn’t kn-know what m-my gift is,"