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

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

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

I kiss Talia one

I nod, pecking Talia on

love you

"I love you."

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

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

for what

Interesting...

hums to himself, leaving me to be oblivious

gets the chance to answer me as Tylen

kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away and

past me and opening the

of us staring at Agnes

again yells at me to move, the sound

jump in a fright and hurriedly kiss my pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I call out after him, Tylen marching quickly towards

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

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

will mobilize soon and

"B-but Agnes-"

He says, stopping in his

her," I say

"And?"

walking past

your mate.Why can’t

widen in

completely blindsided by

heard me," he

does not satisfy me and I clear my throat to demand a

not an afterthought to me," he

all I

face me, his features

just thought you

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

obvious hatred and gestures for me to step

a change of plans," Toran

"Why not just teleport us

mutters, Aurora flicking her wrist and opening a portal

has its limitations,"

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

I greatly appreciate your

gesturing for us to step

honor to

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

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

jet resembles a small office, with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table and a large

atmosphere and there is a

down for a meeting, Toran pulling up

Haven are located along the Samish Bay in

Ravenstone is very remote, positioned across five small

of the pack

located on a fifth island

is perfectly camouflaged on

it contains an impenetrable fortress my father

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

the bastard all these years, I know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds, pointing to

on the western

map intently in search for a

are greatly outnumbered," Tylen

assume we will have to utilize guerilla warfare if

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

entrances to our tunnels so we'll use them to our advantage to strike and slip out 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

he

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

father understand?" Tylen

kn-know what m-my gift