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.

m-me and

yet but I-I promise to c-come back so w-we

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss Talia

nod, pecking Talia on

love you Talia,"

"I love you."

following Tylen towards the door when

leaves his lips and he turns around,

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

Interesting...

himself, leaving me to be oblivious

I ask but Grayson never gets the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and places it in Agnes’s

kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away and leaving

he snaps, pushing past me and opening

remain frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes

can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me to move, the

my pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I call out after him, Tylen marching quickly towards the pack

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

he shouts back without looking at me as

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

"B-but Agnes-"

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

kissed her," I

"And?"

huffs, walking past

mate.Why can’t

widen in

ask, completely blindsided

me," he

I clear my throat to demand a proper

is not an afterthought to me,"

I

to face me, his features strong

just thought you should

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

son’s obvious hatred

a change of plans," Toran

not just teleport us to

her wrist and opening a portal to what appears to

gift has its limitations," Aurora

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

I greatly appreciate your

us to step through

been an honor to be in your

nod, Toran stepping into

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

small office, with luxurious leather seats gathered around a table and a large monitor mounted on a wall near

recliners are 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 comfortable

a meeting, Toran pulling up a map of Ravenstone on the

Haven are located along the Samish Bay

ocean but Ravenstone is

of the

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

bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on

but it contains an impenetrable fortress my father can’t

side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains,

know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller

main dock on the western front for an

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

are greatly

will have to utilize

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

stationed here, here and here, and the rest will remain scattered Toran stops mid sentence and studies me for

you’ve been training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?" he asks,

he thinks for

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,"

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

what m-my gift is,"