Page 8 of Knot My Wonderland

Classes. Coffee. Survive today.

The future could wait.

At least for a little while longer.

Chapter Three

Alice

By the time evening finally dragged itself around, I felt like I'd been scraped across sandpaper and left out to dry. Classes had blurred together. I barely remembered walking back to my apartment — just the familiar autopilot of sidewalks, stairwells, and my key turning stiffly in the lock.

The second the door swung shut behind me, I didn’t even bother dropping my bag properly. It slid from my shoulder with a heavy thud onto the floor. I kicked off my shoes, peeled out of my jacket, and stumbled straight toward the corner of my bedroom — the one spot that had been slowly overtaken by a mess of blankets, pillows, and old hoodies over the past month.

My nest.

Not a proper one, not a perfect, textbook nest like you'd see in Omega guides. Just mine.A chaotic heap of softness, faintly smelling of my laundry soap and lavender candle wax, worn in all the right ways.

I burrowed deep into it, dragging a fluffy blanket over my head and curling around one of the thicker pillows like a lifeline. My body exhaled before I could even think about it, tension bleeding out of me in slow, reluctant drips. The walls of my nest muffled the distant sounds of the city — the low hum of traffic, a siren wailing two streets over, the sharp clatter of someone's skateboard hitting the pavement. The familiar noises seeped into the edges of my awareness and dissolved there, harmless.

Everything smelled faintly of lavender and me and safety. It didn’t fix the ache clawing at my chest, but it softened it. Made it bearable. A chipped mug of lukewarm tea balanced precariously on the floor near the nest’s edge, forgotten from the previous day.

I turned my face into the pillow and let myself justexistfor a little while, tucked safely away from the world. Still, a gnawing restlessness clawed underneath the surface. I couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t let my brain spin itself into oblivion either.

I grabbed my phone from where it had landed somewhere between the folds of blankets. A few messages blinked back at me: a reminder about an assignment, a meme from Mara, and of course — the inevitable text from my mom:

Mom:Just a reminder about the mixer on Saturday! It’s important for Omegas to put themselves out there, sweetheart! Can’t wait to hear about all the nice Alphas you meet!

I locked my phone without answering, pressing it against my chest like maybe that would keep the words from sinking in. The mixer. The endless parade of expectation.

Find a mate. Find someone to claim you. Find a purpose.

My chest tightened until it was hard to breathe. My nest, usually the one place that softened everything, suddenly felt too small. Too close.

I needed out. Needed air.Needed someone who didn't make me feel like a walking disappointment wrapped in soft Omegaskin. Before I could talk myself out of it, I thumbed out a quick message to the one person who didn’t see me that way:

Me:Hey. You busy?

Her reply was almost immediate:

Mara:Define "busy."

I let out a soft, breathless laugh into the blankets.Without hesitating, I typed:

Me:I’m going crazy. Come save me?

The pause that followed was just long enough for doubt to creep in — maybe she was busy, maybe she had better things to do — but then my phone buzzed:

Mara:On my way.

Warmth bloomed under my ribs, stubborn and bright. I stayed curled in my nest until the knock came at the door. I untangled myself from the blankets and padded barefoot to let her in. My hair stuck out wildly in every direction from being curled in my nest. I opened the door and was greeted with a smirking Mara.

"Rescue mission, reporting for duty," she said, her voice a low, teasing rumble.

"You didn’t have to actually rush," I said, stepping back to let her kick off her boots and wander inside as I shut the door behind her.

"I figured if you were calling for backup, it was serious," she said, flashing a quick smile. "Plus, Art History homework was slowly killing my will to live. You're basically savingme."

She took in the room with a glance — the cozy disarray of the nest visible through the open bedroom door, the half-finished tea, the muted wolves still flashing across the TV screen.

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