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 and

don’t have a ring for y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come back

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

kiss Talia

nod, pecking Talia

you Talia," I

"I love you."

turn on my heel, grabbing my bag and following Tylen towards the door when he suddenly halts, his

he turns around, storming towards Agnes

signs a word and for what seems like an

Interesting...

leaving me

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

another word, Tylen leans in and kisses her gently on

he snaps, pushing past me and opening the

remain frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes in

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

in 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!"

shouts back without looking at me as I

will mobilize soon and we have to

"B-but Agnes-"

in his tracks and

kissed her,"

"And?"

huffs, walking

kiss your mate.Why

eyes widen in

completely blindsided by

heard me,"

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

not an afterthought to

all I think

turns to face me, his

hurt her.I just thought you should

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

to not notice his son’s obvious hatred and

change of plans,"

"Why not just teleport us

opening a portal to what appears to

its limitations,"

places I have been and I do not know Ravenstone.The airport

greatly appreciate your

bows, gesturing for us

to be in

with a nod, Toran stepping into the portal with his

follow after him and I take a deep breath to calm

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

sophisticated atmosphere and there is a

for a meeting, Toran pulling up a map of

are located along

woods and ocean but Ravenstone is

where most of the

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

a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on

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

has mobilized his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using a laser pointer

these years, I know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew

our main dock on the western front

as they study the map intently in search

greatly

we will have to utilize guerilla warfare if we want to

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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 pressed firmly

the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?" he asks, though

nod silently and he

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

of your gift does your father understand?" Tylen asks, keeping his eyes on the

father doesn’t kn-know what m-my gift is,"