111: Oh, no, man, that sucks.
**Zion pov**
After dropping that bombshell on me, Conor smirked and nodded at the bartender, waving him over to us.
“Refill our drinks, will you. Beta’s drink too, the next round is on me,” Conor winked at me like he was doing me some favor.
I didn’t feel like drinking at all. Partly because the loud mouthed fool had just announced to the entire pub who I was, but mostly because I feared what his words truly meant.
Clearly, I was worried about Kala, her wellbeing and that of our child, there was no question about it.
However, I was also here with her. She had me to hold her hand and protect her if anything were to happen.
Aife, on the other hand, had run off alone, the Goddess knew in which direction, and she had no one who was there to protect her.
Dread washed over me as my mind conjured up the worst scenarios. What if Conor was right about the mountain lions and Aife had accidentally ran into them?
The truth was that she was a smart woman, but she was equally naive too. Poor thing had never lived independently, she didn’t know half of the ugliness the outside world harbored under fake smiles.
My thoughts only kept racing until the bartender slammed a glass in front of me and Conor cleared his throat.
“It’s clear there’s a lot on your mind, Beta Zion. Care to share?” He asked smoothly, smirking at me over the rim of his whiskey glass.
I shifted in my seat, now more aware about the ears that were listening in and eyes that followed my every move.
Technically, I could lie and pretend nothing was bothering me, but that didn’t feel like the best option, so I didn’t bother to.
Instead, I ran a hand through my hair and let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, there’s some stuff on my mind,” I grumbled.
Maybe it was the tone of my voice, or the words I chose, but one of those things was enough to catch Conor’s attention.
Slowly, he set his glass down on the table and watched me for a bit before he spoke again. “Sounds serious.” He grumbled.
I nodded and met his eyes, feeling a little stupid for being this desperate, but I needed answers. “The thing you just said.. about the mountain lions eating the unborn. Is it true? How do you know that?”
Conor’s eyes crinkled as he smiled widely. “Oh, it’s as true as it gets. Best believe me, I wouldn’t speak of it if I wouldn’t have seen the proof with my own eyes.”
I didn’t look away, waiting for more, and thankfully, Conor delivered without any demands from my part.
He leaned over the table slightly and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I was a kid back then, and witnessed their rituals when I got lost wandering around the mountains. You know how it is when you’re young - you think the world is your oyster and don’t bother to consider the danger even for a second before you act on impulses.”
I wanted to snap at him, to scream for him to get to the point already, but I kept my mouth shut.
Conor didn’t look like a man who took disrespect lightly, so it was best I let him share his knowledge on his own time.
Slowly, I nodded, just in case he needed me to acknowledge that I had heard him loud and clear.
He chuckled again and kept talking, “I wandered too high up and caught a whiff of blood. Back then, I thought that either someone was injured, or there was an animal dying, but something was telling me to go check it out. Man, I wish I hadn’t.”
For God’s fucking sake, he was doing this on purpose. Conor was an annoying fuck of a man who couldn’t get to the point even if he had a gun pressed against his temple.
Resisting the urge to facepalm myself was getting harder by each second, but I managed.
“So, I crept through the dense forest in that area and followed the stench of blood. And that’s when I saw it.” Conor muttered.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Could I grab his hair and slam his head against the damn table until he finally got to the point? He was wasting the time I didn’t have!
“I watched how they laid a pregnant woman on the stone and others stood around her in a circle. The guy leading the ceremony chanted, plunged the knife in her belly and started cutting her like a damn pig. Mere minutes later, I hid in the bushes and watched how the crazy fucks pulled the baby out of that woman’s body and cut it up in thin slices like bacon. And then, just like I mentioned, they are the poor thing.”
I kept my full attention to Conor, but the more he spoke, the more his words started reeking of bullshit.
He didn’t sound like someone who was telling me a story based on truth or sharing something as traumatizing as he was describing the view to be.
If anything, Conor came across as someone who enjoyed messing with others’ heads by bringing that odd fantasy up.
“So, now that I told you everything I know, why don’t you share what you are so pressed about? After all, I even bought you a drink, it’d only be fair,” Conor mused.
I arched an eyebrow and groaned, deciding half truth was better than just truth. “I have a reason to suspect a pregnant woman is wandering the mountain as we speak.”
“Oh, really?” Conor asked, clearly interested in my statement more than my thoughts.
I nodded slowly, watching him intently.
A lazy smirk spread across his lips as Conor leaned back in his seat and drummed his fingers against the table. “Oh, no, man, that sucks. Whoops.”
I was pretty sure he wanted a reaction, so I remained stone faced, realizing how damn quiet the pub had gotten. Everyone was watching and listening. Something was terribly off.
Clearing my throat, I stood from my seat, “mind looking after my drink while I take a piss?”
Conor waved me off, but I noticed the excited sparkle in his eyes as I walked away. The men started nearing him and that was the exact moment I understood that they were bad news.
As soon as I closed the door behind me, I overheard some idiot hiss, “mix it more so he doesn’t notice the powder. If he’s out, we can take his and the one in the mountains.”
I didn’t return to drink and talk more. I climbed out of the bathroom window and snuck to the hospital to get Kala.
As I reached it, she was exiting, grinning from ear to ear. Without wasting a bloody second, I grabbed her and dragged her away as fast as I could.
I knew she needed answers so I hissed quietly, “they just told me mountain lions steal the unborn to consume them, but I’m certain it’s the villagers, not the lions. We need to get away.”
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