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

to

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss Talia one

I nod, pecking

you

"I love you."

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

around,

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

Interesting...

to himself, leaving me to be oblivious

the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and places

kisses her gently on the cheek

pushing past me

place, all of us staring

I can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me to move, the sound of his booming voice startling

my pup and mate goodbye once more before running

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

shouts back without looking at

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

"B-but Agnes-"

He says, stopping in his

kissed her," I say

"And?"

walking past

mate.Why can’t

widen in

ask, completely blindsided

heard me,"

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

not an afterthought to

all I think

me, his features

won’t hurt her.I just thought you

his father who is busy speaking with the young

pretends to not notice his son’s obvious hatred and gestures for me

change

just

a portal to what appears to be a private

its

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

I greatly appreciate

gesturing for us to

an honor to be in your

compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into the

and I follow after him and I take a deep

table and

around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is

pulling

are located along

large peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is

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

silo located on a

has been converted into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on the island,

an outsider, the island appears insignificant and uninhabited but it

tells me Sebastian has mobilized his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the bluffs,"

he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds, pointing to a trail of other islands in the

main dock on the western front

silent as they study the map intently in search for a

are greatly outnumbered," Tylen

utilize guerilla warfare if we

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?"

silently and he thinks for a

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

your father understand?" Tylen asks, keeping

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