Page 1 of Knotting else Matters

CHAPTER 1

Olivia

Fuck, I’m wet. And not in the fun way.

Rain poured in heavy, unrelenting sheets, each drop a cold, stinging reminder of the choice I’d made. Blue Springs train station stretched around me in washed-out gray—cracked tiles, a rusted overhang that offered as much shelter as a napkin in a thunderstorm, and the distant hum of trains that came and went without caring who they left behind.

I was soaked. My leather jacket clung to me like a wet, miserable second skin, water seeping through my shirt, trailing down my back in icy, uncomfortable lines. My boots squelched with every step, the left one taking on water, and my once-shiny black hair now hung around my face like a drowned curtain.

Coming back here felt like drowning all over again.

But a promise was a promise, and I’d promised Sophie I’d be here. For her. For her mating ceremony, where she’d get everything she ever wanted—a perfect life, a perfect Alpha, a perfect future in a town that had never really been mine.

Sophie was everything I wasn’t—blonde, beautiful, and beloved. The family’s proud Omega daughter, the one they cherished. Claimed now by Karl, an important wolf Alpha, soon to be mated in a week’s time. The perfect storybook romance for the perfect storybook girl. And then there was me.Olivia. The Zeta.The one who didn’t fit anywhere.

Blue Springs had never let me forget it. Growing up here meant hearing whispers that were never as quiet as people thought, feeling stares that were never as subtle. Zeta. An oddity. Not an Alpha, Beta, or Omega. A walking footnote in the grand story of pack politics, a glitch in a world that thrived on rules and hierarchies.

That’s why I ran. Nineteen and desperate, I left this suffocating town without a second glance. College in a human city, far away where pack dynamics didn’t matter. Where I was justOlivia, with no title hanging over my head. Where I could pretend that I wasn’t something wrong.

And for a while, it worked. I didn’t call home. I didn’t write. I built a life of cheap apartments, late-night takeout, and bad decisions. I met James at a rock concert, his wild grin and shaggy hair a promise of something reckless. We fell in and out of each other’s lives for three chaotic years before stumbling into a marriage that was as messy and passionate as everything else we did.

It wasn’t a fairytale. But it was real. Or at least, I thought it was until I came home early one rainy Thursday and found him with someone else. A stranger who wasn’t drowning in family drama, who didn’t have the weight of pack rejection in her eyes.

Our divorce was still a work in progress. A legal purgatory that had me clinging to sarcasm like a lifeline.

And yet here I was, back in Blue Springs, soaked and shivering, waiting for Sophie—my sunshine sister who never knew a world that didn’t love her. Who never saw a door she couldn’t open or a person who didn’t smile when she walked in.

A loud honk shattered my pity party, and I looked up just in time to see a pristine white-pearl SUV slice through the puddles, a burst of clean, polished luxury in this rain-soaked nightmare.

"OLIVIA!"

I didn’t even have time to brace myself. The passenger door burst open, and Sophie barreled out, a pastel blur of pink and blonde in a world of gray. Rain be damned—she ran straight at me, her arms outstretched, her wide smile as blinding as the sun I hadn’t seen in hours.

And suddenly, I wasn’t just wet. I was warm. Enveloped in her hug, crushed against her tiny frame with a force that belied her delicate appearance.

“Oh my god, Liv! You’re here! You’re really here! And you’re soaked!” She pulled back, her laughter like bells, her perfect curls somehow defying the rain, her pastel dress clinging to her but still looking somehow magical.

“Yeah, the sky has a vendetta against me. But forget that—show me the ring.”

Her eyes practically sparkled. She shoved her left hand at me, and there it was—a diamond the size of a small moon, glittering with a fierce, cold beauty that matched the rain.

“Karl didn’t hold back, huh?”

“I know, right?” Sophie’s voice was pure joy, her happiness a warm, intoxicating glow I couldn’t help but lean into, even if only for a second.

“Can we continue this little celebration in the car? I’m about ten minutes away from hypothermia.”

Sophie laughed, grabbing my hand and practically dragging me to the SUV. The interior was a palace—plush leather seats, a scent like vanilla and new car, buttons that looked more expensive than my entire wardrobe.

“Nice ride. Lemme guess—also a gift from Karl’s family?” I leaned back against the plush leather seat, letting the warmth soak into my rain-soaked bones.

Sophie’s cheeks flushed, her smile a mix of pride and embarrassment. “Yeah! His parents insisted. They’re just so generous.”

“Generous. Sure.” I arched a brow, running my fingers through my damp, tangled hair. “I guess Mom’s over the moon with you finally being welcomed into a rich family. It’s been her dream ever since she knew you were an Omega.”

Sophie’s smile faltered, just for a second, but then she shook it off, giving me that wide, hopeful grin. “She’s happy for me. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Karl’s amazing.”

“Of course. Who doesn’t dream of being a pretty little Omega in a castle?” I muttered, but I forced a grin, trying to shake off the gnawing bitterness. “So, I heard the old pack leader finally kicked the bucket.”

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