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.

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

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

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

snaps when I kiss Talia

sir," I nod, pecking Talia

you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

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

one of them signs a word and for what seems like

Interesting...

leaving me to be

ask but Grayson never gets the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and places

leans in and kisses her gently on the cheek before

past me and opening the

remain frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes

questions, Tylen once again yells at me

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

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

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

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

"B-but Agnes-"

stopping in his tracks and looking at

her,"

"And?"

walking past

your mate.Why can’t

eyes widen in

completely blindsided

heard me,"

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

an afterthought

all I

face me, his

won’t hurt her.I just thought you should know

his father who is busy

to not notice his son’s obvious hatred and gestures

change

Majesty "Why not just teleport us

mutters, Aurora flicking her wrist and opening a portal to what

its limitations," Aurora

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

I greatly appreciate your help, your

for us to step

honor to be in your

a nod, Toran stepping into the portal

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

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

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

Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone

located along the Samish

Ravenstone

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

ring, there is an abandoned missile silo located on a fifth island and a series of underwater tunnels

has been converted into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground with layers of concrete

the island appears insignificant and uninhabited but it

the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using a laser pointer to

and he will have a smaller

he reaches our main dock on the western

map intently in search for a solution

are greatly outnumbered," Tylen

utilize guerilla warfare if we want to

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

slip out unseen between the islands.We'll have teams stationed here, here and here, and the rest will remain scattered Toran

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

and he thinks

find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of war experience, you will follow all of Tylen’s instructions

how much of your gift does your father understand?"

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