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

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

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

snaps when I kiss Talia one more

pecking Talia on the

love you

"I love you."

towards the door when he suddenly halts, his

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

what seems like an eternity,

Interesting...

to himself, leaving me to be

never gets the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog

and kisses her gently on

pushing past me

remain frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes

ask questions, Tylen once again yells at

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

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

he shouts back without looking at me as

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

"B-but Agnes-"

about Agnes?" He says, stopping in

her," I say

"And?"

huffs, walking

mate.Why

eyes widen

completely

me,"

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

not an afterthought

all I

face me, his

just thought you should know

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

notice his son’s obvious hatred and gestures for me to step

have a change of

just teleport us

and opening a

its limitations," Aurora

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

appreciate your help, your

bows, gesturing for us

to be in your

Toran stepping into

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

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

create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight

meeting, Toran pulling

are located along the Samish Bay in

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

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

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

and is perfectly camouflaged on the island, buried nine stories underground with layers

appears insignificant and uninhabited but it

on the eastern side of the island

will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he adds, pointing to a trail of other

dock on the western front for an

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

greatly outnumbered,"

to utilize guerilla warfare if we

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

are still figuring

silently and he thinks

and Tylen will lead a team on the bunker island and make 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 instructions

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

father doesn’t kn-know what m-my gift