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

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!"

I kiss Talia one

nod, pecking Talia

love you

"I love you."

the door when he suddenly

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

what seems like

Interesting...

to himself, leaving me to be oblivious on

answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and

kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away and leaving

past me and opening

all of

before I can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at

once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I call

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

shouts back without looking at me as

troops will mobilize soon and we have to prepare the islands

"B-but Agnes-"

about Agnes?" He says, stopping in his tracks

kissed her," I say

"And?"

huffs, walking past

your mate.Why can’t I

widen in

I ask, completely blindsided by his

me,"

throat to demand a proper explanation, when

an afterthought to me," he

I think

turns to face me, his features strong and

just thought

his father who

to not notice his son’s obvious

change of plans,"

not just teleport

flicking her wrist and opening a portal

has its limitations,"

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

greatly appreciate your help,

gesturing for us to step

to be

the compliment with a nod, Toran stepping

take a deep breath to calm my nerves as

table and a large monitor mounted on a wall near

sparsely spread around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and

pulling up a map of Ravenstone on the

located along the Samish

large peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote, positioned across

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

located on a fifth island and a series

on the island, buried nine

the island appears insignificant and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my father can’t seem to

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

and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here,"

dock on the western front for an

study the map intently in

greatly outnumbered,"

utilize

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

me you’ve been training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?"

silently and he thinks for a

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

does your father

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