Alistair

The meeting of the Cúnna Ceartais, Hounds of Justice, had just wrapped up. It had been an extra-long one this time. We’d received not one but four requests for our services. Of course, the requesters had no idea they were asking the notorious O’Sheeran family to help them. What they asked to have done wasn’t legal, no matter where you were. Being assassins-for-hire wasn’t a typical job, nor was it ignored by the authorities. Anonymity was key.

I found it somewhat ironic. The O’Sheerans were technically a retired Irish Mafia family. Many law enforcement agencies still thought they were involved in the mobster lifestyle and would love nothing more than to be able to get something on them. If only they knew. The family created the Hounds back during Patrick’s time as the head of the clan. It was their way of continuing to eliminate those who they knew were the truly evil ones in the world. Rapists, murderers of the innocent, pedophiles, and such. The type of people they protected their territories from when they were indeed the Mafia.

My father had been one of the original Hounds, and I grew up with the current generation of kids. We’d been wild and had a lot of fun. As we got older, I knew I wanted nothing more than to be a part of the Hounds. When I was eighteen, I went off to the Marines and spent the next ten years perfecting my skills in hot spots all over the world. In the beginning, it was as a regular Marine, but later as part of the MARSOC Raiders. The Raiders were a Marine Corps group specially trained to be a part of the US Special Operations Command. We were the ones who were dropped into complex and remote locations and had to operate in fast-paced and extremely dangerous situations. We conducted special reconnaissance, direct action, counter-terrorism, information ops, foreign internal defense, and unconventional warfare. I came back well-versed to perform the duties of the Hounds.

My father retired a couple of years after I joined then passed away a year later. That was ten years ago. As time passed, I was put in command of the team, with only Darragh as our ultimate boss. We did confer with a core group of our people on what assignments to take, but the ultimate decision-makers were him and me. Before anything was agreed to, a thorough investigation was launched. Our tech people, led by Cody, would dig through the lives of those involved. Not just the person or persons to be eliminated but also the people asking for the job to be done. No way did we want to be used to exact revenge or to get retribution of any kind on anyone who didn’t deserve it.

If all parties checked out, the payment was made through layers of protection to an account that couldn’t be traced back to the O’Sheerans. Sometimes, it wasn’t money but a favor or some other promise paid in lieu of money. Not everyone had to be rich to benefit from our service. Besides, we didn’t do it for the money. All communication was through a secure server, which again wasn’t traceable. I loved what I did.

I listened with half an ear to Darragh and a few of his cousins talking. With the meeting over and the rest of the team dismissed, we were kicked back in CC, Command Center, underneath the main house on their family compound. It was the nexus point where all the various tunnels that ran underneath the compound and the houses on it met. It was not only a communication center but a massive safety bunker. Enemies coming for them would get more than a few surprises.

I jerked to attention when I heard them say her name, Aisling. I leaned forward in my chair so I could hear better. Aidan was the one who said her name, and he was saying it to Dar and Tiernan, one of his brothers.

“You think?” Tiernan asked. He was frowning.

“I do. Aisling has been gone for almost a month. She left right after New Year’s and claimed she would only be gone for a week, maybe two max. I asked Uncail Patrick if there was trouble at Maeve’s Cellars we should know about. He said no. I didn’t think anything about it until I saw the news reports. Now, I’m not sure if work is the reason she’s staying in Cali,” Aidan explained with a bigger frown.

News reports? What news reports? What had I missed? I’d been out of things, on a mission for most of the month, but surely, if something had happened, someone would’ve told me when I got back.

“Surely not. I mean, sure, we know how he is, but so does Ais. We’ve always been friendly with him and his family, but I can’t see her having a relationship with him.” Tiernan scoffed.

