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.

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

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

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

kiss Talia

pecking Talia

love you Talia,"

"I love you."

the door when he suddenly halts, his

leaves his lips and he turns around, storming

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

Interesting...

himself, leaving me to be oblivious

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

her gently on the cheek before turning away and leaving

snaps, pushing past me and opening the

all of us staring at Agnes

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

goodbye once more before running out

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

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

mobilize soon and we have to

"B-but Agnes-"

stopping in his

kissed her," I say

"And?"

walking

kiss your mate.Why can’t

eyes widen

ask, completely blindsided

heard me," he

satisfy me and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation, when Tylen slows down

an afterthought to me," he

all I

face me,

her.I just thought

father who is busy speaking with the

son’s obvious hatred and gestures for me to

have a change of plans,"

Majesty "Why not just

her wrist and opening a portal to

has its limitations," Aurora

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

greatly appreciate

us to step

an honor to be in your

a nod, Toran stepping into the

deep

resembles a small office, with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table and a large monitor mounted on

recliners are also sparsely spread around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight attendants ready to make our trip as comfortable as

meeting, Toran pulling up a map of

Scarlett Haven are located

on a large peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is

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

missile silo located on a fifth island and a series

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

and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my father can’t seem to

soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using a laser pointer to indicate Sebastian’s

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 a trail of other islands in

on the western front

fall silent as they study the map intently in search for a solution

greatly

to utilize guerilla warfare if we

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?" he asks, though it is

silently and he thinks for a

don’t find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of war experience,

gift does your father

kn-know what m-my gift