The Silent Alpha novel Chapter 68

***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.

"Y-you’re now ho-holding a piece of m-me and I-I’m holding a piece of y-you.

I-I don’t have a ring for y-you yet but I-I promise to c-come back so w-we can put our fam-family bead in my hand.

"I promise."

"Zane! Now!"

Tylen snaps when I kiss Talia one more time.

"Y-yes sir," I nod, pecking Talia on the lips.

"I love you Talia," I murmur.

"I love you."

I turn on my heel, grabbing my bag and following Tylen towards the door when he suddenly halts, his jaw clenching as he places his hand on the knob.

A small growl leaves his lips and he turns around, storming towards Agnes who stares at him with bewilderment.

Neither one of them signs a word and for what seems like an eternity, they simply stand before each other.

Interesting...

Grayson hums to himself, leaving me to be oblivious on my own.

What is? I ask but Grayson never gets the chance to answer me as Tylen suddenly removes his dog tag and places it in Agnes’s hand.

Without another word, Tylen leans in and kisses her gently on the cheek before turning away and leaving her.

"Let’s go," he snaps, pushing past me and opening the door.

I remain frozen in place, all of us staring at Agnes in confusion.

She seems stunned herself but before I can ask questions, Tylen once again yells at me to move, the sound of his booming voice startling me.

I jump in a fright and hurriedly kiss my pup and mate goodbye once more before running out of the "Ty-Tylen!"I call out after him, Tylen marching quickly towards the pack house.

"Ty-Tylen wait!"

"No time," he shouts back without looking at me as I catch up.

"We have to move.Sebastian’s troops will mobilize soon and we have to prepare the islands before they arrive."

"B-but Agnes-"

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

"y-you kissed her," I say quietly.

"And?"

He huffs, walking past me.

"You kiss your mate.Why can’t I kiss mine?"

My eyes widen in shock.

"W-what?" I ask, completely blindsided by his revelation.

"You heard me," he grumbles.

His answer does not satisfy me and I clear my throat to demand a proper explanation, when Tylen slows down and sighs tiredly.

"Agnes is not an afterthought to me," he whispers.

"She’s all I think about."

He turns to face me, his features strong and certain.

"I won’t hurt her.I just thought you should know that."

He turns and walks away again, greeting his father who is busy speaking with the young Queen with a glare.

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

"We have a change of plans," Toran explains.