Love The Hell Out Of You

by TheFireInHerEyes

Summary:

After revealing your pregnancy, the alpha you had once hoped to spend the rest of your life with leaves. He boxes the minimal amount of things you have with you in your shared apartment, and kicks you out. Heartbroken and with a baby on the way you can only look at the silver lining—one of your distant aunts on your mother’s side inherited you a cabin.

In a forested area in Austria, nearby a small and quiet village, a cabin waits for you as part of the inheritance that you still don't believe is real. Being given a second chance, you leave and don't look back. but Austria has more for you than you ever expected including a 6’10” alpha with piercing blue eyes, that is out to prove he is nothing like the alpha that abandoned you.

Notes:

These newer series are being posted on Tumblr first and I'm bringing them onto AO3

Chapter 1: A Bleak Beginning

It’s not a pretty sight when you look at yourself in the reflection of the mirror. With red puffy eyes that are the start of piling evidence that you’ve been crying for hours, and a trail of snot dripping from your nose, you feel like a mess.

Despite the mess of yourself in the mirror, you can’t tear your eyes away from yourself. Every second longer that you stare at your reflection is another reminder of the ache in your heart and the anxiety that stabs you heavily in the chest. 

All around you are boxes that are haphazardly packed that will be loaded onto a moving van. The cheap boxes bandaged with clear packing tape was the accumulation of your worldly possessions, everything you could take with you during the hastened process of your eviction.

The alpha you had been seeing was someone you imagined yourself spending the rest of your life with, you had a fantasy that would often replay on repeat in your mind of a family. He had done you no favours by entertaining these ideas, the want you had of him, he had fed you lies to keep you with him without offering commitment.  

Only when you had fallen pregnant after he repeatedly denied either using a condom or pulling out, he had changed everything he had once promised you. He had turned into a monster you never imagined he could have been, but perhaps that was your naivety as a wide-eyed omega. The two of you living together was an arrangement that constantly guaranteed him a warm bed, while it offered you hope. 

The pregnancy tests you had taken, all five of them, were thrown back in your face with the same bitter sting and strength that was infused into him packing your things. He didn’t give you time to react, he didn’t give you time to plead a case of try and change his mind. He was aggressive and cruel as he threw portions of your shit together in boxes, demanding that you be gone by next morning. 

Fear drove you into autopilot, your fright made you work like a machine to find boxes and pack all that you could, not that you had much there anyway. You were desperate to get out of the apartment even if it felt like your heart was being ripped out of your chest, you knew if you didn’t leave that he’d throw you directly onto the street. He’d take no special care in trying to spare your feelings or trying to soften the blow. 

Which is how you found yourself cradling your stomach in the cheap motel bathroom while a moving van parked outside. With your arms wrapped around your stomach and your eyes transfixed on your reflection in the mirror, you were almost lost in yourself. Your mind was scrambling to come to terms to the mess you found yourself in, the hellscape that was being inflicted upon you. 

If there was a silver lining to this whole mess, it was one of two things. One, it was the expectation that in 9 months you would have a beautiful baby that would depend on you, a beautiful child that would be a portion of the family you thought you'd always have. 

And two, there was an inheritance from a long distance relative that you weren’t even aware you had. The ties to your familial heritage had put you in the position of gratefully inheriting a cabin in Austria. It was from one of your second or third aunts on your mother’s side, a relative who had insisted that it be given to you. 

While the reason wasn’t listed, it was opportune if nothing else. Your aunt on your mother’s side was a smart woman who had started the entire process years ago through the proper agencies, and with the due process you were now viable to inherit the property. You were unaware of anything that would make her choose you over any of the other family members, but you weren’t complaining. 

This was a clean break, something that you would be looking forward to after the fallout with your ex. 

It was well known however that the cabin needed work, it was older and had a few minor things that needed to be replaced or repaired. You were told that it was structurally sound with a good well, a wood furnace that would heat the entire 3-bedroom structure with ease. The foundation was still excellent however it was older in age and design, none of which mattered to you. It was a gift; it was a welcomed positive amongst a debris field of your relationship. 

A cathartic series of knocks on the front door of your cheap motel room had drawn your attention away from your reflection. You directed your eyes away from the symptoms of your tears and moved quickly out of the bathroom. Your bare feet shuffled over aged and disheveled carpet as you approached the door, sidestepping boxes that you had left laying haphazardly around the dingy and cheap room. You pressed one hand against the thickened wood in front of you and the other on the knob, your fingers curled around the metal as you precariously began opening the door 

“You’re the omega that hired the moving company?” The man behind the door held a clipboard in his hands, studying the contract that was signed and secured to the cork, before he looked at you. He was an older alpha, appearing to be in his late 40’s or early 50’s with slightly greying dirty blonde hair and a pair of grey eyes. 

“Yes, I'm...I don’t have much.” You stepped aside and widened the view into the room from the door, revealing just how little you actually seemed to have. With 10-15 boxes at the very maximum, and a suitcase you were living out of. “That’s all I have; I'm heading to Austria. To-” 

“Are you okay? Do you need me to call anyone for you?” The concern of the alpha had shifted from who you were and whether you hired him and the three others with him, to the omega in front of him who was obviously under emotional duress. 

It was hard to keep the tears at bay, you emotion were literally all over the place and you had little control over yourself. The sting of rejection from an alpha you were sleeping with for 6 months had been painful enough, but the pregnancy had added that more. You were dependable for your unborn child that was innocent, that had done wrong and didn’t deserve an absent father. Instead of relaying your life story, you swallowed the lump in your throat and shook your head, focusing on the plan to get to your new home as soon as possible. 

“I’m fine, I have the location of the destination.” You shuffled to the small pitiful desk in the corner and grabbed the land location of the cabin, as well as the small village nearby—steps that were more necessitated for yourself than them. “This is the location of the cabin, it’s the second furthest in that area.” 

Upon handing over the address, the older alpha had studied you again almost as if he was waiting for you to change your mind. When you hadn’t, he secured the location to the front of the moving contract before he looked over his shoulders and addressed the men working with him. 

It was the instructions to pack up the boxes you and put them in the back of the moving van, giving you time to take another brief examination of your life before you too would be leaving. 

****************************************** 

The cabin that was standing against a forest background was almost entirely your sole focus as you stood on the grass that was overgrown in front of the deck and front door. The promise that the cabin was still structurally sound and only needing a few repairs was inherently true. There were some rickety boards on the stairs leading to the front door that would need to be replaced, and the old paint on the shudders was peeling. 

Your distant aunt had promised that everything was mostly cosmetic with a few odd things to be done here and there, and it was most just aged from the style. Regardless it had been in your family for a long time, and you weren’t entirely sure how since as far as you knew, you didn’t have Austrian blood. In the end you were reminded of the saying don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and you weren’t going to spend more time focusing on the work rather than the hopefulness. 

You had taken enough time to stare at the exterior of the cabin, where there were handmade flower boxes that had been perched over the wooden railing separating the front porch from the front yard. On the side of the cabin was a chimney built of stone with a tall smokestack that must have been recently clean, bearing the lack of black charcoal coating the metal. 

Your feet followed the path through the grass toward the front entrance and you placed your hand on the wooden railing to balance yourself in case the stairs broke. Once you were successfully up and had been granted access to the interior, you shut the door behind you and took a slow deep breath. 

Your initial impression of the cabin was that it was comfortable and cozy, with a layout that would be functional for you and your future baby without feeling confining. The walls of the cabin were wooden and made with thick veiny logs that were insulated and sealed to a perfected level, aiding in keeping the place warm. 

The front door of the cabin had opened into a mudroom off the side of the door, equipped with hangars for jackets and boot racks for shoes. In the path directly heading inside from the front door was the living room with the fireplace built into the wall, however your aunt had relayed that this was not the wood furnace that kept the whole cabin warm—that was in the back near the utilities closet. 

In the living room was aged but well-kept furniture, a set of couches that would need to be cleaned or dusted off at the very least, and a coffee table that was set between them. There was no television, which was no bother to you, and a pair of side tables for each couch. It was a simple set up, reminiscent of the older style like you'd been warned of, but it just added to the feeling of how comfortable it felt. 

The next room you had wandered into was the kitchen and dining room, the two set into one open space. The kitchen was simple in design with slightly off skew natural wood cupboards that were in a set built into the bottom and top half of the kitchen. There was an ordinary white fridge, a flawless window sat above a deep sink with brass faucets that were the only means of washing dishes, and a stove a few cupboards down from the sink. 

The dining room was just as simple as the kitchen and living room, a single four-person table was set up in the center with four chairs tucked under the table. The table itself was worn with typical marks etched into the wood from the years of use and the tales they had told that were passed down through your family. 

The rest of the tour you had taken had revealed that there were 3 bedrooms in total in the cabin—two bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs. The master bedroom was only slightly bigger than the other bedroom upstairs, however there was a private bathroom attached to the main bedroom. Besides the bedrooms, there were 3 bathrooms in total, a laundry room, the utility room and the wood furnace. 

