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 I-I’m holding a

but I-I promise to c-come back so

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

I kiss

I nod, pecking Talia

you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

around, storming towards Agnes who stares

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

Interesting...

to himself, leaving me to

Grayson never gets the chance to answer me

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

pushing past me

frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes

can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me to

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 quickly towards

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

looking at me

and we have to

"B-but Agnes-"

Agnes?" He says, stopping in his tracks and looking at

kissed her," I say

"And?"

walking past

kiss your mate.Why can’t I kiss

eyes widen

completely blindsided by

me," he

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

not an afterthought to me,"

I think

to face me, his features strong and

hurt her.I just thought you should know

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

son’s obvious hatred and gestures for me

change of plans,"

just teleport

wrist and opening a portal

gift has its limitations," Aurora

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

appreciate your help,

bows, gesturing for us to step through the

honor to be in your

compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into the portal with his

deep breath to calm

gathered around a table and a large monitor mounted on a wall near the end

also sparsely spread around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight attendants ready to make our trip as

settle down for a meeting, Toran pulling up a map of

are located along the Samish Bay in

surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote,

is a main island where most of the pack lives

on a fifth island and a

is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine

island appears insignificant and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my father can’t seem

the eastern side of the island near

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

he reaches our main dock on the western front for an

map intently in

greatly outnumbered," Tylen

assume we will have to utilize guerilla warfare

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

over the last few weeks but are still figuring

nod silently and he thinks

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

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

what m-my gift