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 piece of

but I-I promise to c-come back so w-we can put our fam-family bead in my

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

kiss

sir," I nod, pecking Talia on

love you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

he turns around, storming towards

of them signs a word and for what seems

Interesting...

me to

me as Tylen suddenly

word, Tylen leans in and kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away

snaps, pushing past me and opening the

frozen in place, all of us

questions, Tylen once again yells at me

hurriedly kiss my pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I call out after

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

back without looking at

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

"B-but Agnes-"

says, stopping in his tracks and

her," I

"And?"

huffs, walking past

your mate.Why can’t

widen

ask, completely blindsided

heard me," he

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

an afterthought to

all I

face me,

her.I just thought you should know

greeting his father who is

obvious hatred and

change of

"Why not just teleport us to

her wrist and opening a portal to what

has its limitations,"

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

I greatly appreciate your help,

for us to

to be

nod, Toran stepping into

take a deep breath to calm my nerves

leather seats gathered around a table and a large monitor mounted

to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight attendants ready to make our trip as comfortable

meeting, Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone on

Scarlett Haven are located along

by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote, positioned across five small islands almost three miles

of the pack lives and equipment, food,

located on a fifth island and a

perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground with layers

it contains an impenetrable fortress my father can’t seem to

the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains,

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

dock on the western

they study the map intently in

are greatly outnumbered," Tylen

have to utilize guerilla warfare if we

"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

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

nod silently and he thinks for a

Tylen will lead a team on the bunker island and make sure Sebastain’s men don’t find the bunker entrance.Zane, due

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

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