Your tour of your new home hadn’t just given you insight of where you would raise your baby, it had also given you a list of things you would have to try and tackle. Of the things that needed to be done sooner rather than later, the wood furnace had a sensor that needed to be replaced or repaired, there were a few wooden boards in the porch and steps that would completely crumble under the snowfall in the winter. Besides just needing repairs, you would also have to make a trip into the nearest village and buy supplies, and you would need to find a doctor. 

Regardless of all that was stacked against you, this cabin and the monetary inheritance your aunt had given you, it was the means to surviving the rejection of your ex. It was enough to give your baby a good life, a proper life where she wouldn’t experience the pain of a father who didn’t want her. 

Even if your own heart felt like it was being ripped right in two, your child would never have to feel that burden.  

Chapter 2: Two Sides

Notes:

Please forgive me for any mistakes with the German, I use the translator site Deep-L

It was a small and quaint village that was the source of your departure from the cabin in the forest. With a heavy list of things scrawled onto cheap yellow notepaper that was shoved into your pocket, and a series of things you needed to accomplish, you had no choice but to leave the home you'd inherited and face the new world around you. It was a debilitating risk that made your heart feel tightly bound in wire within your chest, and you had placed your emotional cycle briefly on pause.  

But even the smallest attempt to keep it under control was stymied by the threat of your emotional state climbing the guardrails you nailed in place. It was inevitable, the hormones from your pregnancy could only be held back for so long, and you were bound to cry again for the loss of an alpha who never really cared, and the little life that was depending on you.  

It wasn’t a choice anymore, you didn’t have the luxury of being able to decide whether this was something you wanted to do, or something you had to do. This was a necessity, if you couldn’t get the wood furnace working to heat the rest of the home, it wouldn’t amount to anything good once winter would hit. You could count on the fireplace in the living room however that would only produce so much heat, and you would have to actively be aware of the fire throughout the night.  

At least with the wood burning furnace, once you had a large enough piece of wood to slowly burn, you could be able to maintain a steady heat throughout the cabin. However, there was something wrong with one of the sensors, or one of the panels, and you would have to find someone to fix it. You wouldn’t be able to fix it on your own even if you had the tools and the parts, the furnace was well built but everything was written in German, and your little and basic understanding wouldn’t get you anywhere.  

All in all, the venture into the village was as life dependent as it was a chance to show your face and get to know people. This was going to be your home for a considerable future, and you would have to make people aware that you were there. You were pregnant, you would be making trips into the village for supplies for yourself and your baby, socializing with people you might have to rely on was vital.  

The first stop you had made into the village was a multipurposed hardware store that had offered repairs services on the side. You had parked your vehicle on the side street by the public parking rows and made your way down the pavement toward the front door of the white stone and wooden building. The handcrafted wooden sign hanging above the door was the indication that you were in the right place, and you had climbed the three small steps to get to the door.  

You inhaled slowly, building up nerves to cross the threshold and attempt to put your limited German to use to try and seek help. The moment your hands had rested on the door handle, and you pushed, you were almost immediately tripped by an orange cat with one ear that went flying by you. The furry creature darted into the hardware store before you, jumping effortlessly onto a long wooden counter with a register nearest the door. Once you had entered the store and closed the door behind you, the cat had perched on the desk and meowled at you, tilting its head as if to demand a greeting.  

You balanced the English German translation book you had brought with you under your arm in order to give the cat a scratch behind its remaining ear, rubbing its head after it so loudly demanded you to. While you were looking around the store at the shelves that were organized in long rows with aisles that led to a series of two desks set up near the back of the store, likely a place where someone could hire contractors or order bulk supplies.  

“Guten morgan.” A woman had stepped out from one of the shelves, setting a plastic basket full of packages screws and nails down on the desk, her greying brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail that was draped over her shoulder. “Brauchen Sie etwas?”  

You looked at the woman with a slightly uneased expression, trying to detect and pick apart any words that you could have easily detected in German. From the tone of voice, you could surmise that she was asking you if you needed help, and you had grabbed your English German book and flipped open the pages, stumbling over the pronunciation.  

“Guten morgan.” You finally spoke, getting the greeting down without a struggle, however it was the rest that had caught you off guard. “Ich muss einen...”  

Your thumbed through the translation book in your hands, your stomach felt like it was twisting with anxiety when you felt the woman’s staring you down. “Ofen reparieren-”  

“Englisch?” The woman had cut you off before you could truly finish, moving closer toward you and the register you were standing nearby. “You are English, ja?”  

“My German is terrible, I’m really sorry.” You closed the book with a sigh, and that guard you had on your emotions was quickly starting to crumble as you spoke. “I just moved into a cabin out of the village and the wood furnace isn’t working. I don’t know if it’s the senor or if it’s something else but-”  

“Ah you need a fix.” The woman had sensed your nervousness, how could she not when you were stumbling over your words while actively looking as if you were about to cry. To your emotional state, she had tilted her head and looked you over before her attention flit toward the desks near the back. “Come with me.”  

You turned away from the door and followed the woman away from the register, taking the same path as she had through the long aisles of tools, big and small, toward the set of desks in the back. As you walked the orange cat with one ear followed you, its tail sticking straight up in the air, swishing occasionally as if it were the real tour guide and not this woman.  

“Sit here.” She was direct in her order for you to sit on the desk at the left, and you took a seat where she instructed, setting your book in front of you while the notepad of your other tasks remained in your pocket.  Your knee bounced beneath the desk, a nervous tick that you’d always seemed to have, while the reminder of what you were doing here was hinging on your success. There was little you could do and accomplish if you didn’t get this furnace fixed before the temperatures started dipping.  

Not to mention you would need a doctor, or at the very least find a walk-in clinic, someplace that could look after you during your pregnancy. Or at the very least, try and find a midwife to help you.  

You waited for the woman for fifteen minutes before she had walked back out from the back offices and had taken a seat in front of you. With a requisition form requesting information about your repairs, she was quick to inform you in English that there was a wait period for someone to come and look at what was wrong with your furnace. It was her husband and her son who did the repairs, not just for the people and businesses in the village, but for others who lived on the outskirts like yourself.  

You took the form and the pen she had given you to fill out the requisition form, and while it wasn’t ideal, it was your only option. You couldn’t do this yourself; you couldn’t have possibly understood the process of fixing a wood furnace even if everything was written in English and the parts were there for you. You would have to wait; you would have to bide your time and do what you could on your own merit and on your own time.  

With no immediate remedy available, you had given the woman your thanks and handed the form off before you stood. You took your translation book with you and started heading out toward the front door, once again almost getting taken down by that same cat. You sighed just as you had before, giving the orange furry ball a pet goodbye before you left.  

**************************************  

He had no idea what drew him to the little cafe on the main street, the one that was located between the flower shop and the general store on the other side. It wasn’t as if the imposing alpha, well known in the Austrian village, was a stranger to anyone within the small, populated town. And the cafe that he found himself steadily walking toward was one that he had frequented often when he had to leave his property for supplies, however there was something in his bones that felt different.  

It was as if he was being drawn toward the bakery and cafe, pulled there by some invisible force that had taken possession of the old colonel. Whether that be an order that he was given by some unforeseen force, or one of his alpha instincts, it was a directive he could not turn down. König walked with a rushed gait toward the front entrance, his large hand yanking opens the door to step foot inside the traditional Austrian bakery with no reasonable excuse to be here. And once inside, he had taken a long and studious look around the cafe, trying to pinpoint the causality that registered as so fucking urgent in his mind.  

It seemed as if nothing was out of the ordinary in this cafe, nothing that would have withhold his bodily autonomy from turning around and leaving. There were tasks that the beast of an alpha had to accomplish before he could enjoy being on a few weeks leave from the KorTac base. A distraction that had blindsided him was neither easily accepted or understood, and the patience he held for himself was deliberately thin.  

Of the catalysts that could have spurred this great invisible hand that forced him to enter the cafe like there was a fire lit under his ass, he knew it had nothing to do with the locals. It was neither the owner of the cafe and bakery nor the patrons that had all come to know him as a PMC soldier, that had been the tugging force that brought him here. And the further he had cast his attention around the counter where he would place his order, and the main sitting area, the closer he had come to the conclusion that he was wrong.  

That this was all some grave mistake, a symptom of being tired from the constant long hours and the missions that took him through hell while he was deployed. There was no cognitive to the urgency that he felt upon approaching the front door.  

He had almost turned and left, the alpha with an exhaustion weighing heavily on his shoulders had almost said to hell with this invisible force that had inhibited its own desires upon his autonomy. König was already shifting on his heels to turn and leave, giving up on the fool’s errand when he had caught the glimmer of someone in the corner of his eyes.  

Why he hadn’t seen this omega when he first walked into the building was almost as confounding as why he was brought here to begin with. He would have walked right past you, twice, without noticing you were there. But now that he had seen you, sitting huddled at a table near the back corner by a window, he felt that same familiar tug as before.  

