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.

ho-holding a piece of m-me and I-I’m

yet but I-I promise to

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

snaps when I kiss

I nod, pecking Talia

love you Talia," I

"I love you."

my heel, grabbing my bag and following Tylen towards the door when he suddenly halts, his jaw clenching as he places his

turns around,

of them signs a word and for what seems like an eternity, they simply

Interesting...

himself, leaving me to

me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag

gently on the cheek before turning

go," he snaps, pushing past

place, all of us staring at Agnes

Tylen once again yells at me to

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

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

shouts back without looking at me as

mobilize soon and we have to prepare

"B-but Agnes-"

says, stopping in his

kissed her," I say

"And?"

huffs, walking past

kiss your mate.Why can’t I

widen in

completely blindsided

heard me," he

answer does not satisfy me and I clear my throat to

an afterthought to me," he

all I think

to face me, his features strong and

just thought you should

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

obvious hatred and gestures for

a change of plans,"

"Why not just teleport us to

opening a

has its limitations," Aurora

I have been and I do

greatly appreciate your help, your

gesturing for us to step through the

honor to be in

nod, Toran stepping into

and I follow after him and I take a deep breath to calm my

with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table and

atmosphere and there

Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone on

Scarlett Haven are located along the

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

a main island where most of the pack lives and equipment, food, and

is an abandoned missile silo located on a fifth island and a series of underwater

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

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

the eastern side of the island near the bluffs,"

distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds,

main dock on the western front for an

fall silent as they study the map intently in search for a solution to

greatly

have to utilize

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

teams stationed here, here and here, and the rest will

training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?" he asks, though it is not

nod silently and he thinks for

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

father understand?" Tylen asks,

m-my gift is," I