I do have a soft spot for the Om Cafe/Omega House universe in which this plot resides, but gracious I wish there was actually a plot residing here. This is, by way of fated mates, and instalove, but then it's also a novella so it feels less like the mates thing creates the relationship and more like Grace needed to make the HEA happen in a compact space.
Like in the Om Cafe books, this draws on the nature of A/B/O as a sociopolitical system and highlights the use and abuse of omegas, from which we get our omega protagonist. The groundwork isn't bad and I was drawn into how a rescue would work in a psychosocial way--but nope, we needs to have teh Sexes and the teh Loves, the end. Max was never really a character to me; he was as stand-in for other people's expectations that were trying to force mine in the story. I was so aware that I was supposed to feel hoodwinked by this guy or in support of this guy, even though none of the characters were fleshed out enough for me to really see them as anything other than plot devices. I was told over and over that these men were mates, that this guy was bad news, that this was the love bit, but I was never really shown any of that.
Some of this is the issue of the fated mates trope itself and it's a rare author, honestly, who can make that work in a way that sells the pairing as something both characters are clearly into. Unfortunately, Grace doesn't get there. I have a note on page 43 of "when did he become sexy to you" because other than "and I knew we were fated mates," there's no buildup. Suddenly Max, battered and afraid omega, wants to climb Curtis like a tree. Why? What happened to his backstory? What happened to any sort of story of who Curtis is beyond "sexy and strong"?
There is a sort of authorial apology on page 47 that I found interesting: "Instead of taking time to get to know each other before deciding that we want to be together, our biology has made that decision for us. Now we have to jump straight into getting to know each other to catch up." Good on you, Grace, for weaving that into the narrative. Unfortunately, recognizing the issue isn't enough to counteract how cardboard both Max and Curtis are as they each moon over how the other is obviously too good for him, and I never bought the "it's more than just physical" sale, nor any of the conflict around their relationship. (I have a note on page 67 of "what even is the point of this character" for the antagonist because he's so clearly just there to force the main ship.)
Not enough room to fight the demons of the trope itself, and not enough plot to carry the weight of the central romance. Good luck to Max and Curtis, but I was bored halfway through and this wasn't even 100 pages long.