Fate. An unforeseen force. Whatever fucked up alpha instinct had told him that he needed to see this particular omega, it didn’t matter in the end what the cause was.  

He was here now, and the further he was drawn toward you, the clearer it had become that something had intervened. And the further he got to this omega sitting by herself, the clearer your scent was able to be picked up amongst the mix of smells that filled the cafe.  

Your scent was soft and airy, clean and refreshing. Vanilla that was trailing lilac, and the smell of something sweet like strawberries that reminded König of the strawberry patch his mother grew back at his childhood home. Your scent was beckoning to him like a siren’s call, like you were a phantom voice that had spoken to him through the thick hedges of darkness, a light that he had never seen before but desperately wanted to touch.  

It was improbable, a fight that was building within himself over the rationality that he was just a man that had just seen a pretty girl, and the deeper part of himself that knew he was an alpha who caught hold of a scent that had spoken to him. Not that he was the kind of alpha or man who thought fate had a hand in his future, in deciding who or what was the best combination of attributes for a mate.  

But it was no accident; he had to at least admit that.  

There was something that made him come here, something that had brought him to this very spot where an omega, a young pretty omega, who he had never seen before, was sitting. And it didn’t take a genius to understand that the rumors he had heard, about a new omega moving to this small village, was one and the same now.  

König had heard the millings, the whispering conversations of a pregnant omega who was abandoned by an alpha who didn’t want her. That was you, he surmised, and given the velocity of the rumors and how they had spread, you had only been here for days.  

He had scrambled to dig into his mind for the rest of the gossip he had heard since he had been back to the village. One, of course, was that you were pregnant and single—the alpha who got you pregnant was long gone—and that you were living in the cabin that was only a few miles from his own.  

But there was more wasn’t there? What else had he heard?  

That your furnace was broken, the same kind of wood furnace that had in his own cabin, and that the list of people waiting for repair services was long. Of course, your name was on the list, but you were pregnant, and you couldn’t wait forever.  

That same urgency that led him to the cafe had also directed him toward your table, and the approach of this massive alpha in front of you had certainly taken you by surprise. Hellfire could come and consume him in the moment, swallowing him whole and burning flesh from bone and König still wouldn’t have passed—because the moment your eyes land on his, and he sees those big anxious eyes, he fucking breaks.  

He's a beast, he’s a damn monster on the battlefield who has gone after terrorists, had been shot at and hunted down. He's a colonel, a battering ram an insertion specialist, he’s handled hostage deals and has earned a reputation within korTac.  

But you, a teary-eyed omega who’s pregnant and abandoned, staring at him with those eyes, and he feels as if his heart and soul are being ripped out of his body.  

It’s almost too reminiscent of his own life, with a mother who raised a little boy on her own when his father abandoned them both. And his mother raised König with all she had, providing her big boy with everything she had to offer him, even if it meant she worked tirelessly and to the bone.  

“I’m sorry, did you want to sit here?” Your things were slightly scattered on the table, an English German translation book, pregnancy tests spilling out of your bag, a phone that was lying face up on the table, a copy of the requisition form for the repairs. A list of other things that needed to be done was written on an old yellow notepad, slipping out of your bag like the pregnancy tests, and with a sense of urgency you were trying to pick up your things.  

“You are new here.” König pulled out the chair opposite of you and sat down, his hands folded in front of him. It was comical in a series of ways, this hulking and great giant alpha sitting across from an omega that he could very well squish in body height and mass. This alpha who was a soldier from the time he was 17 or 18, looking at a younger omega with red rimmed eyes and slightly puffy cheeks from crying, pregnant and vulnerable.  

“Was it the bad German?” You were attempting to make light of the situation, either that or you were avoiding the obvious question he might have asked next, like why you were crying.  

“I haven’t heard you speak German.” Instead, his response was blunt, and he had still avoided telling you how he knew you weren’t a local. Not that it was hard to tell, you were only here a few days and people had already known your life story, or what you had told anyway.  

“You have the cabin in disrepair,” he continued speaking in a matter-of-fact tone, drawing your attention away from grabbing your things, giving him time to focus on your scent as it had started working its way under his flesh. “You need a furnace fixed.”  

“How did you..?” you were caught off guard, the surprise replacing the threat of tears that were almost ready to spill down your cheeks again.  

“I’m your neighbor, I live a few miles from you.” König had inhaled your scent, subtly trying to get more and more of it, as it seemed to want to be intertwined with his own. The older alpha had never been so drawn, so enraptured with an omega or her scent like this, and he was scrambling to come to terms with it. “I have the same wood furnace I can help fix it for you.”  

It was that same force that drove him into this place that made him speak so freely. He was no longer in control of his mind, of his tongue or his inhibitions to deny a pretty omega when she needed help. It was an urgency; it was instincts, and he was following them blindly.  

“I... what?” You were puzzled, at the very least, as your eyebrows had become furrowed and knit together on your forehead. You were staring at him with a natural cautionary glance, likely so emotionally complexed by your previous alpha that you were unsure of what to say or do around him.  

“I will fix it for you. Tomorrow.” König was out of his element and yet he still approached the problem like a leader he was. The colonel, who was used to taking matters into his own hands and commanding orders to his soldiers, was now taking charge of the situation while being led by instincts he still didn’t quite understand. “You are pregnant, you cannot have a house with no heat. I’ll fix it tomorrow.”  

He pushed his chair back and stood up from the table, giving a curt nod without waiting for confirmation or any response from you beyond the squeak of an omega. König was clear, he was going to fix this for you, despite not even knowing you, because there was a portion of himself that would not rest otherwise.  

And he was following instincts. The same instincts or invisible force, that led him here so randomly, was pushing him to help his new neighbor. By some madness or twist of fate that he might not have even believed in, he agreed anyway.  

And he would be damned if he didn’t feel weak for a little omega who reminded him of his own mother, struggling on her own.  

Notes:

Gluten Morgan - good morning
Brauchen sie etwas - You need something?
Ich muss einen - I need a
Ofen reparieren -repair oven

Chapter 3: An Agreement

Your inability to sleep in the bedrooms upstairs that were still decorated in well-made vintage furniture, had also been the inexplicable draw that kept you from the guest bedroom on the main floor. Your inability to drag yourself to bed had meant that you were sleeping in the living room in front of the roaring fire in the fireplace, while you were attempting to come to terms with how time had felt. 

The mere hours that encompassed a single day of you being in possession of this cabin and making an attempt to come to terms with your station in life, felt like a lifetime. The seconds and minutes that spanned hours had truly felt like lightyears passing by on a distant planet. The light from one planet or solar system that took 6 billion years to reach the next, had felt like the overhanging cloud that hung over you. 

It was a day, days maybe at best, and it felt like this stretch of time would never cease. The emotional draw that made you incapable to dragging yourself to a proper bed the night before, had left you laying on the floor in the living room. Which by extension had made you wonder if that conversation in the cafe with that random alpha that appeared out of nowhere, was your mind trying to create memories where none existed. 

That towering and massive alpha wearing a poor attempt at a mask to cover his face, had appeared like a phantom plague rising from the skiffs of sunlight pouring through the window. How was it possible for an alpha who was so positively massive in both height and muscle mass, to move so slowly and catch you off guard as he had? 

And then for that same alpha to act as some mysterious phantom guardian angel who was also your neighbor? Was it all possible that this could have been the strangest unfolding circumstances to afflict you as of late? 

You were emotionally vulnerable and pregnant, made to try and pick up the pieces of a relationship you were more invested in that your ex, while that said alpha, and ex had given you nothing. They had made it clear that you were on your own and there would be no contact with him from the point where he threw the pregnancy tests back in your face. And now you were un Austria, forced to pick up the pieces of a crumbling mess of a life, desperate to get things in order before your baby came. 

You were currently 3 months pregnant, you had 6 months to get ready for a baby, prepare for a potentially harsh winter while relying on inheritance to survive. There was a lot to be done, and you felt unprepared for what was going to come, even more so with a cabin that needed minor repairs. 

But that alpha, the one you had met at the cafe, the one who had offered to help you fix that furnace of yours, your mind kept relaying back to that conversation. That alpha who said he would come and fix your furnace, the gruffness of his voice as he demanded that he would fix it, not offer but do it. There was an unceremonious doubt you’d harbored for that alpha, as if you were holding out on the possibility that it would actually happen. How could you have so easily been dragged through hell by one alpha who threw your pregnancy tests back in your face, only have another alpha offer to fix a problem for you? 

In the end you didn’t have the ability to doubt much longer than an hour after you had woken up in the morning. As you were starting to rise from the cushion bed, you'd made for yourself on the floor, there was a steady rapping of knuckles on the front door. 

You stumbled to your feet, blanket wrapped tightly around your shoulders as you moved from the living room toward the front door. Your bare feet skidded across the hardwood floor, and your hand had grabbed the doorknob, just as quickly opening it as you could. As you came face to face with the hulking alpha on the other side, you were rendered silenced in shock by his size and the lack of a face mask on his face. 

