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 holding

I-I promise to c-come back so

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

snaps when I kiss Talia

pecking Talia on the

you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

and he turns around, storming towards Agnes who stares at him

signs a word and for what seems like an

Interesting...

leaving me to be oblivious on my

answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and places it

kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away and

go," he snaps, pushing past me and

frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes in

before I can ask questions, Tylen once again

once more before

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

time," he shouts back without looking at me

move.Sebastian’s troops will mobilize soon and we have to prepare the islands

"B-but Agnes-"

in his tracks and

kissed her,"

"And?"

huffs, walking

mate.Why

widen in

completely blindsided by

heard me,"

I clear my throat to demand a

is not an afterthought to me,"

all I think

turns to face me, his features

just thought

walks away again, greeting his father who is busy speaking

to not notice his son’s obvious hatred

a change of plans,"

"Why not just teleport

a portal

gift has its

I have been and I do not know

greatly appreciate

bows, gesturing for us to

honor to

a nod, Toran

follow after him and I take a deep breath to

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

the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is

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

located

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

where most of the pack lives and equipment, food, and the

ring, there is an abandoned missile silo located on a fifth island and a series of

and is perfectly camouflaged on

island appears insignificant and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress my

his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the

all these years, 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

on the western

study the map intently in search for a solution to

greatly

utilize guerilla warfare if we want to

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

and slip out unseen between the islands.We'll have teams stationed here, here and here, and the rest will remain scattered

the last few weeks but are still figuring out your

he thinks

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

father understand?" Tylen asks, keeping his eyes

father doesn’t kn-know what m-my gift