My heart leaped. Aisling was seeing a man? Someone they appeared to think wasn’t right for her. I had to hold myself in tight control not to come to my feet and shout she wasn’t to be with any man. To do so would expose my deepest yearning. One I didn’t see them appreciating or blessing. Aisling was one of the three princesses of the family. Her family would only want the best for her. I had too much blood on my hands to ever be good enough for her.

“They’ve been seen out together multiple times since she went to Temecula. He’s been out to the house and even the winery. I don’t know if we can assume anything,” Dar cautioned them.

“You think she’d get serious about Christopher? I mean, sure, he’s flirted with her over the years, but I never got the feeling it was anything more on either side. She’s waiting for her anamchara . I can’t believe suddenly, after all these years, he’s turned into that,” Tiernan objected.

The only Christopher I knew of who’d been around for years and was a major flirt was Christopher Brynes. He was part of the Brynes family, one of the other top Irish Mafia families in the States. There used to be six, with the O’Sheerans at the top, but now there were five after the elimination of the Doyles. They came after the women in this family one time too many. The few members left had bigger things to worry about than plotting revenge on us. They were trying merely to eke out a living. The other three families were the Kilkennys, the Connallys, and the Bragans.

My mouth tightened at the thought of it being Christopher. He was a manwhore and had been trying to charm Aisling, Cara, and Siobhan since they were teenagers. Every time I saw him, I gritted my teeth because I had the urge to punch him in his pretty face. Hearing he was now spending time with her, and it didn’t sound like just at special functions where they were both guests, made my ire rise more.

“What does Creed have to say about it?” Aidan asked, directing his question to Darragh.

“Why’re you asking me? Do you think I asked her bodyguard to report back to me?” he asked innocently.

“Yeah, you fucking have them all reporting anything they find suspicious or worrisome to you. Don’t lie. We know. You controlling tuílí , bastard,” Aidan said with a smirk. Tiernan laughed and nodded his head in agreement. They weren’t wrong. Dar took the protection of everyone in his family extremely seriously.

Darragh grinned and didn’t answer them for a few moments, then he put them out of their misery. “Alright, I might’ve heard something. It seems Chrisopher has been spending a lot of time with her at the house. He hasn’t stayed the night, but he’s there for hours, and Ais dismisses Creed to stay outside or in his section of the house.”

“ Mac soith , son of a bitch! No, Dar, we can’t let her end up with him. You know how he is. He makes chasing women look like an Olympic sport. People think we’re playboys, but he is one. Hell no, he’s not using our sister. I’m going out there and having a talk with him,” Tiernan said angrily.

“If you do that, she’ll lose her fucking mind and probably date him just to spite you. No, we have to be smart about this. We might be overreacting,” Dar warned him.

I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but I wasn’t able to. “I can go. You can make up an excuse that I’m out there doing work for the Hounds and you asked me to check and see how things are going with her. I’ll keep an eye out for a few days and see what I find out.”

Three sets of eyes landed on me and studied me thoroughly. I made sure my face only showed a calm facade. No need to let them know I wanted to go, and if I caught Christopher up to something, I’d be more than happy to beat the shit out of him and send him on his way. Finally, it was Darragh who responded to my offer.

“It’s an idea. We could make it work. Why don’t you hold on to that thought, Alistair? First, let me see if Creed can find out anything. Give it another week and if there’s no news or they continue to be seen together, then we’ll send you out.”

“Should we wait, though? It sounds like the news reporters and paparazzi are speculating on the two of them being a couple,” Aidan reminded him.

“Let ‘em. They speculate about us no matter what. Another week shouldn’t hurt. I don’t believe they’re honestly getting serious, but if they are, we need to know what his intentions are,” Dar added.

“What do you mean?” Tiernan asked.

“Yes, Christopher is a lady’s man, but even they can be reformed by the right woman. It’s possible he may have fallen for Aisling, and she fell for him. If it’s true love, no way can we stand in their way. We’ll have to be sure he knows to be positive about his feelings and what’ll happen if he hurts her in any way. She deserves happiness and a family of her own. It’s gonna happen one day. We have to face the inevitable day when a man comes along and makes her his for the rest of their lives,” he responded.

