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

I-I promise to c-come back so

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

snaps when I kiss Talia

sir," I nod, pecking Talia on the

you

"I love you."

the door when

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

for what seems like an eternity, they

Interesting...

leaving me

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

her gently on the cheek before

he snaps, pushing past

place, all of

seems stunned herself but before I can ask questions, Tylen once again

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 marching

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

he shouts back without looking at me as

to move.Sebastian’s troops will mobilize soon and

"B-but Agnes-"

says, stopping in

her," I

"And?"

huffs, walking

your mate.Why can’t I

eyes widen in

ask, completely blindsided

heard me," he

to demand a proper

not an afterthought to

all I think

to face me, his features strong

hurt her.I just

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

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

change of plans,"

"Why not just teleport us

wrist and opening a

has its limitations,"

been and I do not know Ravenstone.The airport

I greatly appreciate your help, your

for us to step through

an honor to be in

nod, Toran stepping

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

table and a large monitor mounted on a wall near the end of the

a sophisticated atmosphere and there is

Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone on

located along the

woods and ocean but Ravenstone

of the pack lives and equipment, food, and the

abandoned missile silo located on a fifth island and a series of underwater tunnels connect

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

but it contains an impenetrable fortress my

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

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

reaches our main dock on the

they study the map intently in search for a solution

greatly

have to utilize guerilla

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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 Toran stops mid sentence and studies me for a moment, his lips

but are still figuring out your gift?"

he thinks for

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

gift does your father understand?" Tylen asks, keeping his

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