Chapter 27 Maso
MASO
“So, how did you get roped into all this, Maso?”
Just hearing her say my name made my wolf spin in dizzy circles, howling loud and wild in my head, my skin flushed from his constant movement.
I’d searched for her for so long I half-convinced myself she was a dream I’d made up, but she was here and so very real.
It was just my luck that my runaway mate was the youngest Syndicate boss.
At this point, I was taking it as a sign that my life was always meant to orbit this world, these people, this chaos.
“Why did you leave?”
The words slipped out before I could stop them, and I instantly regretted it. I turned my head to the car window, wincing. Out of everything I could’ve said, that was what I led with?
I could kick myself, but with Alic driving, his eyes flicking back to me now and then like he was trying to solve me, I couldn’t hold it in. I needed to know where I fit into all this.
She went quiet, turning to her own window. The only sound was the low hum of the radio.
Talk to her, damn it. Say something. Anything. This is your chance.
“I contract for the Syndicate.”
The leather seat of the car creaked as she shifted, her eyes landing on me, expectant, curious. Her floral scent filled the space, making my fingers twitch against the seat as I fought the urge to touch her.
“I do odd jobs now and then. Mostly for Nova, sometimes for Ezra.”
“How? Why? When?”
Her questions fired off in rapid succession, and for a second, I almost smiled. She wanted to know more about me—me. It was more than I ever thought I’d get again.
“The Syndicate mostly works with the paranormal side of the underworld, but there’s still a human side to it. Smaller, but it’s there. My parents were turned into wolves, got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they kept going and had me and my sister.”
A sharp pain knifed through my gut at the memory, but I pushed through it. They were safe now. That had been the deal, and the Syndicate didn’t break deals.
“My uncle’s Nicoli Gambino, leader of the Italian mafia in Staten Island. Growing up, I worked for him as muscle.”
I swallowed hard, remembering the night I overheard him call my mother a disgusting she-wolf whore who had gotten his brother cursed. How he bragged about using me as a tool, no better than a dog to sit obediently at his feet.
“At the time, your father, Avery Glovefox, kept the Syndicate mostly focused on the skin trade in Manhattan. He typically stayed out of human businesses, but things started changing. More supes were showing up or taking over jobs we ran. That was when I met Ezra.”
I risked a glance at her.
She was staring at me like she could read every word inside my skull.
I reached inward, toward the bond, to see if I could glean anything from her.
Mine was still reaching, glowing gold and lonely, while hers was locked up tight.
Out of reach. What would it be like once they joined and made us whole?
“She told me she was doing rounds, checking on the Syndicate hubs. Asked me how it was working with humans in the business. I told her the truth. Some were coming around to supes… but others would always see us as animals.”
When she smiled at me like she did, I should’ve known it was the beginning of the end for the Gambino family.
“That night, she and her crew wiped out my uncle, his family, and all the top heads of the organization. When she came to my house, she gave me a choice.” I didn't mention it was with a gun to my chest while her men waited outside of my family's bedroom doors.
I paused, eyes flicking to the floor. “I could take my family and disappear… or die with the rest.”
It wasn’t until much later, when Nova visited me, that I learned the full truth. My “family” had been planning to kill my mother and keep my sister locked in a cage as my uncle's insurance and leverage to control me and my father.
The thought of that still burned me. The only people I had known my whole life not only saw me as a thing to be used but also as so disgusting he would threaten a little girl to get me to do what he wanted.
I looked at her. Her lips were downturned, brows pinched. She was obviously torn, caught between pity and trying to justify her sister’s actions.
This time, I reached out and cupped her chin, giving her a small smile to say I was okay.
“That choice saved me. A life under my uncle’s thumb or four favors owed to the Syndicate in exchange for my life and my family’s.
I made the right call. I don’t blame your sister for forcing my hand.
” It was just business to Ezra. I saw it in her eyes that night.
The only thing that woman cared about was her family and power… in that order.
