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 holding a

a ring for y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come back so w-we can put our fam-family

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss

I nod, pecking Talia on the

love you

"I love you."

towards the door when he suddenly halts, his

lips and he turns around, storming towards

word and for what seems like an eternity,

Interesting...

to himself, leaving me to be oblivious

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

kisses her gently on the

past me and opening

all of us staring at Agnes

questions, Tylen once again yells at me to move, the sound of his booming

before running out of the

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

he shouts back without looking at me as

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

"B-but Agnes-"

stopping in

her,"

"And?"

walking past

your mate.Why can’t I kiss

widen in

I ask, completely blindsided by his

heard me,"

I clear my throat to demand a proper

not an afterthought

I

face me,

just thought you should know

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

notice his son’s obvious hatred and

a change of plans," Toran

Majesty "Why not just teleport us to

flicking her wrist and opening a portal to what appears to be

has its

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

greatly appreciate

for us to step through

an honor to be in your

a nod, Toran stepping into the

take a deep breath to calm my nerves

resembles a small office, with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table

cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet

a meeting, Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone on the

Haven are located along the Samish Bay in

Haven sits on a large peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote, positioned across five small islands

most of the

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

is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried

but it contains an

his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near

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

dock on the western front for an

Tylen fall silent as they study the map intently in

greatly

have to utilize guerilla warfare if we want to

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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 into a

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

silently and he thinks for

make sure Sebastain’s men don’t find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to

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

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