Chapter 2

Tilly

"What's happened?" I asked, awaking with a start as four men stood guard around my bed.

"Nothing for you to be concerned about. Go back to sleep," Aiden snapped.

"Don't you dare bark at me like that," I said, realizing with a start that these were not my father's men, but our enemy's.

Maybe enemy was a harsh word given all the work my father had done to make peace with Aiden's Tribe, but still.

He growled as I sat up and stared him down.

"You did not just growl at me. Get out of my room!" I screamed.

He shouldn't be here, and neither should his three men, each watching us curiously.

Before he could respond, my father burst into the room. I expected him to be furious. Four unmated males were in my bedroom in the middle of the night. I knew he had invited them here, working out some sort of alliance with Aiden's father, but that didn't give him the right to come into my personal space like this.

I smirked, knowing my dad was about to rip his head off.

"We have her secured, sir."

"Thank you, Aiden."

"What?! Dad, what is going on? And why are they in my bedroom in the middle of the night?"

"I'm sorry for the intrusion, Matilda,but it is a necessary precaution."

"What happened? Just tell me."

"Your sister was taken about an hour ago."

"Chelle?"

"Michelle is gone, Matilda."

My whole world came crashing in around me. I shook my head. No, it couldn't be possible. She was fine. I'd seen her just this afternoon. She'd said she had something important to tell me later. She'd been excited and a little nervous.

She'd come back and tell me what was going on. She had too. I had expected her earlier but fell asleep waiting for her to return.

"Tilly," my father's voice softened. "Chelle isn't coming back."

I shook my head again. I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

"How? Who? Why?" I asked in a soft voice.

"We don't know. She was out on a run tonight when it happened. Chloe was with her. She'd already shifted and dressed for the walk back, but Michelle was still in her fur."

"Hunters?" I asked, feeling like I was going to be sick.

"We aren't sure yet. There were no guns fired."

"Trappers then?"

"It's possible," my father said, uncomfortably. "Could you all step outside to give us a moment, please?"

Why was he asking these guys to leave? This was my father's territory and he should be demanding it, not asking. I had a very bad feeling that I was missing something here.

He waited until they had all left.

"Matilda, Tilly," he corrected, knowing how much I preferred the nickname to my full given name, though he only used it when trying to butter me up to something. "As the oldest, your sister was expected to mate honorably for our Tribe."

"Mate? What are you even talking about?" Chelle hadn't met anyone she was serious about that I knew of.

She would have told me.

My heart nearly stopped beating. Was this what she was excited and nervous to tell me?

I shook my head in disbelief.

"Sometimes, high-ranking positions such as Alpha or she-Alpha require great sacrifice."

My stomach lurched at his words.

"Oh no. What did you do?"

"I did what I know is necessary for our people. We can't keep the feud up between us and the Campbells. It's costing too much. So I have worked out an alliance. Your sister was to mate Aiden at the next full moon."

"That's in three weeks, Dad. Are you crazy? She couldn't possibly agree to this. It's Aiden Campbell. Is that it? Did she actually run away?"

No, my sister would never do that. She was all about honor and commitment. But what about love and romance? Those were the things I longed for, a true mate, and it's all I've ever hoped for her as well. But Chelle? I supposed I didn't really know, only assumed she felt the same.

"Hush your mouth. Michelle would never do such a thing."

Mostly, I agreed with that. But if given such a dire ultimatum, would she? Mate Aiden Campbell or fabricate your own trapping? I knew which one I'd go for.

"Listen to me. This is serious. We need this alliance, Matilda. Our livelihood here may depend on it. Your sister understood this."

"What are you trying to say Dad?"

"The mating must go through. If Michelle does not return to us in the next three weeks, then you will have to step up in her place."

I froze. He couldn't be serious. Me? I wasn't even a firstborn. It wasn't my responsibility and there was no way I could be she-Alpha.

I shook my head, but then stopped when I saw the look of distress in my father's eyes. There was almost a desperation there.

What had happened? What wasn't he telling me?

"This has to happen, Tilly. I'm not asking you. I'm telling you."

"You think she ran away?" I whispered.

His shoulders sagged and he looked almost broken. I'd never seen him like this before and it terrified me.

"I don't know. I don't know what to think right now."

I hugged him.

"It's going to be okay. Chelle will come back." She has too, I thought but didn't add.

"Tilly, listen to me. I know this isn't what you want, but you have to trust me on this. Can you do that?"

I wasn't sure I could, but he looked so frantic, that I found myself nodding instead of telling him no.

He hugged me.

"That's a good girl."

"What about Chelle?"

"I have every scapegoat available, and half the rest of the Tribe has voluntarily gone out to search as well. If she's still in the area, we'll find her."

But, he didn't sound as certain as I needed him to.

"I should help."

"No. You're too valuable to us right now. I need you to stay here. Aiden and his men will keep you safe."

I couldn't believe what he was saying. Outsiders guarding me in our territory? It made no sense.

"He's to be your mate, Tilly. You'll have to learn to trust him."

There was so much he wasn't saying. I needed more to understand why I was agreeing to any of this. But a commotion outside my door broke the weight of his words and stopped our conversation.