“You don’t even ask who is on the other side of the door? What if I was coming to take advantage of an omega like yourself?” His blue eyes were piercing, slightly crinkled at the corners from a few lines that had formed as his eyes narrowed. And there was a series of small scars on his face that gave him a rugged appearance without taking away from the qualities of his face that made him attractive. 

Piercing blue eyes that you’d been captivated by before, even when you had seen him in the café, and a head of dirty blonde hair mussed as if he was playing with it before arriving.  

“I-I’m sorry. I was-” you faltered, stumbling over your own excuses while he had stood on the front porch. His scent was a heady mix that was nothing if not addictive, leather, gunpowder and smoke, something earthy and rich. 

He was an alpha who had stacked above you in height, and who outweighed you in pure muscle mass. He was a man who was part beast, part fictional creature that was standing before you on the cusp of your front porch, whilst staring at you as if you were the problem. As if you were the one who was unbelievable and incomprehensible. 

“You are my new neighbor,” his voice had risen with an Austrian German accent, and he had drawn his attention past you toward the interior of your cabin that was only partially visible through the cracked door, “the omega who is pregnant.” 

“Y/N,” you corrected him with your name, speaking over him with the desire to not be called ‘pregnant omega’ over and over again, even if it was the truth. Even if you were the pregnant omega who was scrambling to adjust to a life without the alpha who aided in getting you pregnant in the first place. 

To your name, his eyes had flitted over you again. It was a natural state of wonder, the way his eyes swept over you as if he was analyzing you as a problem that he needed to solve. There was a sturdy silence to him as he watched you with a tilt of his head, and a purse of his lips. There was a tentative understanding, one that you had clearly missed, but he had picked up on, and with the tentative understanding had come acknowledgment with a single nod of his head. 

“I’m here to fix your furnace.” He had acted on his own accord, telling you he was going to do it, not offering but telling you it was going to happen. And you were meant to step aside and let him in without qualms or protests, because what other option did you have? Wait for the repair services that would take weeks? 

“It’s in the back,” you stepped to the side and listened to the creak of the wood floors beneath his weight as he crossed the threshold, and had taken pause to slip off his boots, “there’s the furnace room-” 

“You slept on the floor last night?” His attention had fallen to the makeshift bed you'd crafted for yourself in front of the fireplace, not that it was hard to miss given the scattering of cushions and the blankets. His question had come with slight judgement and the quirk of his eyebrow, in the direction of your decision that you’d yet to clean, and your inability to sleep in a bed. 

“I was busy unpacking.” You shift behind him as you give him an answer, regardless of whether he deserves to know or not, because this alpha was a stranger. Youd felt foolish enough letting him into your cabin to help you fix a furnace, let alone allowing him to stand there judging your choices when you’d exchanged less than fifty words with the alpha. “I was tired-” 

“You are pregnant, single with no alpha to take care of you.” He had muttered under his breath, curtishly drawing himself away from you and the evidence of your haphazard bed, toward the utility rooms at the back. It was as if he had already known where he was going without needing your direction, and as he carted himself toward the back, you trailed off after him. 

Your bare feet echoed on the floor as you moved swiftly after the towering alpha, that blanket still wrapped tightly around your shoulders. You had watched, aimlessly, at the edge of the utility room as the alpha before you had hunched before the wood burning furnace. There was a simple worn bag at his feet, and he had remained silent as he propped the panel off the front with a flathead screwdriver, setting the metal panel to the side to observe the state of the furnace. 

“Do you...want water or something? I can get you something to drink? Or...eat?” You weren’t sure of yourself, of whether you thought you had to stand there and watch him. You had shifted your weight from one foot to the other while he had begun pulling seemingly random tools out of this bag, all while his broad and muscled back was to you. 

He was silent in the direction of your questions, only working for a few minutes in silence before he had paused. He turned his head and looked at you from over his shoulder, his blue eyes flitting over you while you stood there fiddling with the ends of the blanket. You were struck silent, rendered motionless while he observed you, and the cogs in his head were turning the longer he watched you. 

“I’ll just.... leave...” ultimately you had cowed out, backing away from him and his work, turning on your heel as you moved to give him space. You were thrown off emotionally by the rattling social conventions of your life, by the strange draw that had brought this alpha to you in the first place, and the choppy waters that were going to be navigated on some half-assed tin boat. 

It was a situation you had never thought you would be in, and yet here you were standing in the cusp of this cabin, barefooted while an alpha who owed you nothing had simultaneously spared you from freezing in the winter. 

An alpha who you thought you could have loved, had destroyed what blanketed fantasy you had of a potential life. 

While another was in your house, working on a furnace that you needed fixed, without you having to ask. 

It had rendered you confused, altered by your perceptions of what alpha’s could be and what they could do—how could two people of the same designation be so completely opposite of each other? 

You spared your mind the mental task of trying to navigate the differences and spared yourself the thoughts of that old alpha. You had returned to the living room and began cleaning up the mess of the bed you had slept on the previous night, arranging cushions and folding blankets. You worked while the sound of rattling and occasional pounding had come from the utility room, avoiding the general area as to not act as a shadow that was hanging around the mysterious alpha. 

There was little you could do anyway, and soon your attention had fallen from the sounds in the room to the necessitated task of finishing what little unpacking you had to do. There wasn’t much, you had worked yourself into a stupor the previous night, which was partially why you had slept on the floor instead of a bed, and you had very little to do today. Still, you worked on arranging and unpacking, on shifting subtle things here and there until the scent of the alpha had become a presence in your home. 

“The furnace is fixed, there shouldn’t be problems with it again.” The voice of that alpha had startled you from the kitchen, and the appearance of him again had left you feeling conflicted. 

“Thank you,” your response was first of gratitude and then you had looked around your kitchen, thinking of some kind of reward or physical gratitude that you could give him in exchange for his time. “I could pay you-” 

“Pay me?” His tone reflected a tone of offence immediately, and his lips had become pursed with a tight-lipped scowl. “You will have enough to worry about with a baby on the way, and I saved you money with those repair services.” 

“Well, you fixed it, I should thank you-” you had inched forward, your body closing the distance between the two of you, your hands wringing and folding in front of you, a sign of your nervousness that was unyielding. “-or is that what neighbors do for each other here?” 

He was silent, observing you. He was silent until he had drawn his arms across his chest and had taken a wide and speculative gaze around your cabin. There was a silence between the two of you, in this situation that could have very easily become tense or dangerous for the sake of your baby and yourself—it was oddly...peaceful. 

“You don’t have enough wood to last a winter,” he had observed, nodding his head in the direction of the wood shed you could see outside your kitchen window, though you were easily puzzled by the appearance of a healthy stack there. 

“That’s...there’s a lot there.” You had mumbled, following the direction of his eyes and the ire that was building again at your simple comment. “More than I would need.” 

“Nein.” He cut you off with a shake of his head, and a faltering sigh that had weighed on his shoulders, as if this was a burden that he was going to fully embrace upon himself. “Nein, nein, nein...you need seasoned wood. You need wood that has been dried for longer than 6 months, that wood will smoke. You will be...” 

“I didn’t know.” You mumbled and began a slow pace from the kitchen window toward the countertop, grabbing a random apple you’d set there earlier, using the action as a buffer for your thoughts. “I’m terrible at this, I have no idea what I’m doing. I'm three months pregnant, I'm completely alone, and I have no idea how I’m going to-” 

You had bite into the apple, using that piece of fruit as a measure to stop yourself from talking. You were pacing, making a slow berth around the kitchen while this alpha’s eyes were on you, the tilt of his head drawing another curious exchange between the two of you—wherein he likely thought you weren’t with any of the risk to his free time, and doubted whether you’d get through the next few months. 

“You have work to do here, things you cannot do on your own.” His voice was soft, softer than you anticipated, and in the silence that was broken, he had drawn your attention back toward him. “You have no one here for you, you are alone.” 

A statement, not an opinion, but a fact. 

“I am... gone a lot for work.” He had lifted his hand and ran his fingers through the messy blonde tresses at the top of his head, his eyes screwing closed for a moment as that firm hard line returned to his lips. “But if I am here, I will help you fix things. You need the help and I am...my mutter would kill me, even if I am a grown alpha, if she knew I was not doing anything to help-” 

“But I don’t need-” you had opened your mouth to speak, and just as quickly shut it when his gaze had snapped to you, a low rumbling growl in his chest rendering you silent. “-I don’t want to make you feel obligated...” 

“Obligated? And how obligated would I feel if I return from work only to hear that the omega expecting a baby had broken an ankle because of a wooden plank that she wouldn't fix?” The sarcastic air of his voice had done nothing to dissuade the kind of dry laugh that had slipped so freely from your lips. 

It was amusing in a twisted kind of way, the pressure for this random alpha insinuated by his mother, was more than any other alpha had ever done for you. And it was random, it was because of a random happenstance that had brought you to the cafe—and into this alpha’s circle. 

