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.

of m-me and I-I’m holding a piece of

y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come back so w-we can put our fam-family bead in my

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

kiss Talia one more

I nod, pecking Talia on

you Talia," I

"I love you."

the door when he suddenly halts, his jaw clenching as he places his hand

he turns around, storming

a word and for what seems like

Interesting...

me to be oblivious

answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog

in and kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away and

snaps, pushing past me and opening

in place, all of us staring at Agnes

Tylen once again yells at me to move, the sound of

more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I call out after him, Tylen marching quickly towards the pack

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

shouts back without looking

move.Sebastian’s troops will mobilize soon and we have to

"B-but Agnes-"

about Agnes?" He says, stopping in his tracks

her,"

"And?"

walking past

your mate.Why can’t I kiss

widen

completely blindsided by

heard me," he

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

is not an afterthought to

I

me, his features strong

hurt her.I just thought you should know

greeting his father who is busy speaking with the

pretends to not notice his son’s obvious hatred

a change of

just teleport us to

flicking her wrist and opening a portal to what

its

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

appreciate your

us to step through

an honor to be in your

a nod, Toran stepping into the portal with his

a deep breath to calm my nerves

table

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

a meeting, Toran pulling up a map

Scarlett Haven are located along the Samish

Ravenstone

where most of the pack lives and equipment,

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

old silo has been converted into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on

uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my

side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using

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

he reaches our main dock on the

they study the map

greatly outnumbered,"

to utilize guerilla warfare

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

has not yet located the 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

last few weeks but are

silently and he thinks

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

of your gift does your father understand?" Tylen

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