The Werewolves Planet: Snatched by the Emperor

Twenty-one years ago, Alpha Ronan's wife lay on a bed of crushed leaves, pale, her hair soaked, barely able to breathe. The streets had flooded that night, and she had gone into labor deep in the forest.

Alpha Ronan stood there like a statue, cold and icy.

"Ronan," she whispered. Her voice was weak, and every breath seemed to cost her. "Please. Hold her." She was almost begging him.

But he didn't move an inch.

An hour passed. Elowen had already cleaned the baby and wrapped her in a cloak, but Ronan still hadn't touched her. The child was fragile, tiny, and thin, her small chest rising and falling.

The first thing he said was, "Is she dying?"

A daughter wasn't what he had wanted, and she wasn't only a girl but a skinny, weak one.

He had prayed for months. He had asked for a son, a boy with a thick neck and a loud cry, a wolf who could hold the Valecrest territory when Ronan's own strength began to fade. He knew the council would never accept a female heir. He had built his empire with blood and patience, and it was going to end with a girl. The other Alphas would circle like carrion birds the moment they smelled weakness in his bloodline.

And now the mother of that girl was weak, crying, and bleeding out in front of him.

"Ronan," Elowen gasped, looking at him again. She searched his eyes, as if she could pull the words out of him. "She's... she's ours. She's your daughter!"

He shook his head. "No. She's a mistake."

Her heart beat even faster, and the whole thing was killing her. Something crossed her face then. It wasn't surprise. She had known him too long for surprise. It was grief, and it was worse than anger.

"Don't," she pleaded. "Please. Whatever you're thinking, don't."

He crouched beside her, and for a moment he almost felt something. Two years of marriage. Her laughter in the halls, her hands in his hair, her stubborn, gentle faith that he was a better man than he was. He placed his hand on her cheek, and her skin was already cooling.

"You were always too soft, Elowen," he said. "I should have known you'd give me such a weak child."

She opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came. She stopped breathing and went still. Just like that, she was dead.

Ronan covered her with leaves and looked at her for a few seconds. He murmured, "What a waste. Two years for this."

Then he stood up, carried the baby in his arms, and did not look back.

On his way back to the estate, he was already thinking about what to do next.

The girl could not be his heir, but she did not need to be thrown away. A daughter had uses. She could be kept close and kept quiet. And if he needed a son, the Compatibility System had already made it possible to find one.

Every wolf born on Arcadia 7 was registered within a day of birth. The records were sealed to the public, but not to an Alpha with the right favors owed to him. Ronan had spent years collecting those favors.

Three days later, he stood in a cold, white birthing ward in the lower district, in a clinic that had been flagged for closure after a pack raid gutted the neighborhood. The air smelled of antiseptic and old fear. The nurse on duty did not meet his eyes.

"There are infants here with no registered guardians," she said. "Their pack was destroyed. Their parents are dead. We were going to send them to the state nursery."

"I want a boy," Ronan said. "Healthy. Strong. One."

The nurse hesitated. "Sir, there's a set. They were born together. Three."

He frowned. "Three?"

"Triplets. All boys." She wet her lips. "The records show unusually high genetic markers, sir. The best I've seen in this ward. But the System lists them as a unit. They can't be separated without..."

"Show me."

She led him down a narrow corridor and through a pair of sliding doors. Three small cribs sat side by side beneath the dim light. Three infants lay wrapped in gray blankets, each with a different shade of dark hair.

The first one opened his eyes as Ronan approached. They were cold and steady, and he didn't blink. The second was already stirring, reaching toward the air with a tiny, determined fist. The third was awake and watching him with a gaze so sharp it made the hair rise on the back of Ronan's neck.

None of them cried.

Ronan stood there for a long moment. He had come for one heir. The moon goddess, or whatever cruel thing had replaced her, had handed him three.

A slow smile spread across his face.

Three sons. Three strong, perfectly bred wolves with no living family to question where they had come from. They would be raised in his halls, taught by his tutors, and shaped by his hand. No Alpha in the territory would dare challenge a house with three heirs.

"I'll take them," he decided. "All of them."

---

The announcement was made at the Valecrest estate two weeks later.

The guests gathered in the courtyard, and the council elders stood in rows. Alpha Ronan walked out onto the stone balcony in his ceremonial black, a baby cradled in each arm and the third carried by a nurse at his side.

"People of Valecrest," he declared, his voice carrying across the crowd. "Today, I have been blessed. I present to you my heirs. Cassian. Rowan. Lucien."

A roar of approval rose from the courtyard. The council members bowed their heads. Cameras flashed, and the colony's media drones swarmed overhead.

No one asked where the boys had come from. No one asked where the Alpha's wife was.

When a reporter finally dared to ask, Ronan lowered his eyes and let his voice break in exactly the right place.

"Elowen was taken from me," he said, faking a broken tone. "The forest was cruel that night. I wasn't able to save her."

The crowd murmured with sympathy. It was the first lie he told that day, and it was the easiest.

Behind him, in a small side room of the estate, a nurse held the fourth child, the one he had not announced. Once the cheering had faded, Ronan stepped inside and looked down at her for a long moment.

"From now on, her name is Myla," he said coldly. "She'll be listed as an orphan I took in out of charity. Register her as my adopted daughter."

The nurse blinked, confused. "Adopted? Are you sure, Alpha?"

He inhaled and exhaled deeply. "She has no claim to my name," he said. "Obviously. She is weak, like her mother. She will be fed, clothed, and kept where I can see her. But she will never be my heir."

He turned and walked away, and the door clicked shut behind him.

--

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."

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?"