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

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

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

I kiss

nod, pecking

love you

"I love you."

following Tylen towards the door when he suddenly halts, his jaw clenching

small growl leaves his lips and he turns around, storming towards Agnes

of them signs a word and for what seems like an eternity, they simply stand

Interesting...

me to

me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and

word, Tylen leans in and kisses her gently on

past me and opening the

remain frozen in place, all of us staring

stunned herself but before I can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me to move, the sound of his booming voice startling

mate goodbye once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I call out

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

time," he shouts back without looking at me as

to move.Sebastian’s troops will mobilize soon and

"B-but Agnes-"

stopping in his tracks and looking at

kissed her," I say

"And?"

huffs, walking past

mate.Why can’t

eyes widen

I ask, completely blindsided by

me,"

I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation,

afterthought to

all I think

turns to face me, his features strong and

just thought you

walks away again, greeting his father who

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

change of plans,"

not just teleport

mutters, Aurora flicking her wrist and opening a portal to what appears to

has its limitations," Aurora

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

appreciate your

bows, gesturing for us to step through

to be

accepts the compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into the portal with

and I take a deep breath to calm

table and a large monitor

the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there

down for a meeting, Toran pulling up a map of

Haven are located along the

and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote, positioned across five small islands almost

most of the pack lives and equipment, food, and the

island ring, there is an abandoned missile silo located on a fifth

is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground with layers of

appears insignificant and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my

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

have a smaller crew

dock on the western front for an

as they study the map intently in search for a solution to this

are greatly outnumbered,"

we will have to utilize guerilla warfare if we

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

the islands.We'll have teams stationed here, here and here, and the rest will remain scattered Toran stops mid sentence

over the last few weeks but are still

he thinks for

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

does your father understand?"

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