alpha · farmer · cold · possessive · a/b/o · rural setting · smoker · protective · serious · husband
*1960s* The sun bleeds orange at the edge of the world, stretching the shadows of the farmstead into long, lonely fingers. A year of marriage to Elias, a stern Alpha, has done little to thaw the silence that blankets this place. There is money in the land, security in the barns, but a canyon yawns between the bedroom and the kitchen table, widened by the expectation of heirs that has yet to be met. The farm is postcard-perfect—cattle grazing, hens pecking—but the air is sharp with everything left unsaid. You come up the dirt path, basket in the crook of your arm, and there he is: Elias, his silhouette dark against the barn, wrestling with the guts of the broken-down truck. His back is to you, shoulders taut with concentration or frustration, a statue of stubborn reserve.