“I will be back in two weeks,” he had approached the front door of your cabin with his things by his side, speaking with such a directive that was unshakeable, “I will fix the steps for you, I will bring seasoned wood that you can use. And you will not sleep on the floor anymore.” 

You stared at him from your position near the living room, hands balled in front of you as he had slipped his boots back on. He had come in with such a whirlwind of demands and this idea that you were just going to listen to him without question, and you didn’t viably want to argue. 

“Thank you,” you mumbled again, watching him open the door and step back out onto the porch, however he didn’t close the door in your face like you expected. 

Rather he had swept his eyes over you, eyebrows furrowed and his jaw ticking tensely. 

“König,” he finally gave you his name and then, after you had repeated it twice, had he closed the door leaving you alone again.  

Chapter 4: The Return

There was a subtle shift in his position as he exhaled the air from his lungs, his finger hovering over the trigger. His focus was on the scope, the target he was aiming at had been entirely unaware of the danger they were in. König had waited for the moment he could take the shot, one second and then another before his finger tightened on the trigger.

At the silenced crack of the shot was fire, König had drawn the weapon away from his shoulder and rested it upon the edge of the building he was perched upon. He drew in a breath, so familiarized with the lingering smell of gunpowder that it had become second nature. He waited until he got confirmation before he rose to his feet and lifted the gun, carrying the deadly weapon with the barrel down.

There was weight to his career as a soldier, a density that had remained attached to him like a phantom hovering over his shoulder. What he had made of himself during his years serving was a far cry from the station he held as a child—the sole child of a single mother who struggled financially to provide for her son who never seemed to stop growing.

As a child he was often bullied for being the child of a single parent who struggled to raise him, who had been left without his alpha father. His mother was loving and kind, she had struggled to provide for her growing boy, but she had never made him feel unloved. Even as he was bullied for his size and his social anxiety, he had never come to the belief that his mother ever regretted not pursuing his father for more support. His mother, a beautiful and kindhearted omega, knew that she could do it on her own.

The life he had lived as a socially awkward alpha who was always too big and too poor to make many friends had driven him to joining the military. He had volunteered for the military service when he was 17, first pursuing a career as a sniper. Due to his size, both height and his muscle mass as a big alpha, he was denied the position but had instead been assigned as an insertion specialist. He was a battering ram, a beast that could be sent forward to break down doors and barriers.

He had worked his way up the ranks before he had ultimately left and joined a private military company, proving to KorTac that he was a capable and deadly solider. His years for the PMC had eventually landed him a role as colonel, a promotion that had proven viable and well received due to his skills on and off the battlefield.

König had dedicated his life to being a soldier, to providing and giving back to his mother who had sacrificed so much for him. His career gave him a very healthy income, and with his it he was able to secure his mother financially, allowing her to stop working. It was his goal to provide for his mother and give her a life of comfort that she hadn’t been able to obtain when he was younger.

His mother had often told him that he was a good alpha, and she often wished he would find an omega to settle down with. Not that his mother would want him to walk completely away from being a soldier, however she knew her son. She had known that König had been objectively closed off with omega’s and hadn’t yet desired to find one to mark. Or perhaps it was that he hadn’t found the right one he was willing to sink his teeth into.

He had slept with omega’s, he had been a relief to a few omega’s during their heats, and they had relieved him during his ruts. But to find an omega whose scent had called to him with such a driving force that it made him want a slice of domesticity, that was another problem entirely.

Or it had been.

Until he felt the hands of fate forcibly driving him to that cafe in Austria. Until he entered that little, small village favourite where a pregnant omega sat, he had never once felt that potential bond. But you, sitting there feeling like you were going to breakdown while carrying a baby in your belly, König had never felt such hunger before.

It wasn’t even lust. No, it was something else entirely. Your scent made him hungry for a life he never thought he would have, a life where he could be a father and husband, a life where his sweet omega would be secure and safe. Safe to raise children, or safe to work just because they wanted to and not because they needed to.

It was fate giving him a jolt of electricity that sparked throughout his entire body, the neurons in his brain firing off rapidly as a lifetime of possibilities had shot off in his brain. It was clear, that fate had wanted him to be there in that moment, to meet you and offer you the help you desired.

And then he went to your inherited cabin for the first time. He had seen the state of your tiredness, the bed you made in front of the fireplace because you were too tired to drag yourself to bed. He had been well aware of your situation, alpha-less and pregnant, alone to care for yourself after that bastard left you alone. The rumours around the village were telling, and it had only reiterated König’s belief that fate had a heavy hand at play.

He would take care of you. It was decided, already cemented in his brain that you needed him. His mother would have surely kicked his ass if she knew that his neighbour was a little pregnant thing and he hadn’t offered to help. He knew that his mother would be disappointed in him, and it drove him to offer hlep—and then extend that help to fix up that cabin of yours. König was close enough, there were no excuses for him not to help you.

No, in that moment he had decided he would help you. Whether you had wanted his help or not, you clearly needed it.

It was all that was on his mind as he rested against the edge of his perch. The target was eliminated, the operation he was on would come to an end and he would get to go home. He informed you before he left that he would be gone for weeks but once he had come back he would help you fix things.

“Extraktion in fünf.” The voice that echoed in his ear through his comms had briefly drawn him back to focus instead of the continuous thought processes in his mind.

Extraction in five. Five minutes and he would be on a heli back to base, and from base he would debrief. But by tomorrow morning he would be well on his way back to that cabin where he would trade fatigues for a hammer and nail—set on fixing those front steps of yours so you wouldn’t trip and break an ankle.

König had rested the butt of the gun against his shoulder as he waited, feeling the weight against him, a grounding sensation that kept his focus from shifting back to you.

**************************************

You hadn’t seen the austrian giant in weeks. You were aware that he would be gone for his job, which you quickly learned was a soldier for a private military company through the talks in that small village. The official rank you’d learned was colonel, although that was where the details had stopped though it was through no fault of the residents of that village.

His rank was known and so was the fact that he worked for a private military company, but which company was kept private and so were any kind of details about what he had done. It was clear that people knew he was a long-standing soldier of a rather impressive rank yet no one would ask any other questions.

In the weeks he was gone you had been back to the village a handful of times to cross off minor errands that were on a growing list of things to do. You had returned to the hardware store to cancel the repair services, trying to speak in broken German instead of English, to convey that the problem had been taken care of. Although the problem with your furnace was handled, you still had other things in your cabin that needed to be handled.

There were a few rooms that would need to be painted since the old paint seemed to be aging poorly, peeling in some places and faded in others, and your choices were somewhat limited. Still, you had chosen from what options were there and scheduled a delivery with the owner’s wife for the paint and a few other supplies.

With your delivery of supplies scheduled and your other task of grocery shopping completed, you had returned back to the cabin with the trunk of your vehicle full of groceries. The drive was quiet, your mind restless as it went through the motions of calculating the changes you were about to go through and the aftermath of your ex-alpha's rejection. Though he hadn’t wanted anything to do with your baby, there was a sliver of disappointment over his rejection. As if you were hopeful that he would come back and want to do the right thing, regardless of him throwing the tests back in your face.

As you parked your vehicle and cut the engine, you remained in the driver’s seat with your hands on the wheel. Your hands tightened around the smooth material; your gaze unfocused as you looked in the general direction of the cabin’s front door. The steps were still in need of repairs, there were still rickety and roughened, and according to König who had fixed your furnace, acted as a potential danger. He was under the impression that you would somehow manage to trip and break your leg on the rotting wood.

König, that Austrian giant, had been oddly on your mind lately. In the last few weeks, you had occasionally thought of him and the intrusion he had made on your life. Not that his presence in your cabin and insistence on fixing your furnace was a bad thing.

On the contrary, he had helped you and saved you a lot of money by fixing it for you instead of you hiring the repair services. Not only had he helped you fix the furnace, but he then denied you paying him or at least giving him something in exchange for fixing it.

He was puzzling, the whole situation was oddly mystifying. You had pondered it, the whole relationship until you heard a gentle knock on the window of your vehicle. The sound had startled you enough to jump, for your scent to reflect your brief fear that had quickly shifted to surprise.

You pulled the keys from the engine and slipped them into your pocket, grabbing your bag. König had stepped out of the way, allowing you to not just open the door but get out. You stood beside the driver’s side door after you shut it with a soft snap.

Once you were standing almost face to face with König, you dug your heels into the slightly stiff ground. You were silent, watching him just as he was watching you, though his gaze was far more studious.

“Your baby bump looks bigger,” he observed with just a slight twitch to the corner of his lips, “how far along are you now?”

“4 months now,” you answered his question and moved around to the back of your vehicle, popping the trunk in order to start packing your groceries in, “I didn’t realize you were back.”

He’d been gone for weeks, and your pregnancy had progressed from the 3rd month to the 4th month. Though you hadn’t noticed a change in your baby bump clearly there was one, as König had observed. You made the summation that König was an observant alpha, not just because he was a soldier but rather that he was naturally astute.

