Chapter 3 Robot Mates

Myla

I looked at Alpha Ronan and blinked. "Father, why don't you seem surprised?"

That brought his attention back to me. He straightened, his expression smoothing over too quickly. "I didn't say that." He was hiding something.

"But you knew this could happen?" I asked him, taking another step near him and looking into his eyes.

Silence. Just nothing!

I stared at him more, then he finally said, "Actually, I always hoped," he said at last, "that one day you'd become part of this family for real." He sighed.

I raised my brows, almost shocked, a bitter smile nearly slipping out of me. "For real? I've lived here since I was a baby."

His eyes softened and he walked closer, placing both his hands on my shoulders. He sighed. "You know what I mean."

Yes, I know. Being a daughter by guardianship wasn't the same as a daughter by blood. No matter how gently anyone dressed it up.

Except that word...adopted, fostered...never fit right against my skin. It never had. Even as a child, I felt it like a shirt sewn with the wrong seams. Something about my place in this house was never what it appeared to be.

Before I could say that, footsteps sounded from the hall. A male, familiar voice that I knew so well. It was Cassian!

Once he stepped in, everything inside me tightened. My heart was beating so fast, like drums.

Even so, Cassian Vale was 27 years old, but he looked like the kind of man old pack songs were written about and sensible girls avoided. Tall, broad-shouldered, with black hair falling over his forehead, he wore authority as naturally as breath.

His eyes...locked into mine...were a deep gray.

Behind him came Rowan, with tanned skin and sharp features. He was dressed half-casually, like he couldn't be bothered to fully obey the occasion. His dark blond hair was tied back at the nape of his neck. A smirk all over his face.

Then Lucien came last. He was the most handsome among them, but cold-hearted too. His silver eyes moved from Ronan to me to the glowing hologram above my wrist.

Every one of them froze all of a sudden.

I didn't need the bond system to tell me they had just been notified too because the atmosphere was intense already.

Cassian gritted his teeth, and Rowan's smirk disappeared. Even Lucien's face got even paler.

They didn't say a word for a few seconds. They only stared at the hologram.

My pulse hammered so hard in my chest. I felt as if I were going to faint from the waiting!

They know. Obviously, they all know.

Ronan said to them. "Well. This is unexpected." He was pulling words from their mouths!

"Unexpected?" Rowan raised his eyebrows and finally said, staring at my wrist as if it might burst into flames. "really!"

Cassian looked at me in disbelief as if he wanted to say the same words, while Lucien folded his arms. "There must be a mistake. There's no way she's our match!"

That cut deeper than it should have.

I lifted my chin and looked at them, saying, "The System doesn't make mistakes."

Lucien's expression didn't change, but I saw the flicker in his eyes. He was mad and angry and almost losing his patience. Maybe at me. Maybe at himself.

Rowan barked out mockingly. "So what? All three of us are supposed to be one hundred percent compatible with her? There's no way!" He obviously was rejecting me but didn't say it boldly yet.

I nodded and looked at him more calmly. "Apparently," I said, before Ronan could answer for me.

My voice sounded steadier than I felt. Yes, I was shocked by their reactions.

Cassian stepped closer to inspect the hologram, and his sexy scent ...hit me hard enough to make my wolf press forward. I clenched my hands at my sides and stood in my place.

Cassian's eyes scanned the names again as if it wasn't obvious enough.

Then his own wristband lit. So did Rowan's. Lucien's a second later.

Three blue holograms rose in the room.

I looked and I almost lost my breath away.

Each of them had a 100% compatibility notice too.

But under their names... there wasn't me! There were different names! Unit names, those Companion models. Yes, Robot mates. They were designed according to their preferences! But how come I wasn't chosen!

I almost fainted. I dropped my jaw and stared at the lines, unable to make sense of what I was seeing.

CASSIAN VALE - 100% COMPATIBLE WITH UNIT E-17

ROWAN VALE - 100% COMPATIBLE WITH UNIT S-9

LUCIEN VALE - 100% COMPATIBLE WITH UNIT A-3

My mouth went dry.

I opened my mouth to say something. But I couldn't! No.

No, that didn't... make any sense.

Cassian swiped his hologram shut immediately. Lucien turned his wrist away.

But I had already seen what I needed to see.

Heat rushed to my face, then disappeared so fast it left me like an ice statue.

The room suddenly felt too big, too bright, too cruel.

I looked from one brother to the next, waiting for someone...anyone...to explain. To laugh. To say the System was cross-linked. Corrupted. That the real notification hadn't come through yet.

No one did. Ronan's expression had gone rigid.

"What is this?" I finally dared to ask.

No answer.

I raised my voice, asking again. "What is this? What's going on?"

Rowan dragged a hand through his hair. " well!It's complicated."

I laughed then, because the alternative was crying in front of all of them. "Complicated? I get notified that the three men I've wanted half my life are somehow one hundred percent compatible with me, and all three of you get matched to robots?"

"Myla..." My father stopped me.

I shook my head in denial. "No." I stepped back, my eyes still on them. "No, I want someone to explain why the System says I'm matched to them while they get female machines according to their preferences." I clutched my head, unable to get it!

