Chapter 2 MATCH SYSTEM

Myla Pov

10 days ago...

Today was the day I turned 21. The sky was red, and it didn't look normal.

But it was the first thing I noticed when I stepped out onto the wide balcony of the Valecrest estate. It was the red color of the sky over Arcadia 7, our werewolf planet.

It was a planet filled with silver forests and black mountains, and cities built of glass and steel. The sunrise here never looked soft. It came fierce, streaking crimson and gold.

Hover lanes flashed between towers. Freight drones drifted over the market district. Beyond the city walls, the wildlands stretched for miles.

There were moonroot trees and hunting grounds reserved for the packs who still liked pretending we were close to our ancestors.

But the truth is.... we weren't!

Not after Earth started dying and our kind took the stars.

We crossed systems. We built colonies. We claimed new worlds. We fused instinct with science, ancient blood law with machine precision. Somewhere along the way, mating bonds stopped being left to fate and moon signs and scent alone.

By 2050, werewolves had done what humans once said was impossible.

The Compatibility System was the game-changer. It started as a matchmaking algorithm to pair wolves based on genetics, temperament, and pack needs, and within a generation, it became law.

Every werewolf registered at birth was entered into the planetary bond network. When you came of age, the System scanned your biology, pheromone markers, neural patterns, bloodline coding, fertility compatibility, pack resonance all of it. Then it notified you if someone in the system matched you at one hundred percent.

A perfect mate.

Wolves who had spent centuries trusting the moon goddess now trusted the System. And the System, as though sensing the trembling in every heart it scanned, never announced failures

Not just desire. Not just love. Biological, emotional, genetic perfection.

You can accept or reject the match.

But if you reject a true match, by law you only have ten days to choose someone else and register the bond willingly. If you didn't, the System assigned you a random forced bond with the highest viable match remaining in the database.

No one liked talking about that part.

No one liked admitting that freedom only lasted ten days.

I wrapped my fingers around the cold balcony railing and breathed in the sharp metallic scent of the morning air. Somewhere behind me, music drifted through the halls. The estate staff had been decorating since dawn. My foster father...never mind that word, I hated it...had ordered a massive celebration for my twenty-first birthday.

Because today I would be notified.

Today, the system would tell me who I belonged to.

My heart pounded so hard I could barely stand still.

Not because I feared it.

Because for years, stupidly, secretly, hopelessly, I wanted it to be them.

All three of them.

Cassian, Rowan, and Lucien Vale.

The sons of the man who raised me.

The three wolves who had filled every hallway of this house with danger, beauty, and impossible dreams since I was old enough to understand what longing was.

I knew how it sounded. A foster daughter pining after the sons of the man who took her in. But I'd spent years watching them move through this house like they owned the air itself, and my wolf had never stopped reaching for them.

The Compatibility System didn't care about your fantasies. It didn't hand out miracles because a girl spent half her life in love with boys she could never quite reach. Still, I had let myself hope. Just a little. Enough to hurt.

A breeze swept through my hair, carrying the scent of ironwood, engine fuel, and the distant gardens below. Then my wristband vibrated.

Once.

Sharp. Electric.

I froze.

For one second, the whole world seemed to go silent.

The silver band locked around my wrist lit up blue.

COMPATIBILITY MATCH DETECTED.

My breath caught. Then another vibration hit!

And another.

So hard I gasped out loud.

The screen expanded above my wrist in a holographic flare. Three names appeared one after another, each line pulsing like it had a heartbeat of its own.

CASSIAN VALE - 100% COMPATIBLE

ROWAN VALE - 100% COMPATIBLE

LUCIEN VALE - 100% COMPATIBLE

I stared at the names until the letters blurred.

My knees nearly gave out. My hand shook so badly I had to grip the railing with the other one.

Three.

Not one. Three true matches.

I laughed once, breathless and broken. The System had to be glitching.

But the Compatibility System didn't glitch. Not according to everyone who worshiped it like a second moon.

A pulse of warmth rushed through my body, so sudden and fierce it left me dizzy. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, restless and alert, her emotions colliding with mine until I couldn't tell them apart. Joy. Want. Fear. Hunger. Hope.

All at once.

Cassian.

Rowan.

Lucien.

Every dream I'd ever buried came clawing back to life.

The balcony doors slid open behind me.

"There you are."

I turned too fast.

My foster father...Ronan Vale...stood in the doorway in ceremonial black, silver trim glinting at the collar and cuffs. Tall, broad, still powerful despite the threads of gray in his dark hair, he looked every bit the respected Alpha politician the colony loved. He smiled when he saw me, warm and proud, the way he always did when no one else was around to see too closely.

"My birthday girl," he said cheerfully.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

He looked around and then his eyes dropped to the glowing hologram over my wrist.

He went still. Just froze! For the first time in my life, I watched genuine shock crack through Ronan Vale's composure.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

I fiddled with my fingers nervously, then I swallowed. "I got my notification."

He stepped forward, looking at me, and his gaze sharpened. "Who?"

I should've said it immediately. Instead, I looked at him, really looked at him, and something strange moved through me. Tension. Not mine. His.

The smile on his face had vanished.

"Myla," he said, his voice lower now. "Who did the System assign you as a match?"

I lifted my wristwatch between us.

His eyes scanned the names. And all the color drained from his face. For a second, neither of us moved. Then, slowly Alpha Ronan, My father exhaled.

A strange sound. Not surprised anymore.

He rubbed a hand over his jaw and looked out at the burning red horizon instead of at me. "Well," he murmured. "I was afraid of this."