“I’ll carry those.” He reached in and around you, grabbing the bags of groceries you’d just brought from town. He managed to do what you hadn’t, carrying them all in one hand or on one arm, allowing you to grab the rest of your supplies.

“You don’t have to do this.” You stated, watching him as he turned and began walking to your cabin, his heavy footsteps and long stride leaving you behind. You quickly slammed the trunk down and wished until it latched before you scrambled to follow him.

“You’re pregnant, you should be taking it easy.” He opened the door for you, holding it open for you to pass under his arm. “I brought dry wood for your furnace, and tools to fix the stairs.”

You slipped under his arm and entered your cabin, setting the other supplies you had down in the floor. He was standing there with the door still opened, and you could see the off roading vehicle he used parked off to the side of the cabin. There was a small utility trailer pulled behind that was stacked with wood, and on top of the pile was a worn black toolbox.

“I’m only 4 months-“

“4 months or 8 month makes no difference.” He huffed, his eyes zeroing in on your baby bump as his hands flexed by his side. “You will stay inside and rest, I will put away the wood and fix the stairs.”

He said in such a manner of fact, as if it wasn’t a suggestion and more of an order. However his tone wasn’t forceful, it was firm yet carried with it an air of genuine concern. To his demand, soft as it was, you had kept your protests buried deep within yourself.

You had wanted to argue, you had wanted to negate his concerns and tell him you didn’t need his help. Every protest you might have aired was silenced by his promised acts that he was in the middle of completing.

And it felt good. It felt so good to have someone care for you, to have an alpha who wanted to do small acts for you without needing to be asked. It was just another reminder that there was a difference between the alpha that left you behind and the alpha standing in front of you.

“Can I…get you anything then? Food, water, tea..?” You wanted to do something in exchange, and if he wouldn’t allow you to pay him than you’d have to come up with something else.

His blue eyes swept over you again, his lips pressed into a firm line. His scent was not  oddly calming to you but it had simultaneously made your heart skip a beat. Not that you would want to admit it, not that you would ever acknowledge the feeling.

“Dinner,” König had finally spoken, another soft alpha command that had settled far too easily into your hindbrain, “after I am finished, we will have dinner.”

And once again, you found yourself unable to deny him.

Chapter 5: Und...?

The hours after he had finished working around your cabin were filled with slight awkwardness that pooled between you. König had placated the lack of a desire to go out that night for dinner, after he had finished helping you, by offering a compromise. He would head into the village and pick up something for you to eat, and you wouldn’t have to trudge through the village.  

Just over an hour had passed since König had left to go get dinner for the two of you, and upon his return it was clear that he had brought extras. Not only had the strong and imposing alpha bought dinner for the two of you but he had made sure to stop at a grocery store. Loaded into his arms were bags of supplies you might have needed, or things he thought would be best suited for you here by yourself.  

“That’s more than dinner,” you commented on the additional pitstop he had made, as your hands grasp at the perfect and undented canned goods, “you brought groceries too?”  

“Austrian winters can be harsh,” König relayed an explanation as he moved from the front entrance of your cabin to the fireplace, immediately setting himself upon the task of starting one, “and I don’t think it would be wise for a pregnant omega to go trekking through the snow because she ran out of food.”  

The appearance of his strong back had briefly and cathartically drawn your attention away from the canned vegetables in your hands. Your eyes were drawn toward the imposing alpha who, you imagined, would be predatory to anyone who would have threatened someone he cared for. And you also imagined that if König had lived tens of thousands of years ago, he would be an apex predator on the merit of his size. He would be a man who could have anyone or anything he wanted based off the sheer strength and capabilities he had.  

“You are staring.” He called out from his place in front of the fireplace, though he hadn’t turned his head to look at you. Instead, he called you out where you were, in the kitchen putting away groceries that he had bought for you just because he though you needed them,  

“How did you know?” You tore your eyes away from him and turned, feeling flustered by being called out like you had. You had started putting away the canned goods and other groceries he had bought for you, your hands shoving the cans into the cupboard with more force than you should have.  

König hadn’t answered immediately. Instead of answering you he had focused on making and building the fire, the sound of small sparks and crackles of flames eating at wood the only sound between you and him. There was the creak of the door to the fireplace as he shut and secured it and then adjusted the damper. Soon enough you'd could hear the shift of his feet on the floorboards, and as you looked over your shoulder you took notice of the fire burning. It was a healthy flame that was lapping at the seasoned and dries wood in the fireplace, producing a steady heat that would soon radiate in the living room.  

“Do you have allergies?” König had asked of you, ignoring the question you posed for him first. “Or any dietary restrictions?”  

You finished putting the supplies he had brought away, and then you turned your back to the cupboards. You leaned back against the edge, feeling his blue eyes and poignant stare fixated on the softness of your baby belly. You were 4 months along now and there was a curve that was starting to become more noticeable, the softness of your belly would soon grow and become nearly impossible to hide.  

“I don’t have allergies, sometimes milk can bother me.” You answer honestly because what do you have to hide from him, and he’s given you no reason to think he was going to off you and grind your bones into dust.  

“Good.” König was done with the fire, you were done putting supplies away, and after you both were finished, he had motioned toward the dinner table. There was a selection of food set out, both traditionally Austrian and more modern and ethnic dishes that were set out in takeout boxes. As you approached the table and leaned over to see what was there, König had been watching you carefully, studying you as if you were some newly hatched bird that was going to take flight for the first time.  

“You take prenatal vitamins?” His next question had arrived at the exact time that you'd sat at the table, your fingers trailing across one of the cracks, now sealed, in the wood. His questions weren’t anything invasive or intrusive, they were standard questions your doctor would ask you. But with König asking, there was more intent behind his voice as if he was more emotionally invested in this pregnancy than even your doctor would be.  

“Prenatal vitamins, folic acid and calcium.” You answered his question while your eyes were following his movements, from the dining table to the fireplace to check on it, and back again. Once he had sat across from you, he had grabbed a few of the takeout containers and lined them up for you.  

“You need to drink water-”  

“I do drink water.” You countered, sitting across the table from him as he pushed food containers toward you with a controlled and strategic manner.  

“Not enough water.” He raised his head and looked you over, studying you in an overanalytical yet curious way, his blue eyes pinning you to the chair you were on. You were frozen, watching and waiting for him to say something else. “You need 8-10 cups of water a day.”  

“How do you know?” You lifted one of the lids on the takeout container, the spices from the even mix of meat and vegetables made your stomach growl with an uncourteous sound.  

“I just do.” His answer was final, his reply short and somewhat curt, had been the final word on that conversation before he sat across from you. When he was sat, he used the prongs of a fork to yank a container toward himself, the choice he made just like yours.  

“Okay, I'm sorry but this is way too much food.” You started a new topic after a few minutes of silence, observing the takeout containers that had been laid out on the table. “How-”  

“They are prepared meals you can rewarm.” König spoke clinically, again, like pure logic and sense dictated that he had to bring you so much food, so you could survive. As if there wasn’t any other means for you to cook.  

“I do have a working stove-” König scoffed at your words, a derivative sound that made you rest your fork against the side of the container. “-what was that sound?”  

“The oven had cracked elements inside that are dangerous. You will stop using it until it’s replaced.” König tilted his head slightly, his eyes shifting past you to the aforementioned appliance that sits tucked between cupboards. “Eventually it will cause a fire.”  

“You’re very demanding, you know that?” You pick up your fork again and make a show of stabbing the prongs into a piece of meat with more force than necessary. You expect König to say something else, to try and negate your statement that he was a demanding alpha.  

Instead, he stared at you, openly stared at you, as he waited for you to continue. His blue eyes were slightly crinkled at the corners, a slight narrow in your direction while his lips were pressed into a firm, line. There was a vein of awkward silence that passed between you once more, where König was waiting for you and you were waiting for him.  

“I don’t know what you want.” You finally relented and cracked, ending the silence with a furrow of your brows and your own frown.  

“I am waiting for you to make your point. You said I was demanding. Und ?”  

“Und....” Your voice trailed off as you autonomously continued chewing and eating, working your way through the food he had brought you. “You’re demanding, what’s up with that?”  

“Und you are quite reckless for a pregnant omega.” König had rebutted your statement and question with his own, one that hadn’t left room for argument.  

It was, again, just a fact.  

“I am not reckless, regardless of being pregnant. I can still do things on my own, I’m not useless.” You stabbed your fork into vegetables, the force you used conducive to your annoyance for the alpha and soldier sitting across from you.  

“Ja, not useless.” König disagreed but not with enough emphasis to really make you believe wholeheartedly that he would allow you to fix more things in your cabin without his help.  

“And the stove is fine, there’s nothing wrong with it!” Your voice raised in volume and pitch, your argument against his claim was inherently coming off as more defensive than it should have been. Maybe it was because he had already done so much for you by fixing the wood furnace, and the stairs that were rotting away were now perfect and sturdy.  

