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

have a ring 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 Talia

you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

lips and he turns around, storming towards Agnes who stares at him with

word and for what seems like an eternity,

Interesting...

me to be oblivious on

Grayson never gets the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly

another word, Tylen leans in and kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away and leaving

snaps, pushing past

frozen in place, all of us staring

but before I can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me to move, the

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 the pack

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

back without looking at me as

soon and we

"B-but Agnes-"

stopping in his

her,"

"And?"

huffs, walking

your mate.Why

eyes widen in

I ask, completely blindsided by his

heard me,"

me and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation, when

not an afterthought to

all I

turns to face me, his features strong

her.I just thought you

walks away again, greeting his father who

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

a change of

just teleport us to

opening a portal to what appears to

its limitations," Aurora

and I do not know

I greatly appreciate your help,

gesturing for us to step through the

been an honor to be in

Toran stepping into the portal with

after him and I take a deep breath

a table and a large monitor mounted on a wall near the

around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight

settle down for a meeting, Toran pulling up a

Scarlett Haven are located along

Haven sits on a large peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote,

most of the pack lives and equipment, food, and

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

converted into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on

appears insignificant and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my father can’t

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

likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds, pointing to

dock on the western front for an

they study the map

greatly

assume we will have to utilize guerilla warfare if we want

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?"

nod silently and he thinks for

find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of war experience, you will follow all of Tylen’s instructions without question," Toran says

how much of your gift does your father understand?" Tylen asks,

kn-know what m-my gift is," I reply with