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 I-I’m holding a piece of

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

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

kiss

sir," I nod, pecking Talia on

you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

turns around, storming towards Agnes

and for what seems like an eternity, they simply stand before each

Interesting...

to himself, leaving me

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

in and kisses her gently on the cheek before

he snaps, pushing past

remain frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes

ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me

pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of the

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

back without looking

soon and we have

"B-but Agnes-"

says, stopping in

her," I say

"And?"

huffs, walking

kiss your mate.Why can’t I

eyes widen

ask, completely blindsided by his

heard me," he

clear my throat to

is not an afterthought to me," he

I think

turns to face me, his features

her.I just

turns and walks away again, greeting his father who is busy speaking with

pretends to not notice his son’s obvious hatred and gestures

a change

not just

mutters, Aurora flicking her wrist and opening a portal to

has its

do not know

appreciate your help, your

for us to step through

an honor to be

nod, Toran stepping into the portal

a deep breath

with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table

also sparsely spread around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight attendants ready to make

meeting, Toran pulling

are located along

large peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is

island where most of the pack lives

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

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

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

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

bastard all these years, I know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these

on the western front

study the map intently in search for

are greatly

we will have to utilize guerilla warfare

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

stationed here, here and here, and the rest

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

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 Tylen’s instructions without question," Toran says

your gift does your father understand?" Tylen asks,

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