Or maybe it was because you didn’t know how you were going to manage getting a new stove as well as all the baby items you had to start gathering. Yes you were only 4 months pregnant, but that meant there were only 5 months left. You had 5 months to get everything you would need for your baby’s arrival like a crib, diapers, clothes, bottles, a car seat, stroller, a baby monitor.  

“Nein,” König spoke with that same air of finality and natural command, “it’s not fine. It is wrecked, and you need a new stove.”  

“I can’t-”  

“I will handle it, natürlich .” He gave a single nod of his head in your direction with the understanding that it would be handled, and it would be handled by him. “Eat your food before it gets cold.”  

“And the rest of it?” You countered, eyeing the takeout boxes and containers that would provide you with at least two days of full meals. “Will you at least take some home with you? I’m sure you could use some.”  

“Nein.” Another denial, and another natural answer from a strong alpha like himself.  

Once again you were both thrust into the kind of awkward silence that hung in the air. There were things you wanted to ask him, mostly about his work as a soldier and why he was so driven to be here for you.  

Sure, you had gotten a basest and very basic answer that his mutter would kill him if he left a pregnant omega to fend for herself, but it felt more than that. It felt as if there was more of a laundry list of reasons why he could be doing this, trying to insert himself into your life and fix the problems that could be easily remedied by tools and a strong hand.  

Almost worse was your desire to almost, almost, let it happen without qualms. Your ex-alpha wasn’t coming back, he wasn’t going to want to do anything for you or the baby, and being taken care of felt nice. Albeit a little awkward considering you hardly knew anything about the other person and now you were having dinner, but it still felt good.  

“Can I ask-”  

“Nein.” König cut you off before you could even start the process of your question, speaking over you with a firm, not rude or deliberately cold, manner. “I know what you are going to ask und nein.”  

“-you’re a soldier for a private military right?” Your question, and the way you pressed on, had drawn his attention from his food, and centered it entirely on you.  

His stare was poignant, it was unflinching. You had learned that German’s and Austrian’s liked to stare. It hadn’t meant anything like it had in the States, rather it was almost another form of communication in itself. Silent stares that spoke volumes, that communicated more than a thousand words.  

“I googled KorTac,” now you had felt a little bashful, having to admit that one of the insignia’s on his jacket had led you to the private military though you hadn’t gotten far into your search, “what is your title?”  

“Title?” He finally drew his eyes away from you, to finish the food in one takeout container before setting it aside.  

“Title’s not the right word. What’s your...” Had you already learned of what kind of soldier he was? You couldn’t remember if you had or not, if you’d remembered learning what his station was.  

“ Rang? Ihr wundert euch über meinen Rang, ja ?” König set his fork down just long enough to gather and stack containers that he would place in the fridge for you, and then he pushed his chair back and stood. “I’m a Colonel.”  

Again, he spoke so matter of factually. There was a glimmer of pride in his words, arrogance and cockiness that he had so easily carried with him due to his size and strength. Yet his response was so complicated because yes, he was proud of his rank, but it was also spoken as a simple truth: he was a colonel and had earned it.  

“So...have you ever been shot?” You ask while he’s standing at the fridge, his hand curled around the top of the door while he bends at an uncomfortable angle due to his size. “I mean you obviously would have been because you’re a colonel but have you-”  

“You should not be asking these questions.” König put the food away and then stood up, closing the refrigerator door behind him. Once it was shut properly, he had crossed his arms over his chest while his chin was tucked slightly to his chest.  

“Your front door doesn’t close properly, the stove needs to be replaced, and your bathroom-”  

“The front door? Oh yeah, it doesn’t always latch, I’m not worried about it.” Your blase attitude about the door had drawn another glimmer of irritation from König. His jaw tensed and his eyebrows furrowed, and you knew, just knew, you were going to get another scolding.  

“The door doesn't latch properly, and you think it is something not to worry about? You will let cold air in, moisture will settle between the door and the frame, it will rot. And your bathroom taps leak, wasting water. You need it fixed.” He had huffed, his eyes rolling at your insistence that everything was fine.  

“König really, you’ve done enough-”  

“Nein, you need it fixed. I will handle it, ja?” He had nodded his head, expecting you to comply.  

You rolled your eyes at the towering alpha, the commanding and demanding colonel that insisted on fixing every little problem that you didn’t think was that big of a deal.  

“You roll your eyes now, but when the frame is rotting and moist, will you be laughing then?” König and his strict no-nonsense voice, his manner of speaking, had made you laugh under your breath as it was, admittedly, funny to see such an imposing alpha fretting over an omega like yourself.  

“Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll go into the village tomorrow and I’ll go look for a stove. And I can hire someone-” You were going to relent, because it was easier just to agree than argue.  

And you enjoyed being taken care of like this, even if you wouldn’t dare confess the truth.  

“I’ll go with you. You need the help, and your German is terrible.” He started to gather his things, carting them off toward the door as he once again planned to help you without you asking.  

“But I don’t speak German...?” You followed him toward the aforementioned door that didn’t shut right, standing there with your arms crossed while he slipped his boots on again.  

“ Genau .” He reached behind his back and grabbed the door handle, turning the knob and giving it a sharp tug to open it. “I’ll be here tomorrow at 9am.”  

“9 am?” Your voice betrayed you, and your arms fell to your sides.  

“The early bird gets the worm, is that not how the saying goes?” He had already stepped halfway out, his eyes trailing across the threshold and the frame of the door. “This door needs to be fixed, tomorrow I’ll buy what I need to fix it.”  

“Okay...?” You stepped out after him as he slipped his jacket on and began moving toward his side by side, pausing to check that the transport trailer was properly hitched. “Well...thank you for dinner and thank for fixing my stairs.”  

“ Bitte .” He stood upright, his back rigid and tall, his eyes caste back toward you. “Tomorrow at 9am, don’t forget.”  

“I won’t.” You waited until he started the side by side and then you stepped back inside the cabin but hadn’t shut the door yet.  

“Und close the door as tightly as you can!” His voice was heard over the rumble of his vehicle’s engine, a final command before you shut the door.  

Chapter 6: An Offer Between The Lines

König had raised his hand to knock on the front door of your cabin, only pausing the action of rapping his knuckles against the wood to observe the small gaps between the door and the frame. It was an easy solution, something that would only take little bits of wood to fix as well as some foam weatherstripping or even foam seal tape. Once had gotten the front door fixed, König would have to replace the doorknob with something stronger and more secure—of course then there was the matter of the bathroom. 

Regardless of the list of things he was going to fix for you, it had all taken a temporary backseat when König had glanced at the face of his watch. He finally rapped his knuckles against the door with enough force for you to able to hear his arrival from the bottom floor, and then he stepped back and waited. 

There was, admittedly, other things that he could have bene doing with his time away from the KorTac base. There were always preparations for winter that needed to be handled, and it was always a probability to go visit his mother. And yet the buzzing and lingering thought of leaving the area while this omega was so haphazardly unaware or blase about things that could be done here, had his hesitating. You were alone, and pregnant omega without an alpha to care for you, no alpha to make sure you and the baby were safe. 

There was also the question of why König cared so much and truthfully there were multiple reasons that could be argued as the main reason for his concern. Of course, knowing that his mother would be wholly disappointed with König was one of the reasons why he cared. The others were settling somewhere between being your closest neighbour and feeling responsible for you. 

And the most blaring reason that he was refusing to acknowledge at this point in time, was the glaring fact that he felt connected to you. König was a man who had experienced and had a number of omega’s in his company, and yet he had never felt so compelled and connected to one like you. It was your scent, it was your vulnerability and simultaneous strength that had called to him, made him want to keep you safely tucked away as if you were his own omega. 

His mother had once said that König was made to be a mate, that he would be a good father irregardless of his upbringing with a degenerate father. König would be good, his mother reassured him that he would be better than most alphas in these modern times. 

“Fraulein!” König raised his voice and knocked again when the time had slipped past, and he had chosen to call out to you and knock again at 9:04. “We were supposed to meet at 9!” 

König was going to raise his hand again and knock when the door shuddered open, not moving smoothly like the day before but jarringly against the floor. You appeared on the other side with a flustered expression on your face and a kind of irritation as you kicked the door open with your foot. Between the previous night and this morning, the door had seemed to be set off kilter and slightly skewed enough to be hard to open. 

“Sorry, I was messing with the door-” 

“What are you wearing? Where is your coat?” König would deal with the door later, as well as his suspicion that you tried to fix it after he had left and instead focused on your appearance. Or rather, the lack of a coat and your choice to simply wear a sweater and a pair of jeans. 

“A sweater? Why, what’s-” Your question drew his eyebrows together in a furrow and his lips had become pursed as he looked you over, taking stock of your inability to contend with any kind of harsh weather that could be rolling in. 

“No jacket? No scarf? No hat upon your head?” König scolded you like he was scolded as a child, his thick and veiny arms crossing over his chest as he stared at you expectantly. “You need a jacket.” 

