The Silent Alpha novel Chapter 28

***Zane*** 

"You can use my phone if that helps,"

Talia suggests, pulling out her phone from her pocket and unlocking it for me.

Beads of sweat gather at my temple as I stare blankly at the Notepad app.

She's not asking for much, Grayson mutters.

Did you miss the part where she’s been married to a perfect Alpha? I snap at him.

What do you think will go through her head when she realizes she’s mated to a freak? You are being dramatic, Grayson groans.

He wasn’t THAT perfect.

He cheated on her! WITH HER SISTER! That's not the point! The point is my own father refused to recognize meas his son! \retort.

When Talia realizes how truly worthless I am, she'll reject me like everyone else has.

Do you not trust our mate will treat us fairly? Grayson asks.

I look up at my mate, her smile faltering with my everlasting silence.

She deserves the truth...

Grayson sighs.

And so do we.

We won't know how she truly feels about us if all we show her is a lie.

But...Anything.

The phone trembles in my hand, my fingers unwilling to type out a message.

Minutes crawl by before Talia finally loses her patience.

"Okay, I think this date is over,"

Talia laughs dryly, my heart sinking as a few tears cling to her eyes.

She wipes at them angrily and starts to get up, disappointed by my lack of response.

"I honestly don’t even know what I was expecting," she mutters, shaking her head at herself.

"This was such a f*****g mistake and I can’t even be mad at you because I did this to myself," she huffs, rolling her eyes.

"I should have just kept my mouth shut."

She presses the palms of her hands against her eyes to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks.

"Please take me home," she whimpers.

"I don’t want to be here anymore."

My mind goes into a panic when I hear the hurt in her voice.I open my mouth to explain but it feels as though the wind has been knocked out of me and all that comes out is a gasp.

Come on! I snap at myself.

Say something! But the harder I try to utter a word, the drier my mouth feels and the heavier my tongue becomes.

All the memories of my father screaming at me to speak come flooding back and the words get caught in my throat, unable to escape.

She deserves the truth, I remind myself, taking a few deep breaths and rising to my feet shoulders and turn her towards me, embracing her in my arms.

I try to hold her to my chest but Talia only shakes her head in anger at me.

"No," she cries.

"You don’t get to just hug this all away.I told you my story.I shared my pain with you," she hiccups.

"Why can’t you do the same for me?"

Knowing she is right, I urge her to sit back down, patting the space beside me as my eyes plead with her to sit.

Reluctantly, she settles down, hugging her knees to her chest.

Her brown eyes watch me carefully, scrutinizing my every move.

I pull the phone from my pocket and after she unlocks it, I type out my plan.

"I can’t tell you my story, but I can show you," She reads aloud.

"Close your eyes."

She gives me a confused look but I just smile and place my hand over my own eyes to show her what I need from her.

Very hesitantly, she places both hands over her eyes, sighing deeply in annoyance.

Taking a deep breath, I close my own eyes and concentrate, letting down my walls and accepting the river of thoughts coming from my mate.

"This is silly," her voice echoes in my head.

"Shhh,"

I whisper, Talia suddenly jumping up and looking around frantically.

"What was that? Did you hear something?" she asks, her eyes opening and scanning the surrounding area.

I laugh a little and gesture for her to close her eyes again.

***Natalia***

 I scan the darkness behind my eyelids when suddenly a little white light appears in the black abyss of my mind.

The faint voice of a woman echoes from the light, singing a sweet lullaby of sorts, and I freeze.

"Where is that voice coming from?" I wonder, looking around the emptiness but only seeing the white light.

Realizing I am alone with my thoughts, I decide to follow the voice towards the light, approaching it cautiously.

Just as abruptly as it surfaced, the white light envelopes me, temporarily blinding me for a few moments before settling back and revealing a room.

The room is large and spacious with a high ceiling, the decor mimicking a forest.

Two tree-like structures stand on opposite sides of the room, a treehouse sitting on the tree on the left and a slide wrapping around the tree on the right.

A rope bridge connects the two trees.

Just below the bridge, there is a large bed with forest covers and pillows.

On the opposite side of the room there is what appears to be a small kitchenette equipped with a sink, a toaster oven, a mini fridge, and cabinets which I assume contain food.

A small table with two chairs sits beside the the left wall and hundreds of books and index cards stored on countless shelves.

Despite this appearing to be a child’s room, there are very few toys, only a small stuffed gray wolf sitting on the desk.

To my surprise, there are no windows in the room, an air vent the only means of fresh air, providing ventilation and cool air.

I can make out a bathroom near the entrance of the room, which appears to be bolted shut with a myriad of locks and chains dangling on the door.

This is no child’s room, I realize.

This is a prison.

A little boy appears at the desk, hunching over several sheets of paper.He can’t be more than 5 or 6 years old.

I come closer to him and to my horror, find that his left eye is completely swollen shut, dark bruises littering the entirety of his face and arms.

He’s crying, furiously wiping at his tears with his sleeve as he scribbles "My name is Zane" over and over again on a sheet of paper.

Beside him, there is a pile of sheets repeating the same sentence.

These must be Zane’s memories, I whisper.

The locks on the door begin to jingle, the little boy stiffening up in fear.

Finally, after several of the locks are undone, the door swings open, a beautiful woman walking in.

Her kind eyes and warm smile resemble Zane’s whenever he looks at Kota.

They must be related, \take note, watching as Zane climbs out of his chair to greet the woman with a hug.

"Hello, my beautiful boy," she giggles as she lifts him into her arms, Zane resting his head on her shoulder pushing in a small cart with food.

He is quite handsome, his piercing blue eyes like the ocean, and he is fit but not bulky.

Zane wiggles out of his mother's arms and rushes to the desk, pulling out a small card with a crudely drawn wolf on the front.

He very timidly pokes the man’s arm who is busy setting up the food on the table.

The man looks down at little Zane and grins.

"That for me kid?" He asks, taking the card and reading the words out loud.

"Happy Father’s Day, Wyatt.You smell very nice and you’re not mean.I like you." he says, his face softening a little.

"Thanks, I’m glad I don’t smell," he chuckles.

"But I'm not a father yet."

"Your wife is due any minute now," the woman laughs, Zane nodding in agreement.

"Zane, sweetie, do you have a card for your Dad?"

Zane’s smile falters slightly but he nods anyway and fishes out another card, this one darker and with no picture on it.

He hands it to the woman who reads it out loud.

"Happy Father's Day, Dad.I promise to be good now," she says, her voice cracking a little as she reads before she kneels down and pulls Zane to her.

"You are already a very good boy, my love," she sighs, trying very hard not to let her tears fall.

"Daddy is just...." she pauses, searching for the right words.

"He loves you, baby.He loves you very much.Just in his own way." see in her eyes that even she doesn’t believe her own words.

"Why don’t you and I have our lunch, okay?" she forces a smile, little Zane nodding his head.

The woman dismisses Wyatt, the two of them enjoying their meal together.