But that night, she was right. I’d been blind to the truth of my blood ties, my so-called family, while the ones who really mattered suffered. It was a lesson I’d never forget—who I was and wasn’t willing to sacrifice.
“So, you’re here because of the debt?” she asked softly.
I nodded slowly. “Initially, yes. Nova called in one of the favors, but once I saw you, it stopped being about a debt. It became about finding my mate, the one who ran, and making her keep me this time.”
“I—I…” She looked down at her hands, then inhaled deep and turned those golden, rose-tinted soul catchers, the kind that saw too much, on me.
“I didn’t reject you. I didn’t even know. I mean…” Her brows furrowed. “It was just one night….”
A smile cracked across my face. “It only takes one night for wolves. Once they know, they know.”
She leaned back, lashes fluttering closed as she pulled in a slow, steadying breath. Her words came out low, like a sigh dragged from the pit of her stomach. “That’s what Dad always said.”
The weight of those words pressed on her shoulders, and it showed how bone-deep tired she was.
Not just physically, but emotionally, like she’d been carrying the world on a leash wrapped around her neck.
Despite everything in me that wanted to push, to demand a space in her life, I couldn’t ignore the exhaustion carved into her expression.
I didn’t want to be another brick on her back, but she needed to know this wasn’t just some instinctual wolf reaction.
“It’s not just my wolf that’s chosen you,” I said quietly.
She stilled. Not just a pause, but a full-body lock, like my words had slammed into her spine. Alic’s knuckles went white on the steering wheel, but I ignored him. He’d had his time, and now, this was mine.
“Nova might’ve sent me to keep eyes on you because of some stalker,” I began, watching her wince while Alic quietly chuckled like he couldn't help himself. That reaction threw me for a second. “But the moment I saw you on stage… I was hit with this wave of happiness and confusion. Part of me thought you’d simply fallen in with the Syndicate and needed help getting out.”
Her head whipped toward me, fiery and indignant.
“Hey, hey! I run a legit operation. All my talent wants to be there, and if any of them ever decide the stage or the private room service aren’t for them anymore, then I give them back-end jobs—security, admin, booking.
They’ve got options. I might work in the sex trade, but I do it by the book.
You wouldn’t believe the paperwork I had to do just to be above board. ”
I couldn't help but suppress a smile as she angrily waved her hands at me. Even off-topic, even riled up, she was so damn cute, I felt defenseless. My wolf whimpered beneath my skin, wanting to crawl into her lap, nuzzle her belly, and lick her fingers like we belonged there.
She might be a Syndicate boss. She might help run an empire that could topple cities, but she had a heart, one that bled for the people in her care. She wasn’t cold. Wasn’t cruel. Not like the “bosses” I’d known before.
I saw the war raging inside her, the constant tug-of-war between duty and bloodlust. The way she struggled to pull herself away from the club, from the weight of her responsibilities, even when vengeance was clawing at her with righteous fury.
The fact that she even paused to weigh her loyalty to her staff and her club against the cold obligations of being the Glovefox boss…
it said everything. It showed just how rare she was.
How different she was from the monsters I’d always known.
But that wasn’t all that made her different.
I moved in closer, brushing a single finger down her cheek, barely a whisper of touch. It was gentle even though all I wanted was to grab, to claim, to leave bruises that spelled out “Mine.”
“I’ll admit,” I murmured, “I was shocked when the soaking wet, little fae girl who stormed into my garage from the street, climbed onto the hood of my car, and let those sweet sounds fall out of her mouth turned out to be the same woman who chained me to a steel X and wrecked me upside down.”
The air shifted as her frustration melted into something dark and delicious. Lust curled in the air between us like smoke, sticky and slow. Her lashes lifted just enough for her eyes to lock onto mine. “And that didn’t scare you? Didn’t make you question your wolf’s choice?”
A growl vibrated through my chest. My wolf surged forward, cutting the seatbelt in one savage motion and yanking her into my lap. Her startled yelp sent the car swerving as Alic cursed and struggled to straighten us out.
