Lambchop and the Serious Courtship

By R. Cooper

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R. Cooper
• Release date: Jan 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215597897

R. Cooper

I'm a somewhat absentminded, often distracted, writer of queer romance. I'm probably most known for the Being(s) in Love series and the occasional story about witches or firefighters in love. Also known as, "Ah, yes, the one with the dragons."You can find me on in the usual places, or subscribe to my newsletter (link through website).www.riscooper.comI can also be found at...Tumblr @sweetfirebirdFacebook @thealmightyrisInstagram @riscoopsPillowfort @RCooperPatreon @ patreon.com/rcoopsBluesky @ rcooper.bsky.social

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Lambchop and the Serious Courtship

(A Ravenous AU)

R. Cooper

Author’s note: This story can be read as a standalone original story, but it is, in fact, an alternate universe version of two characters from an existing story of mine, Ravenous. But, again, this can be read on its own. I just really love putting two characters in a fuck-or-die story into an a/b/o universe and watching them make it even weirder.

Ravenous copyright © 2021 R. Cooper

Lambchop and the Serious Courtship copyright © 2022 R. Cooper

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold

or given away to other people.

Content Tags: historical, fantasy, mating cycles/in heat, non-traditional alpha/beta/omega dynamics, alpha/omega, courtship, masturbation, alternative history, smoking, drinking, dirty talk, in-story ableism regarding fertility

Lambchop and the Serious Courtship

Nicodemus watched Andrew Norton drive away in his slightly old-fashioned carriage and stayed on the porch even once Andrew was out of sight. The autumn air after midday was not cool, exactly, but it was better than being indoors for Nicodemus at the moment, and, from the porch, he could see the curlicue of smoke rising above the whitewashed and ivy-covered fence that marked the edge of the Holts’ property and one side of Bel’s.

It was unusual to see the curl of cigarette smoke at this time of day, a little past one o’clock. Lewis Belasco—Bel—was not an early riser by any means. He kept his own hours, which made the good people in town suspicious, or envious, and added more fuel to the stories and gossip that had built up around Bel in the years since he had purchased the house and the surrounding land.

No one quite knew what Bel did for a living, for a start. He traveled frequently, often gone for weeks to the nearest city or beyond. When out, he wore clothes in the newest fashions, not purchased at the shop in town or anywhere nearby. He also had an automobile—a noisy, precarious-looking contraption that he only used to go into town for groceries or supplies or to pick up one of the many packages he ordered from who knew where. According to Cook, who heard it from the postmaster, some of the packages even came from other countries across the sea.

Rumor was that Bel was a spy of some kind. That, or he was someone who had come into a fortune and now wasted his days without appreciating the value of hard work. Bel as a spy, Nicodemus did not believe. But the second was possible.

Bel smoked, and he drank, and though Nicodemus privately thought Bel did make an effort to speak politely with people like the Holts, or the mayor, or leaders of the local charitable societies... he did not make much of one, and his impatience with those people—and his amusement—shone through after not very many words had been exchanged.

He was an alpha, this was known too, despite the fact that Nicodemus doubted if anyone had done something so direct as ask. More likely, another alpha had said Bel smelled like one. And, in the handful of years that Bel had occupied the property next door to the Holts’ summer home, he had traveled or not traveled in the fall months without much pattern to it, giving no evidence he was affected by any heat.

The Holts tolerated him but were not fond of him, and Mrs. Holt often expressed concern for how Nicodemus had to deal with him all by himself.

Sometimes, Nicodemus thought of telling her that he didn’t choose to live out here by himself, but Mrs. Holt was beautiful, and rich, and from an old, respectable family, and didn’t understand things like not having