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.

piece of m-me

a ring for y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss Talia one

pecking Talia

love you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

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

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

Interesting...

leaving me to be oblivious

answer me as Tylen suddenly

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

snaps, pushing past me and opening the

of us

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

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

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

without looking at

mobilize soon and we have to prepare the

"B-but Agnes-"

says, stopping in

kissed her,"

"And?"

huffs, walking past

kiss your mate.Why

widen in

ask, completely blindsided by

me," he

not satisfy me and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation, when Tylen

not an afterthought to me,"

all I think

to face me, his features

just thought you should know

again, greeting his father who is busy speaking with the young Queen with

not notice his son’s obvious

have a change of plans," Toran

Majesty "Why not just teleport us

a portal to what appears to be

has its limitations,"

do not know Ravenstone.The airport is as far as I

I greatly appreciate your help, your

gesturing for us to

an honor to

with a nod, Toran stepping into the

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

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

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

a meeting, Toran pulling up a map

Scarlett Haven are located along the Samish Bay

peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone

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

there is an abandoned missile silo located on a

on the island, buried nine stories

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

his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the

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

he reaches our main dock on the western front for

they study the map intently

greatly

assume we will have to utilize guerilla warfare

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

strike and slip out unseen between the islands.We'll have teams stationed here,

you’ve been training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?" he asks, though it is not

and he thinks

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

father understand?" Tylen

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