I took back control, arms tightening around her as I pressed her head to mine. “It surprised me,” I admitted, “but everything you’ve shown me since then has only made me want you more. You unlocked things in me I didn’t even know I craved.”
I caught her hand and guided it to my other wrist, letting her feel my pulse. “I like being restrained. Not because I want to be controlled but because it lets me surrender to you. All of me. No shields. No half-measures.”
She tilted her head, a thousand thoughts dancing in her gaze. “I grew up around humans. Always had to hide what I was. Be careful. Stay contained. Even when I was with you that night, I locked up my wolf because I didn’t want to hurt you. I didn’t want to destroy those beautiful, delicate wings…”
Her expression softened until mischief replaced it. She shifted in my lap, and I bit my lip to keep from groaning as my cock throbbed, eager and painfully aware of her heat.
She leaned in, her voice velvet. “There’s still a side of me you haven’t seen,” she whispered, her blood-red jeweled nails dragging down my chest. I hissed, my breath catching strands of hair as pain and pleasure licked over my skin.
“But you’re going to. And when you do, we’ll see if you and your wolf still want me. ”
Her forehead knocked against mine, demanding my focus. Her eyes sparkled with danger and promise.
I let memories claw their way through me, remembering the blood, the screams, the crunch of bones under my hands.
“You think I don’t know what it’s like to carry a beast inside?
One that needs to hurt something, to feel skin tear like parchment?
” My voice dropped, graveled by the weight of what I carried.
“You’re not the only one with a monster under your skin. ”
She climbed off my lap, retreating into herself like a door slamming shut. Arms crossed, gaze distant, voice perfectly even, she said, “That fairy girl you remember? She’s gone. I shed the last piece of that skin after that night. From then on, I’ve been only the Glovefox boss.”
Her eyes returned to me, fierce and unapologetic. “There’s a part of me that needs to come out, a savage side, and I can’t promise it won’t lash out at my… partners. That they won’t have to carry that weight, too.”
Before I could say anything, Alic pulled up. “We’re here.”
It felt like she was slipping through my fingers again, not just her body, but her heart as well. She thought I couldn’t handle her rage just because I loved her sweetness. That because I’d tasted her sweetness, I couldn’t take the bite.
She was wrong.
I didn’t want just the version of her that was soft and needy; I wanted the side of her that was harsh and demanding. I wanted to be someone she could rely on when times got tough. Someone she could trust to hold her together when she unraveled.
Alic got out to open her door, and time felt like it was bleeding away.
I grabbed her wrist, yanking her back into my chest and crashing my mouth onto hers like I owned it. Because I did. She was mine even if she didn't say it.
“Then give it your all,” I growled against her lips. “Scare me. Break me. Bleed me. But when I’m still standing beside you at the end, you’ll know there are no excuses left. Deal?”
Alic glared at me through the door, but I held on tight. She was not going to get away from me again. Never. Mine. My mate. My wolf growled inside my head, both of us on the same side of this battle.
Her breath trembled against my cheek, but her voice was lethal. “Fine. But you be honest too. If you can't take it, can't live with both sides of me, then you back away clean. No bad blood. No guilt.”
It felt like ancient magic rippled through the air, binding us to this promise. I nodded solemnly. Final.
Alic’s throat cleared, his hand held out for her to show he was still waiting. Her eyes dropped to where mine was still clutching her wrist.
“We gonna do this inside?” she asked dryly.
I let her go, and she slipped from my grasp, stepping into Alic’s waiting hand like it had been rehearsed. He steadied her, protecting her as he always did.
As I watched them walk ahead, it hit me.
She already had a shadow. A knight. A best friend. A business confidant. But what she didn’t have was an equalizer.
Someone who could remind her that softness wasn't weakness. Someone who embraced her bloodthirsty side wholeheartedly. The beast inside her could dance with the beast in me, yet both could thrive.
I followed, heart pounding, my wolf pacing inside me.
Let her show me all she’s got because I wasn’t going anywhere.
Not even if it meant bleeding.
Not even if it meant burning.
Not even if it meant breaking.
She was mine, and I was hers.