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.

of m-me and I-I’m

I-I promise to

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss Talia

I nod, pecking Talia

you Talia,"

"I love you."

towards the door when he suddenly halts,

his lips and he turns around, storming towards Agnes who

them signs a word and for what seems

Interesting...

hums to himself, leaving me to

is? I ask but Grayson never gets the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag

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

he snaps, pushing past me and opening the

all of us staring at

but before I can ask questions, Tylen once again

hurriedly kiss my pup and mate goodbye once more before

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

time," he shouts back without looking at me as

mobilize soon and

"B-but Agnes-"

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

kissed her," I say

"And?"

walking

kiss your mate.Why can’t I kiss

widen

completely blindsided by his

me,"

answer does not satisfy me and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation, when Tylen slows

not an afterthought to

all I think

turns to face me, his features strong

won’t hurt her.I just thought

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

his son’s obvious hatred and

change of

"Why not just teleport

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

gift has its limitations," Aurora

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

greatly appreciate

gesturing for us

honor to be in your

compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into the

I take a deep breath to calm

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

and there is a fleet of flight attendants ready to make our trip

pulling up a map

Scarlett Haven are located

by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote, positioned across five small

the pack lives

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

is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground with layers of concrete and

and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my

source tells me Sebastian has mobilized his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the

I know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds, pointing to a trail of other islands in

main dock on

and Tylen fall silent as they study the map intently in

greatly outnumbered," Tylen

utilize

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

islands.We'll have teams stationed here, here

are still figuring out your gift?" he

and he thinks

team on 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 without question," Toran says

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

m-my gift is," I reply