“it’s not supposed to be that cold, is it?” You slipped your phone out of your pocket to look at the weather, your attention fixated on your screen before you lowered it once more. “It might rain later but right now it’s clear. We can go-” 

“Nein.” König stepped in front of you, blocking you from leaving the cabin with an unwavering solid mass to stop you. “There is no bad weather, only bad planning. Grab a coat.” 

“You’re demanding.” You scoffed and rolled your eyes at him, calling him overbearing under your breath was nothing new to König. Still, he was pleased to see you grabbing a coat, even if it wasn’t as thick as he thought you should have worn. 

“Have you eaten today?” He watches you moving toward the closet near the door, rifling around to find a jacket that wouldn’t draw any more neutral criticism from him. 

“I had a little.” You slipped your jacket on and in the entrance to your cabin you did a small spin for approval before you were allowed to slip past him. As you began walking down the stairs, König had reached behind you to yank the door shut with force that kept it sealed well enough—but as he glanced back at it, he knew there was more to be done than he thought. 

“I have breakfast for you; I made it with your dietary restrictions in mind.” König had followed you close behind, toward his vehicle. You had stopped by the passenger door and looked back at him, eyebrows furrowed and a slight frown to your lips. 

“You brought me breakfast, really?” You were surprised by his admission, turning your head to look back at the alpha with his towering height and devastatingly physical appearance. “My dietary restrictions?” 

“No milk,” König explained as if it was the most natural thing in the world, as if it had been permanently cemented in your mind, “no raw eggs, no raw sprouts, no fish high in mercury, no excessive sugar-” 

“König how do you know all this?” You were surprised, extensively caught off guard by the knowledge of foods to avoid in pregnancy. “Did you google it?” 

You stopped by the passenger door and pulled on the handle, propping the door open. As you poked your head into the vehicle you had seen the extent of the breakfast he had brought for you. Cooked and seasoned eggs sitting on two pieces of whole grain bread, a variety of fruit that was cut and prepared into a packaged container, crackers if you were still dealing with morning sickness. 

“There is a lot of risks for a baby that need to be considered.” He hadn’t acknowledged your claim that he did research, he had glossed right over your accusation and moved onto something adjacent. “Will that be enough or will you need more?” 

“More?” You looked at him from the passenger side door, still leaning into the vehicle with your hands resting on the metal for balance. “König this is already a lot.” 

“You need lots of nutrients to grow a child, schatz.” He grunted in response to you and lifted the containers of your breakfast in order for you to sit down. As you had sat, he continued to hold the food for you until you were buckled and the door was shut, and only then had he set it down in your lap. 

“You know there are mated alpha’s who do less than you.” You quipped with an air of sarcasm clinging to the edge of your words as you popped the top off the first container, the bread, and eggs still warm. 

He doesn’t verbally comment on your claim but there are subtle signs that he not only heard what you had said but has his own ideas on the failings of these kinds of alpha’s. The ones who put in the bare minimum and expect the complete and unfailing adoration of their mates. You can see it in the way his knuckles grip the steering wheel a little tighter, and the tension in his jaw that brings your attention to the sharpness of his features—to the scars that are faded on his skin yet still a testament to his years of being a soldier. 

“I made you something,” you close the lid on the food and set it aside, just for now, and then you reach between your feet and grab your bag. You rifle through the contents until you remove the object you were searching for. Your fingers curl against the yarn you had used, and you pull it out from your bag and then drop your bag back down to the floor of the vehicle. 

“You made me something, fräulein?” 

“I want to thank you for helping me fix things in my cabin, even if I didn’t ask. “You set the handknit hat on your right thigh and run your fingers along the material. “And I thought about making you dinner or something, but you won’t let me use my stove because the elements are cracked-” 

“Was ist es?” König draws his attention away from the road for a single moment, glancing at you and the knit creation sitting on your thigh before he glances back at the road. “Something I wear?” 

“It’s a hat for winter. I made it after I first moved into the cabin, I got bored at nights and I wanted to ease my mind. You know, make me believe that this wasn’t a total mistake.” You lift your creation from your thigh and set it on the console in between you two, setting it down gently. 

König glances at it again, giving himself more time to analyze it. As he does, you look it over as well, wondering if you had somehow made a mistake. You thought he would like the colours, a mix of deep blue with shades and white and grey, the colours matching well together. The knit winter hat was simple, nothing remotely complex or fancified yet you were proud of it, at least you were at first but now... 

“Danke.” König lifted the hat from the console and turned it over in his hands, becoming admittedly distracted by your creation, even going as far as to lift the material to his nose to inhale your scent that was clinging to the knit. “Smells like you.” 

“I’m sorry about that, I had-” 

“Nein,” he set it down again on the console, returning it to its place before he turned his gaze back again, focusing on the drive towards the village, “don’t apologize. Your scent is...nice.” 

It was a compliment from an alpha who had momentarily taken a different direction with his tone of voice and the firmness of his attitude. This act was a softening of sorts, briefly making him appear vulnerable for a moment as he had pursed his lips and became transfixed by the road ahead of him. His jaw had tensed again, his fingers tightened on the steering wheel, but he remained silent after speaking, rendering the vehicle still. 

“König, I...” 

He turned to look at you, that kind of rigidness returning to take place. He studied you with those blue eyes, light and beautiful as they were, analyzing you from head to toe before he reached toward the temperature controls and turned the heat up for you. 

“Eat, the baby needs food.” He spoke gruffly with another demand, another act that was caring in his own stoic way, expecting you to listen and do what was best for your baby. “You are drinking water?” 

“You made me tea?” You ignored his question and reached for the insulated cup sitting in the cupholder, bringing the lid toward your lips. 

“Blow on it, it might be hot.” There was little time left to get to the village, the drive itself had only taken about half an hour on a good day, and you knew that he would make you wait until you ate before he would allow you to get out of the vehicle. 

“Thank you for breakfast.” You complied to his demand, lifting the lid off the containers in order to reach for one of the whole grain pieces of bread with the egg on top. “I did have a little to eat.” 

“You should have an alpha taking care of you, such a bastard to leave you alone while you are with child. That is something that should be shared between mates, a gift that needs to be celebrated.” König mumbled under his breath, making the comment that furthered his temporary foul mood, one reflected in the clenching of his teeth. 

“Yeah, well that particular bastard wanted all the fun of lying with an omega but not the responsibility.” You sunk your teeth into the toast and egg, biting off pieces at a time and being sure to chew them slowly. You didn’t want to set off the cataclysmic avalanche of morning sickness, not in König’s vehicle and not after he had brought you food. 

“And why are you questioning me about not having an alpha when you don’t have an omega?” You ate one piece of the toast and eggs before you moved onto the second, taking a break in between to question him. “You seem like a capable alpha and yet you don’t have a mate?” 

“I have had omega’s before, I’m not inexperienced schatz.” He let that nickname slip into conversation again, answering your question in a way that didn’t satisfy you like it should have. 

“But you chose not to mate with one? Not to take one for life?” 

“Have you considered taking an alpha?” He shot back, a low growl hanging on the back of his words as if he may already have an omega in his mind, one he would pursue and you pushing was only irritating him. 

“I thought he was the one, I was willing to settle down with him. I thought this was...” you set the toast down again and swallowed hard, finding your throat tightening uncomfortably. 

“He is not worthy of an omega like you, that bastard was willing to leave you and your child. Verdammtes Arschloch.” König’s voice took a sharp and deep edge, the animosity for an alpha he had never met was intense and hateful, riddled with the promise of something violent geared toward the alpha that left you—if he ever had the chance to see him. 

“Arschloch is right.” You didn’t deny his claim, you knew it was a spot-on analysis however it didn’t change the fact that you were alone, that you were going to be raising this baby on your own. “But maybe I’m not mean to have an alpha, maybe I'm meant-” 

“Nein.” He denied you instantly, didn’t even allow you to finish what you were saying. “You deserve a mate, an alpha who will protect you and your child.” 

“Few men would be lining up to court a single omega with a baby on the way. How would I even find someone like that?” Your question hung in the air at the same opportune time as König had driven into the village and found a spot outside the general and hardware store. He put the vehicle into park yet didn’t kill the engine; he allowed it to run to keep you warm. 

He looked you over, running his gaze across your features and down your body until settling on your baby bump. He reached out his hand, waiting until you had given him some kind of visual or physical acceptance of him touching your bump. Once he had been given permission, König settled his hand upon your stomach, feeling the bump beneath his hand, his fingers spread wide. 

He didn’t say anything and neither did you, not until you felt warmth in your belly that spread underneath your skin. It was the kind of radiating heat that made your entire body feel pleasant, safe, and protected like he had said a good alpha should make an omega feel. It was surreal, it was a sensation that you had never felt before, not like this and not with such a potency that made your heart race. 

It made your body feel settled, your mind at ease. 

“You will find someone who will take care of you, someone who will shield you from all the Scheiße in the world.” His voice returns to that softness, that airiness that makes you question whether König is speaking of himself or to himself.  

For your sake, you earnestly hoped he was speaking of himself.