"I don't know who you think you are, but if you think for one second I'm scared of you or that you're going to keep me from my best friend, then you have another thing coming. You wanna piece of me?"

Dad sighed. "I'll leave you be. But Matilda, our Tribe is now counting on you."

Before I could formulate any words to even respond, he got up and walked out of my room.

"Let her through. Post your men outside this door and each window. My daughter isn't going anywhere tonight."

I grabbed a pillow, not sure if I wanted to scream, cry, or smother myself with it. In the end, I just screamed.

"What the hell is going on, Tilly? And who are those arseholes? Why is your Dad letting them be here?"

"They're Campbells," I whispered.

We both knew damn well they could hear everything we said.

She shrieked. "Filthy Campbells. What the hell, Till?"

"Dad made an alliance with them."

"What sorta alliance?"

"A mating alliance."

Her jaw dropped. "Chelle agreed to marry that dipshit, yeah?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. She's gone, Kayla. Sounds like trappers or something got her out on a run tonight."

"No! That's what all the commotion's about? I know they called in the scapegoats. When I got there Mom told me to check on you instead. I didn't know why, but I guess because of this. This is insane."

I nodded solemnly.

"What now then?"

"If she doesn't return before the full moon, then. . ."

"No!"

"Yes."

"But Aiden Campbell is definitely not your true mate."

"I know."

"So you can't. You just can't."

"I might not have a choice in this, Kay."

"Bloody hell. What are we gonna do?"

She laid down next to me and I clung to her.

"I don't know," I whispered into the dark.

Kayla had been my best friend since childhood. I had one older sister and one little brother, but I wasn't that close to either of them. It had always been me and Kayla against the world. We'd met on the first day of school.

In our Tribe order, the Alphas reigned at the top and at the very bottom were the scapegoats. Many of them didn't live long enough to mate and have children, but Kayla's parents were both scapegoats and still remained a vital part of our Tribe today. In fact, over time, they had even changed our viewpoint of scapegoats.

Her parents were fearless, and they fought hard for our Tribe. I'd always admired them. They went out to the fields, ensured we always had food, and bravely sacrificed themselves in times of danger. They were the real heroes as far as I was concerned.

But most didn't see it that way.

Being the daughter of the Alphas meant befriending a scapegoat was practically scandalous.

At five years old, life was pretty simple, though, and while I probably should have known better by then, no one had thought to teach me that we were supposed to be different. And after Kayla and I swore to be lifelong friends forever on that very first day of school, there was no going back for either of us.

Despite our differences, we'd grabbed hold of each other and never let go.

She was my ride or die, the sister of my heart, and the one person I confided everything in. I didn't know what I would do without Kayla in my life.

"You aren't mating him," she stubbornly whispered, like somehow, if we spoke really softly, they wouldn't hear.

We were canines. Our ears picked up everything, even in human form.

I screamed into my pillow once more.

"I'm worried about Chelle. Even knowing what they were going to make her do, she wouldn't just run away. Something bad has happened. I just know it."

"Was anyone with her?"

"Chloe."

"Maybe we should go talk to her, yeah?"

"I don't think they're going to let me out of this room anytime soon."

"Stupid Campbells."

"They can hear you."

"I don't care. This is insane. If Chelle wants to mate this guy, then fine, that's her choice. But I know you don't want this, Tilly."

"I'm scared, Kay. I don't think I'm going to have a choice."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

It was the honest truth. I didn't know why I was going to have to mate Aiden Campbell, but I had a feeling I needed to start getting on board with the idea real quick.

Aiden was arrogant and a pain in the arse. He was five years older than me, just a year ahead of Chelle in school, but beyond that I really didn't know much about him.

"Matilda Rose, you are a King. Kings do not answer to Campbells. Especially not Aiden Campbell."

She practically spit his name out like it had left a sour taste in her mouth. I understood why. Even as pups, we'd known who he was. He had walked around our school campus like he owned the place. I wasn't sure he had actually bullied anyone, just belittled everyone.

We'd all gone to school together. It was a boarding school for shifters throughout Australia. For primary school, we lived at home, but once we entered secondary school until we were ready for Uni, we lived at St. Christopher's.

Aiden had been in his final year when Kayla and I started. He had a seniority complex and looked down his nose at everyone, even my family, despite his family Pack ranking beneath mine.

But life had a funny way of changing the rules.

A fire, a bad season of crops, humans pushing into territories, there were dozens of reasons Tribes were struggling all throughout Australia. Now the Campbells, whose territory was so deep in the bush that they struggled to connect with civilized Tribes was rising in strength because of their isolation.

Life just seemed upside down lately.

I'd heard the whispers and rumors enough that I wasn't exactly surprised to find my dad trying to form a tight alliance with them. Putting his daughter as she-Alpha of the Campbell Tribe would certainly strengthen his status.

I had always assumed as eldest that Chelle would someday rule our Tribe alongside her mate, but Aiden was an only child and future heir to Campbell. If Dad was willing to sacrifice both me and Chelle over this, leaving Gazza, my baby brother, as his heir told me things at home were much worse than I'd suspected.

"What am I gonna do, Kay?"