Van, Becca - Keeley's Opposition [Terra-Form 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

Keeley closed her eyes and sighed as he washed her from head to toe, including her hair. By the time he was done, she wanted to crawl back into bed with her men and while away the rest of the afternoon in passion. But her stomach had other ideas. It protested loudly, and she knew she needed to refuel before she did anything else.

She was dried off without having to lift a finger, and Bradford and Lucius attended to her as if she were something precious. She felt her heart clench and knew she had very strong feelings for these three men, but she wasn’t ready to tell them how she felt yet. She wanted to be unequivocally sure before she said those three words to her men. She pushed her thoughts away, dressed, and followed them to the dining chamber.

Chapter Ten

Keeley felt the tension in the air as soon as she entered the room full of pride members. The noise diminished from a raucous level to a low murmur. She wanted to ask what was going on but didn’t want to be overheard. She looked up when she felt eyes on her and saw that every single male was looking at her as well as a few of the women. She gripped her hands together so hard her fingers began to ache. She wanted to turn around and leave, but she was hungry, and that need took precedence over her discomfiture. She turned her head to stare straight ahead with her shoulders back. She wasn’t about to lower her eyes or head and make the members of the pride think she didn’t have any backbone. She still felt uneasy, but she ignored that sensation and gave a small sigh of relief when she finally sat down at the table she knew was for her mates and now herself.

The noise of chatter and utensils on plates picked up once more, and she slowly began to relax.

“What was that about?” Keeley asked and turned to look at Liam. She was startled by the fierce frown on his face, but he quickly changed it to a smile for her benefit.

“What do you mean?”

“Why was everyone staring at me like I was something they stepped on?”

“You’re imagining things, honey,” Liam replied.

“I don’t think so. What is it—”

“Baby, let me get your food,” Bradford interrupted. She looked up at Bradford and he gave her a slight smile, and then he began to heap food onto her plate.

“Are you trying to feed me for a week?” she asked.

She saw Bradford look down at her plate at the amount of food on it. He gave her a sheepish smile, swapped her plate with his own, and started over. She sighed when he placed the now-adequate amount of food in front of her.

Keeley could still feel the eyes of the room’s occupants on her, but she ignored them and began to eat. She didn’t look up or talk to her mates as she ate. She was running scenarios through her head on why she seemed to be an object of curiosity as well as a target for angry scowls and glares.

Once done, she pushed her plate aside and waited for her men to finish eating. She looked up at the people in the room every now and then and caught quite a few pride members giving her the evil eye.
What the fuck? What have I done to these people? I’ve hardly been around any of the others enough to have upset anyone!

She gripped her hands together beneath the table as two male pride members walked toward them. They totally ignored her and began to give Liam, Lucius, and Bradford reports on what had been happening as well as asking questions. She was too nervous to listen to what they had to say, and she was grateful when Lars the healer approached the table. To her surprise, he smiled at her and asked her how she was feeling.

Keeley chatted with him for a few moments. He seemed genuinely interested that she was well, which was more than she could say for everyone else in the pride. So she asked, “Do you know why everybody’s giving me looks?”

Lars looked uncomfortable. Keeley caught his glance toward her men, but they were still preoccupied with pride business. “Our Alphas are good leaders,” he said to her. “But these past few weeks have been difficult for them.”

“Difficult how?”

“Females rarely join us from outside the pride,” he said. “Especially not females from Earth. We have heard of these things among the panthers, of course, but we never expected someone like you to be here with us.”

Keeley frowned to herself. Reading between the lines, she understood that she was causing trouble for her mates. While they’d been dutifully nursing her back to health, the pack had been in turmoil.

“
Should
I be here?” she asked.

Lars looked taken aback. “Well, of course! After all, your mates have claimed you.”

For a moment, Keeley was reassured. “Yes,” she agreed.

“And you felt the mating bond snap into place,” Lars went on. “That makes you as much a part of the pride as anyone else.”

He smiled at her as he said this, and he even patted her hand. Keeley thanked him, but she felt stunned as he walked away from the table.
What mating bond?
She half wished she had asked him what that meant, except it would have given away that she hadn’t felt anything of the kind.

Her thoughts spun.
Is it because they waited so long to have sex with me after they bit me? Could it be something like that? What if I messed up the mating?

What if I just don’t belong here?

The eyes of the pack were still on her, and now she thought she understood some of their unfriendliness. But she had had enough of feeling like a bug under a microscope. She pushed her chair back, and even though she knew Liam, Lucius, and Bradford wanted to stop her, they were too occupied with their business.

She found her way out a side door and took a deep, cleansing breath when she stepped outside into the gardens. She wandered around, sniffing the blooming flowers and the dank scent emitting from the surrounding forest. She eventually found the pool in the center of the gardens and sat beneath the shade of a tree on the stone bench. She stared at the water as she lost herself in thought.

Keeley had no idea how long she sat there in contemplation, not that it really mattered, but she was brought out of her trance when she heard someone clear their throat. She looked up to see a tall woman with long golden hair trailing down her back and amber eyes staring at her.

