Saint
I drag my jeans on fast, miss the top button, and don’t bother fixing it as I reach for the T-shirt on the floor.
Behind me, Keira pushes herself upright on the table, her skin flushed, the air between us already cooled.
I yank the shirt over my head, grab my holster, and throw the door open hard enough that it wallops the wall.
In the distance, my men are gathering. The closer I get, the harder my fists work, my focus narrowing to the Harrington standing next to his car.
Shay’s near the gates and my brothers stand off to the side, watching me, waiting.
Footsteps slap against the path behind me.
“Saint…”
Keira catches up quickly, dragging a jacket over her shoulders, her hair loose from where I had my hands in it.
“It’s over now,” she says, grabbing my arm. “Let me go with him, and this will end today.”
She steps in front of me before I reach the yard. I take one more step anyway before stopping. The pressure under my ribs tightens until it hits the back of my teeth.
“That bastard hurt my sister. And I’m not letting him take ya anywhere.”
Her brow creases at that, stubbornness pushing through even now. “But you said I could leave. You said you understood.”
I step in close enough that she has to lift her chin to keep my gaze.
“Yeah, you wanna leave…” My hand closes around the side of her neck, my thumb settling beneath her jaw. “And you’ll leave on my terms.”
Her breathing catches, the flicker of her pulse going wild against my palm.
“You arrived here as a Harrington. Now you’re something more than that.”
My thumb presses against her pulse, my mouth brushing her forehead once before I pull back as if it shouldn’t have happened.
“I brought you here. I’ll take ya home myself.”
She stares up at me. “I’ll talk to Fionn. Let me handle it.”
Voices carry from the yard, louder now, one of my men shouting something I don’t catch before another cuts across him.
Keira glances toward them while my gaze stays on her. If her brother came here expecting to walk her out, he’s about to learn how badly he misjudged where she stands now.
I press my hand to the small of her back. “Stay beside me.”
When we walk into the yard, she stays at my side, not behind me, not held back at the cabin. Every head turns. They stare at my girl walking with me and realize the situation has changed.
Doesn’t mean I’ll forgive her brother.
Fionn eyes us, his gaze narrowing on how Keira walks hip-to-fucking-hip with a Tallon.
His spine straightens, and he fixes the cuffs of his dress shirt, looking smug as fuck in a tailored navy suit. I’d bet he’s never grafted a day in his privileged fucking life.
As we approach, Sera storms out of the barn with a shotgun already in her hands, lifting it straight to Fionn’s chest before anyone speaks.
There’s nothing uncertain about the way she stands. My sister doesn’t bluff.
“Off our land, Harrington,” Sera says.
Fionn squares his shoulders and stares right at her, unmoved by her threat.
“Great to see you again, Sera.” His gaze drags over her. “I see you’ve still got that hostile Tallon bite.”
“Yeah,” she says, finger resting near the trigger, “and this time, I’m the one with a gun.”
Fionn steps away from the car, taking a confident stride toward her. Shay draws his gun behind him.
“I’m not here to finish what we started. Just here to collect my sister.”
I head straight for him. My vision narrows to his face before I stop moving. “You’re not welcome in my yard, Harrington.”
His attention slips past my shoulder, settling on Keira standing behind me.
“Seems like you enjoyed having my sister around.”
My jaw locks.
“You’ve got three seconds,” I warn, “to turn around and get the fuck outta here.”
“She’s a good girl, isn’t she?” His mouth twists into an ugly smile. “The one you never thought would be the threat.”
My muscles brace, and the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.
“How long has she been here now?” he asks. “Long enough to learn everything about you, your family, your business…”
The blood in my veins runs ice-cold as he continues.
“She’s locked it all away and won’t hesitate to tell her daddy every single weakness you have, Tallon.” He tilts his head. “Just like we were trained to do if we were ever taken. He’d stall, and she’d watch.”
I draw a breath. “You’re full of shit.”
Fionn laughs.
“Oh shit, Saint…” He shakes his head. “Did you fall for—”
I hit him before he’s finished.
My fist cracks against his jaw hard enough to send him sideways into his car. He spits blood and comes straight back at me.
Then we’re on each other. He swings first. I take it and hit back harder. Boots scrape around us as my men circle us.
He catches me across the jaw. I barely register it and drive him backward, slamming him into the fence, the metal rattling.
“Stop it!”Keira’s voice cuts through my temper.
I don’t stop. Not when Fionn swings at me again. I catch him low this time, driving the fucker down into the dirt.
“Saint!”
She rushes toward us. Dane catches her before she reaches us, hauling her back.
“Let me go!” she yells.
Fionn laughs again through split lips and blood. And fuck, something in me snaps. I grab his shirt and throw another punch.
A shot cracks above us.
Sera fires straight up, the shotgun bucking in her hands as the bullet rips through the air and startles the livestock.
We break apart, and I breathe rough, grit crunching underfoot.
Smoke drifts from the raised barrel, her stance unchanged.
I pull my gun.
It’s already in my hand before Fionn’s next breath, my arm lifting, sight lining straight to his face.
“Saint—”
Keira’s voice reaches me, closer now.
“Don’t.”
The second my finger tightens against the trigger, my phone rings. Even though I ignore it, the damn thing keeps ringing. I drag it from my pocket without lowering my aim.
“What?” I grit.
“Mr. Tallon… We have a problem.”
My jaw clenches and my nostrils flare. “Which is?”
“The wrong Harrington signed the deed.”
I stare at Fionn while my legal guy talks. “Stop talking in riddles.”
“We need Keira Harrington to sign it. She’s the named owner of that piece of land.”
For a second, nothing lines up.
Then it does.
Alasdair didn’t give his daughter power.
He made her the battlefield.
My chest tightens so hard that I have to drag air in. Fionn stands there bleeding, already smiling because he fucking knows.
My gaze cuts to Keira standing a few feet away, her face still flushed, lips swollen from my mouth. She still looks like she did in my kitchen earlier.
Except now, every second with her turns sideways in a way I don’t fucking like. That bastard’s admission echoes in my head. She’s seen and heard things that no Harrington should ever see.
Christ, I let her get too close.
“Understood,” I say, ending the call and dropping my aim.
Fionn’s lips quirk, satisfaction cutting through the blood on his lip. I no longer feel any heat in my body.
“Take your brother and get off my land.”
Keira rushes at me and grabs my hand. “What’s going on?”
I rip my hand from hers and step away. She’s too fucking close. She smells like us, and I can still taste her on my tongue.
“Get off my land, Harrington.”
She frowns, reaching for me again, inching closer.
“Saint—”
Our gazes lock, and my chest kicks hard. “You’re not welcome here anymore. Leave.”
“I don’t understand… What happened to me and you… To us being—”
My chest tightens, and I turn on my heel as she’s still speaking. I curl my hands into fists and keep walking.
I hear the car door slam.
But I don’t turn around to watch her go.
And just like that, she’s on the wrong side of me.