Cassian's gaze snapped to mine. "You looked at our full profiles?"

"You held them up in front of me." I gazed at him! "wasn't that obvious?"

Cassian huffed, as if he didn't want to go through this with me.

Lucien spoke, his voice smooth and distant. "Those matches don't concern you."

I dropped my jaw and asked him in disbelief. "Don't worry about me? How come?"

Rowan said, "Lucien."

But Lucien didn't take it back. Something fragile inside me cracked.

I had spent years swallowing glances, half-touches that meant nothing, family dinners where Ronan would joke one of his sons should marry me someday, and I would go to sleep blushing like an idiot. I had built whole futures out of scraps. A look from Cassian.

A training session with Rowan that lasted too long. The rare softness in Lucien's eyes when he thought I wasn't paying attention. Was I just a fool played all along all those years by them?!

And now this? What the hell?

And now I stood in front of them with proof that my heart had made a fool of me.

Ronan stepped forward. "End this here now. No more discussion until we understand exactly what happened." I don't know why my father wanted to end it there! But obviously, he wasn't satisfied with the results!

Cassian's expression darkened. Stressing his words, "Myla..."

"No, say it." I looked right at him. "Am I your compatibility match or not? Tell me! Don't I have a match now?"

Cassian frowned. His silence answered before his mouth ever did. I hated how much that hurt.

Rowan shifted uncomfortably. For once in his life, he had nothing smart to say. Cassian held my gaze with an intensity that made the humiliation worse. Lucien looked away. Cassian held my gaze with an intensity that made the humiliation worse.

Ronan's voice softened. "Go get ready for tonight."

I looked back and turned to him. "Tonight?"

"The gathering," father said. "The guests are already arriving by evening. We will address this matter later."

Address this matter later? This was my life's and my future's matter!

Like I wasn't standing there trying not to shatter. Like it was a scheduling problem.

I should have demanded answers. I should have argued. Instead, I did what I had always done in this house when my feelings became unimportant and unseen.

I nodded in agreement. "Fine," I said. Because I had no other option, actually. Then I walked past all four of them and out of the room.

At first, I didn't run. I made it halfway down the hall before my breathing turned ragged. past the portrait chamber and the east stairwell. By the time I reached my room, my hands were trembling so much that I couldn't lock the door at first.

I closed the door behind me.

I leaned against it and slid to the floor, and then tears filled my eyes. I stared blankly at nothing.

Then I lifted my wrist again.

The three names still glowed there, steady and undeniable.

CASSIAN. ROWAN. LUCIEN. My supposed three perfect matches. And none of them wanted me?! How come they would prefer robots over me?! why?

Half laugh, half sob. A choked sound escaped me. My wolf was agitated and confused. Wolves weren't made for this kind of contradiction. Instinct said mine. Reality said rejected.

I closed my eyes and I breathed to fill oxygen into my lungs.

I was thinking deeply! But the truth is the game wasn't on my side now. It's all about them.

The law was clear. A perfect compatibility notification gave both parties the right to accept or refuse. If one side rejected, the bond didn't form. If I rejected all three, I would have ten days to choose another mate voluntarily. If I failed, the System would assign me a random bond from its highest compatibility pool.

So, only ten days. I had ten days to protect myself from becoming someone's state-mandated obligation.

My wall screen lit up.

Incoming private call: Talia. I wiped my tears fast from my face and accepted the call.

Talia's image flared to life above the table across from me, flickering pink at the edges because she was calling from the underground market where signal interference was always trash.

She was smiling, "Myla! Happy birthday, moon girl..." Her grin vanished instantly once she saw my pale face. "Whoa. You look awful."

I let out a shaky breath. gulped, wiped my tears again, "Thanks."

"What happened?" she asked with a concerned tone.

I should've said nothing. Talia was the only person in this city who knew how to pry open my ribs and look directly at the messy parts. Former street thief, current mechanic, permanently unimpressed by wealth and titles, she had been my closest friend since we were thirteen, and she beat up two prep-school girls for calling me kennel trash.

I couldn't hide any secrets from her, so I told her. Not every detail. Just enough.

By the end, her mouth was hanging open. "Hold on," she said, lifting a hand. "Let me get this straight. So, the all-knowing, all-creepy mating system matched you to the three Vale brothers..."

"Yes." I nodded admitting.

"But when they were notified, each of them was paired with some custom female robot instead, and they were happy about this?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, having her suspicions.

"Yes." I muttered.

She raised her brows. "And now you're spiraling because the universe apparently hates you specifically?"

I covered my face with both hands. A laugh and a sob came out of me. "That sums it up, yeah."

There was a beat of silence. Then Talia said, very carefully, emphasizing the words, "Something about that is wrong."

I lowered my hands. "I think so too. Obviously."

"No, I mean system-level wrong." She leaned closer, brown eyes narrowing, thinking deeply, then explaining what was in her mind. "Companion units can be preference-aligned." They can even be biologically interface-compatible if somebody pays for black-market sensory customization. But the official bond network doesn't recognize robots as legal mates over a living wolf for primary genetic compatibility. Not unless the coding has been tampered with."

That made me sit up straighter.

"What? Are you sure?"