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 holding

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

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

kiss Talia one more

nod, pecking Talia on

you Talia,"

"I love you."

my bag and following Tylen towards the door when he suddenly

around, storming

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

Interesting...

leaving me to be oblivious on

me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and places it

in and kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away and leaving

he snaps, pushing past me and opening

in place, all of us

again yells at me to move, the sound of his booming voice startling

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

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

time," he shouts back without looking at me as I

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

"B-but Agnes-"

about Agnes?" He says, stopping in his

her,"

"And?"

walking past

mate.Why can’t I

widen

I ask, completely

me,"

does not satisfy me and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation, when Tylen slows down

is not an afterthought to me,"

all I think

turns to face me, his

hurt her.I just

his father who is busy speaking with the young Queen with a

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

change

just teleport us to

opening a

gift has its

places I have been and I do not know Ravenstone.The airport is as far as

appreciate your help, your

gesturing for us

honor to be in

compliment with a nod, Toran stepping into the portal with his

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

a table and a large monitor mounted

atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight attendants ready to make our trip as comfortable as

a meeting, Toran pulling up a map of

and Scarlett Haven are located along the Samish Bay

on a large peninsula surrounded by woods and ocean but Ravenstone is very remote, positioned

a main island where most of the

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

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

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

has mobilized his soldiers on the eastern side of the island near the bluffs," Toran explains, using a laser pointer to indicate Sebastian’s

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

on the western front for

they study the map intently in

are greatly outnumbered," Tylen

will have to utilize guerilla warfare if we want to

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

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

he thinks for

don’t find the bunker entrance.Zane, due to your lack of

much of your gift does your father understand?" Tylen asks, keeping his eyes on the

what m-my gift is," I