Leith (Mountain Men 1)

Dougal screams when the dog bites his arm, tearing his shirt, blood-red stains immediately leaking through. Cairstina shoves him and he crashes into the door. He reaches for her, but it's too late. Bailey's got him. He's attacking, tearing his clothes from him. This dog knows that the man is a menace to Cairstina, and he'll go to no end just to protect her.

But as grateful as I am for Bailey, I won't let him have this battle. "Bailey," I say in a sharp command. "Let go!"

Dougal thinks he's escaped Bailey's attack, but he hasn't. He now has to face me.

All the rage I've ever felt at him, the thought him striking this beautiful woman, the thought of him doing anything but taking care of her the way he should have, fills me with such a fury I can't see straight. Between my two sisters and this beautiful woman in front of me, I hate this man with every fiber of my being.

"Come here and face me like a man," I say staring him down. "Toss your weapon and I will too. I want to feel you die in my hands, anyway."

Cairstina cowers in the corner, covering her face with her hands, but I ignore her. I need to end this. He’ll never leave her alone. If I don't get him now, he'll be after her the rest of her life. She'll always be looking over her shoulder, always wondering when he was coming. Men like him don't let go. Men like him need to end.

"So that’s what happened, eh?” He sneers at me, with the look of a bully in his eyes, daring me to attack him. "Real men use whatever means they need to get what they need.”

"Believe you me, I will use whatever it takes to end you." Without warning, I kick out my foot, and his gun clatters against the wall. He glares at me, but I place my own gun down on the table. I face him, taking my stance like a boxer. I want him to hurt. I want him to bleed. I want to make him suffer.

With a savage snarl, he's after me. I get his jaw with a right hook, feeling the satisfying snap of his head back. Blood spurts from his nose when I give him another sharp blow. He reaches for his nose and when he feels it’s broken, he comes after me with a savage growl, reaming into me like a battering ram.

I wait until he comes at me, duck, and he goes headfirst into the wall beside me. I take the opportunity to grab him from behind, spin him around, and slam him against the wall before I hit him hard in the belly. I don't stop there. I punch him again, blood slipping down his face like rain, like a fucking biblical flood, but it isn't enough. I want more than his face bloodied. I want him done. I don’t want him ever coming after her again, ever breathing the same air as her.

I kick him again, and again, and he falls heavily to the floor, unable to defend himself. I lift him by the shirt and look at his swollen eyes.

"It's good fucking luck you’re in a church," I tell him. "Might be the only thing that saves your sorry arse from damnation." He spits at me, and I duck my head, just barely managing to avoid his spittle. "Say your last prayer, Dougal Reilly. This is your last chance to repent."

"Fuck you," he says.

I strike him again, and again, every blow from my fist and my knee and my foot making him less and less likely to fight back. I don't stop until he stops fighting back altogether.

Tate enters the room.

“That’s enough, Leith,” he says softly. “He won’t hurt her again.”

The back screen door swings open and Mac enters, shaking his head. “Got that sorted.” He looks at me and Dougal, and his eyes widen in surprise.

I turn to face the others.

“Where the bloody hell is Cairstina?”

We look all around.

She's gone. Has someone taken her? Was there someone with Dougal we missed? When I look into the cemetery, outside the parsonage door, I see her. She's running in the direction of the main street where the cars are parked.

“Cairstina!”

She runs faster when I call her name.

Does the lass really think that she isn't mine? Does she really think that I don't forgive her for whatever happened with her and my father? Doesn't she know that I know my father? I know she'd never intentionally hurt my family. It isn’t her way, I know this.

Where the bloody hell is she going? Bailey chases after, running faster than I can.

I leave Tate and Mac to deal with Dougal, as I give her chase. Does she know something I don’t? I remember the day when we found Paisley, how she ran off on an impulse. I don’t know what she’s doing, what she’s planning, I just know that I have to find her. She ignores Bailey, and continues to run until she reaches a parked car on the street.