“You’ll never be accepted here. Louisa was liked by all the pride members and because of you she has been banished.”

Keeley was stung. “She was banished because she attacked me,” she replied.

The tall woman shook her hair out proudly. “And you couldn’t defend yourself, could you? You can’t change your shape like we can and you don’t even come from this realm.”

These words echoed Keeley’s own thoughts so closely that she spoke her fears aloud. “Do Liam and Lucius and Bradford resent that I’m here? I know that I’m they’re mate, but if I cause problems in the pride…”

“I cannot speak for the bear,” the woman said haughtily, “but you are nothing to us. You will never fit in. Why don’t you just leave? Things will be able to get back to normal and Louisa will be back where she should be, in our Alphas’ bed.”

Keeley didn’t say a word. She just sat where she was, frozen with stupefaction. The woman gave her one more malicious glare, hissed at her, and trounced off.

She now knew why everyone had been staring at her and wondered if she would have been better off not knowing at all. She felt a huge knot forming inside her, and her throat was tight with emotion. She wondered why she seemed so different from everyone else.
Why do I have so much trouble fitting in? It can’t be that I’m not a lion. Am I a bad person? Is it the way I look? I can’t stay if it’s going to hurt my mates. Is our mating even real?

Keeley rose to her feet and meandered in a daze. She felt something brush her cheeks and swiped at them. When she brought her hands away she stared at the moisture on her fingers and palms. Huh, she was crying.
How can I be crying when I feel so numb inside?

She was totally oblivious to her surroundings. She trudged on and felt sweat drip between her breasts and down her back. She blinked when she felt a slap against her cheek and looked around her for the first time in God knows how long. She was in the forest, surrounded by massive trees, and the light was beginning to wane.
How the hell did I get here?
Keeley turned around in a circle but still couldn’t ascertain where she was. She didn’t remember the leaving the gardens. She had no idea how long she had been roaming in her confused state.

Keeley hoped like hell she was going in the right direction. She wanted to get back to Olivia and April’s home. She clung to the hope as soon as it came to her. Olivia and April would let her stay with them until she figured out how to get back to Earth. If she wasn’t with the lions, she couldn’t cause more problems. And no one would look at her with hate.

By the time the sun’s last rays were sliding behind the planet, she hadn’t found any sight of civilization. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to keep traveling in the dark. She looked around, trying to find somewhere she could rest for the night. Spying a large hole in the base of a tree trunk, she moved toward it and bent down to peer inside. The last thing she needed was to find herself sharing the hole with a wild animal. The hollow was empty, and she crawled inside.

She leaned her back against the bark, pulled her legs up, and hugged them in tight to her body. She rested her forehead on top of her knees and felt despondency seep over her. The knot of emotion in her chest grew and grew, and pain ripped through her heart. She didn’t bother trying to keep the tears at bay. She gave in to them.

She didn’t make a sound as she cried her heart out. The tears and pain inside her seemed endless, and she cried until she could barely breathe. She lay down on her side in a tight fetal position and cried herself to sleep.

She woke up screaming. A large hand was clamped around her ankle, and she was being hauled from her hiding spot. It was so dark she could barely see her own hands. She fought whoever was pulling at her. She kicked her legs and swung with closed fists. She heard a deep voice mutter a curse as one of her closed hands connected with flesh.

“It’s all right, little one. You have no need to be afraid. I’m Cedric, mate to Olivia.”

Keeley stopped fighting and slumped with relief. She sobbed once and pushed a fist against her mouth to stop the hysterical laughter bubbling up within from escaping.

“What are you doing out here all alone? Where are your mates?” Cedric asked as he helped her to her feet after pulling her free of the tree hollow.

She didn’t answer, just gave a negligible shrug. Cedric’s eyes reflected the faint light, and she could make out the features of his face.

“Would you like to come for a visit?” Cedric asked.

“Please,” she replied, and even she could hear the desperation in her own voice.

“We are not far from our home. Give me your hand and I will guide you,” Cedric stated, holding his hand out to her.

Keeley looked at his hand and took it without any hesitation. She let him lead her through the dark jungle and prayed her mates would not find her before she was inside, safely away from them and their cruel pride. The last thing she wanted was to have her mates fighting with Cedric. She’d brought trouble to one shifter species, and she didn’t want to do the same to the panthers.

Fifteen minutes later she saw the lights to Cedric’s home and sighed with relief. He pulled her inside and took her into the large dining room. She looked up when she heard a squeal and saw Olivia rise from her seat and waddle her way toward her.

“Keeley, it’s so good to see you again. Are you all right? You don’t look too well,” Olivia said as she hugged her.

Keeley bit her lip as she felt her chin wobble. She hated it when she felt so emotional in front of other people. She had always hidden her emotions behind a happy, serene façade. She was too pent up to answer and knew if she opened her mouth before she had her emotions under control, she would lose it completely. She gave a slight nod and stepped back when Olivia released her.

“You must be hungry. Come on and you can sit next to me,” Olivia said, watching her intently. Keeley appreciated that the other woman didn’t press her for details about how long she would be staying with the panther clan. Olivia seemed to understand that she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.