I couldn’t stand here and listen anymore. I was about to lose it. My stomach had a tight knot in it, and I felt nauseous. I stood up. “Well, if you don’t need me, then I have some things I gotta do. I’ll talk to you all later. Let me know if I need to go to California,” I said to them as a whole.

“Sure will. See you later,” Aidan said. The others called out and I waved as I walked out.

It took everything I had to walk casually out rather than storm away. I maintained my calm until I was in my car, and then I tore out of the compound as if the actual hounds of hell were after me. I didn’t head into town. Instead, I headed away. As I drove, images of Aisling assailed me. I remembered back to the first time I saw her as something more than a child. It was the summer she turned sixteen. I was twenty-nine and had returned home from the Marines for good. Over the years, I made trips home, but I didn’t always see the younger O’Sheerans.

Everyone was gathered at the pool that day. I was asked to join them for a day of relaxation. When she walked out in her bathing suit, it struck me she was growing up. She was a young lady, not a child. At the time, I only watched her as a friend. But over the next two years, she grew into an even more beautiful woman. When she turned eighteen, I had to admit I found her attractive in a sexual way. It made me feel like a dirty old man when she was only eighteen and I was thirty-one. I chose to ignore it and assumed those thoughts would go away.

They didn’t. For the past eight-and-a-half years, they’d steadily grown. I tried to stay away as much as possible but the temptation to see her would grow to be too much and I’d cave and find an excuse to come to the main office when I knew she would be there or to drop by the compound on some pretext. Every glimpse only made me want her more. I’d wondered several times what the family would say if I told any of them I loved her and wanted her as my wife. Would they threaten me? Kick me out of the Hounds? Have my ass put in the ground? Maybe not the last one, but who knew?

However, to tell them would be senseless since she didn’t see me the same way. Sure, she would flirt and tease sometimes. I did it too. She thought when I called her my love, I was joking. They all did. They had no clue I meant it. It killed me over the years to watch her date other men and to know she was sleeping with them, but I kept my mouth shut. It wouldn’t be fair to burden her with my unrequited feelings. Even if she did return them, I was too old for her and I had too much blood on my hands to ever be good enough for her.

I tried to forget her. I dated other women. I took them to my bed, but they weren’t Aisling and never lasted. Not once was I tempted to make one of them my girlfriend or wife. I know now that if I didn’t marry Aisling, I’d never marry.

As the miles flew by, I made myself a deal. If Darragh or one of the others didn’t give me permission to go to California to see what the hell was going on by the end of the week, I’d go on my own. I may have to let her be with someone, but not him. For sure, if I wasn’t good enough for her, Christopher Brynes sure the hell wasn’t.

Needing to work off my tension, I made the decision to go to the property most of the Hounds lived on and go out to our shooting range for target practice. I’d be able to imagine it was his face every time I put a bullet through the target. With this plan, I did a U-turn in the middle of the road. There was no one coming, so it wasn’t endangering anyone. There was a smaller property owned by the family not too far from the family compound. The Hounds trained, and many of them lived there. It wasn’t a requirement you had to live there, but you did have to live within twenty miles of St. Augustine. Sometimes, we had to deploy without notice, and this way, we didn’t have to wait hours for members to get there. We were further out in the swampier area. The fewer people that came around to see what we were doing, the better. Prying eyes was the last thing any of us needed or wanted.

I hadn’t realized how far I’d driven while I was lost in my head. It wasn’t the most brilliant move to make, but since when had I been smart when it came to her? Other than keeping my feelings to myself, I wasn’t able to protect my heart. As each year passed, my yearning got worse. I knew I’d have to take drastic measures soon before I broke. Leaving the Hounds was the last thing I wanted to do, but if they wouldn’t let me work for them and be further away, I’d never be able to take it.