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 I-I’m holding a

promise to c-come back so w-we can put our fam-family bead in my

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

I kiss Talia

pecking

you Talia," I

"I love you."

my heel, grabbing my bag and following Tylen towards the door when he suddenly halts,

his lips and he turns around, storming

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

Interesting...

hums to himself, leaving me

me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and places it in Agnes’s

in and kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away

past me and opening the

remain frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes in

once again yells at me to move, the sound of his

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!"

back without looking at me as I

mobilize soon and we

"B-but Agnes-"

Agnes?" He says, stopping in his tracks

kissed her,"

"And?"

walking

kiss your mate.Why can’t I kiss

eyes widen in

ask, completely

me,"

my throat to demand a proper explanation, when

is not an afterthought

all I

face me,

her.I just thought you

away again, greeting his father who is

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

a change of

"Why not just teleport us

and opening a portal to what appears to be a

gift has its limitations," Aurora

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

greatly appreciate your help,

gesturing for us

been an honor to be in your

compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into the portal

take a deep breath to calm my nerves as we board our

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

sparsely spread around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of

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

are located along

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

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

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

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

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

me Sebastian has mobilized his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near

I know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands

he reaches our main dock on the western front for

they study the map intently in search for a solution to

greatly outnumbered," Tylen

will have to utilize guerilla warfare if

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

stationed here, here and here, and the rest

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

he thinks for

the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of war experience, you will follow all of Tylen’s instructions

your gift does your father understand?" Tylen

m-my gift is," I reply with a