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 piece of

y-you yet but I-I promise to

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

when I kiss Talia

nod, pecking Talia

love you Talia,"

"I love you."

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

and he turns around, storming

one of them signs a word and for what

Interesting...

me to be oblivious on

ask but Grayson never gets the chance to answer me as Tylen

kisses her gently on the

go," he snaps, pushing past

place, all of

Tylen once again yells at me to move, the sound

jump in a fright and hurriedly kiss my pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

looking at me as I catch

soon and we have to prepare the

"B-but Agnes-"

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

kissed her,"

"And?"

walking past

your mate.Why can’t

eyes widen in

I ask, completely blindsided

heard me," he

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

an afterthought to me,"

I

turns to face me, his features strong

just thought you should

who is busy speaking with the young Queen

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

change of

"Why not just

Aurora flicking her wrist and opening a portal

gift has its limitations," Aurora

can only teleport to places I have been and I do not know

greatly appreciate

bows, gesturing for us to step

to be

nod, Toran

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

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

and recliners are also sparsely spread around the cabin to create a sophisticated atmosphere and there is a fleet of flight attendants ready to make

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

Scarlett Haven are located along

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

most of the pack lives and equipment, food, and

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

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

and uninhabited but it contains an impenetrable fortress

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

the bastard all these years, I know this is likely a distraction and he will have a smaller crew jump along these islands here," he

on

and Tylen fall silent as they study the map intently in search

are greatly outnumbered," Tylen

we will have to utilize guerilla warfare

"Precisely,"

Torans smiles.

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

training over the last few weeks but are still figuring out your gift?"

he

the bunker island and make sure Sebastain’s men don’t find the bunker

father understand?" Tylen asks,

kn-know what m-my gift is," I