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.

a piece of m-me and

y-you yet but I-I promise to

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss Talia

nod, pecking Talia

you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

and he turns around, storming towards Agnes who stares at

and for what seems like an

Interesting...

leaving me to be oblivious on

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

Tylen leans in and kisses her gently on

past me and

place, all of us staring at Agnes in

herself but before I can ask questions, Tylen once again

jump in a fright and hurriedly kiss my pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

looking at me as I catch

soon and we have to

"B-but Agnes-"

says, stopping in his tracks and

her,"

"And?"

walking

mate.Why can’t I kiss

eyes widen

completely blindsided by

heard me,"

to demand a proper explanation, when Tylen slows down

an afterthought

all I

to face me, his features strong

hurt her.I just thought you should know

greeting his father who is busy speaking with the young Queen with a

not notice his son’s obvious hatred and gestures for me

a change of plans,"

just teleport us

wrist and opening a portal to what appears to be

its limitations," Aurora

to places I have been and I do

I greatly appreciate your help,

for us to

an honor to be

the compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into the portal

him and I take a deep breath to calm my nerves as

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

create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet

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

and Scarlett Haven are located along the

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

is a main island where most of the pack

silo located on a fifth island and a series of

converted into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground with layers of

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

his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using a laser pointer to indicate Sebastian’s

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

main dock on the western front for

and Tylen fall silent as they study the map intently in search for

greatly outnumbered," Tylen

to utilize guerilla warfare if we

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

you’ve been training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your

he thinks for a

find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of war experience, you

father understand?" Tylen asks, keeping his eyes on

gift is," I reply with a