Nicodemus’ problem was that he had nothing to make anyone wish to court him. Nicodemus’ other problem was the scandalous alpha next door. Bel was nothing an omega Nicodemus should want, and would be the first to say so. But with Nicodemus’ first heat approaching, and his few, respectable suitors growing impatient, it’s Bel on Nicodemus’ mind. Lonely omega Nicodemus is approaching his first heat. A lowly and somewhat plain housekeeper in a small, uptight town, he is facing a long, bleak future alone or an even bleaker future with one of his few dull, disinterested suitors. The last thing he needs is the realization that he wants someone to want him as wildly as omegas are supposed to be wanted and wooed—and that he wants those things from his entirely scandalous alpha neighbor, Bel. Bel has no interest in respectability or housekeeping, and therefore, no interest in Nicodemus. But there is something in Bel’s gaze and his shocking, sharp, conversation that draws Nicodemus again and again to the fence between their properties, where Bel waits for him. With only days to make a decision between unfulfilled desires or being stifled by an unhappy match, Nicodemus starts to wonder if it is even a courtship he wants, or if he’d rather seek out his ruin in the arms of a rakish alpha.