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.

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

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

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

I kiss Talia one more

nod, pecking

you Talia," I

"I love you."

when he

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

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

Interesting...

hums to himself, leaving me to be oblivious

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

another word, Tylen leans in and kisses her gently

past me and opening the

of us staring at Agnes

once again yells at me to move, the sound of his booming voice

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

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

back without looking

troops will mobilize soon and we have to prepare

"B-but Agnes-"

says, stopping in his tracks and looking

kissed her," I

"And?"

huffs, walking past

your mate.Why can’t I kiss

eyes widen

ask, completely

heard me,"

my throat to demand a proper explanation, when

not an afterthought to

all I think

to face me,

her.I just thought you should

walks away again, greeting his father who is busy speaking

obvious hatred

change of plans,"

not just

flicking her wrist and opening a portal to what appears to be a

has its limitations," Aurora

and I do not know

greatly appreciate your help,

bows, gesturing for us to step through the

to be in

with a nod, Toran stepping into the portal with his

I take a deep breath

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

recliners are also sparsely spread around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight

Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone on the

located along the

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

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

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

old silo has been converted into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine

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

side of the island near the bluffs," Toran

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

reaches our main dock on the western front for an

fall silent as they study the map

are greatly outnumbered,"

assume we will have to utilize guerilla warfare if we want

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

stationed here, here and here, and the rest will remain scattered

me you’ve been training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?" he asks,

he

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 all of Tylen’s instructions without question," Toran

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

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