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 I-I’m holding

ring for y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come back so

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss Talia one

pecking Talia on the

love you Talia," I

"I love you."

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

turns around, storming

a word and for what seems like an eternity, they

Interesting...

himself, leaving me to

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

word, Tylen leans in and kisses her gently on the cheek

past

remain frozen in place, all of

before I can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me to move, the sound of

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!"

looking at me as I catch

mobilize soon and we have

"B-but Agnes-"

about Agnes?" He says, stopping in his tracks

kissed her,"

"And?"

walking

your mate.Why can’t I kiss

widen

I ask, completely blindsided by his

heard me," he

to demand a proper explanation, when Tylen slows

afterthought

I think

face me, his features strong

hurt her.I just

father who

his son’s obvious hatred and gestures for me

a change

not just teleport us to

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

has its

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

appreciate your

for us

to be in your

a nod, Toran stepping into the portal with his

and I take a deep

gathered around a table and a large monitor mounted

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 as

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

and Scarlett Haven are located

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

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

located on a fifth island

silo has been converted into a fortified bunker and is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground

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

Sebastian has mobilized his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using a

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

dock on the western front for

silent as they study the map intently in search

are greatly

utilize guerilla warfare if we

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

use them to our advantage to strike and slip out unseen between the islands.We'll have teams stationed here, here and here,

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

silently and he thinks for a

men don’t find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of war experience, you will follow

your father understand?"

what m-my gift is," I reply