Page 24 of The Enforcer (Damn! #2)

Lily shook her head, hard. Everything pressed down on her until it felt like the air in the room had thickened. “I didn’t choose this.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

Jazz knelt in front of her then, hands light on Lily’s knees. “I didn’t either,” she said softly. “But it chose you. He chose you.”

Lily’s eyes burned. Not with tears, yet, but with something deeper. The sense that her future had been rewritten in ink she hadn’t agreed to. And that, somehow, was the most terrifying part of all.

Well… Almost. She glanced at her sister’s belly and her hand slid across her own. Maybe, just maybe, she could be pregnant, too. And someone had come very close to ending her and the possibility of a child.

“I need to talk to Zane.”

The words escaped unbidden, sharp and immediate, before she could consider the sense of them.

Her voice sounded strange in the quiet room, too loud, too raw.

But she didn’t take them back. She couldn’t.

Because somewhere beneath the disbelief, beneath the weight of bronze silk and carefully applied makeup and soul-deep panic, a single thread had taken hold.

She had to face him. She had to ask him if he knew what this meant. If he felt it too. If this mark meant something real… or if it was just another consequence she hadn’t seen coming.

A quiet knock broke the tension. “Time for the wedding,” came a soft voice through the door. “Mr. Dante requests your presence in the living area.”

“Lily—” Jazz began.

Lily shook her head, her voice firmer now, the panic tempered by something steel-edged and unmovable. “Not until I speak to Zane. I need to talk to him, right now.”

Jazz hesitated, opening her mouth to protest, but Lily cut her off with a sharp look, shaken but resolute. “They need me to say, ‘I do,’ don’t they? They need my consent, even if it’s just for show.”

“Of course, but—”

“Then send Zane up here. Alone. Let me talk to him without an audience.” Her lips firmed. “After that, I swear, I’ll do whatever he tells me to do. But not before.

Jazz nodded once, then crossed to the door. She spoke in a low voice to the guard outside, and within moments, Lily heard the faint, heavy tread of boots approaching.

Zane entered alone.

He shut the door behind him and leaned against it for a beat, watching her.

His eyes swept over her from head to toe, bronze gown, hair pinned in a low, elegant bun, bare feet rooted to the rug.

But it was her face he focused on. Her sharp hazel eyes.

Her tilted chin. The way she stared at him like he was both lifeline and storm.

“You wanted to talk,” he said, voice rough.

Lily lifted her hand, palm up.

The dove stared back at them both.

“Jazz says this is something called the Dante Brand,” she said. Not angrily. Just low. Shaken. “Why did you do this to me, Zane? You had to know it would mean something. You had to know it would change everything. Why not tell me? Why not ask first?”

Zane pushed off the door and crossed to her, slow and deliberate.

His eyes flicked down to her open palm, to the mark that had upended both their lives.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen like this,” he said, his voice quieter now.

“But the second I saw that dove on my skin, I knew. That’s the Dante Brand.

It shows up when we touch the one we’re meant for.

Not because we choose it. Because it’s truth.

And I should’ve told you what it meant the moment I saw it on you. I just… didn’t know how.”

She swallowed. “And you knew this would happen?”

He shook his head slowly, his gaze never leaving hers.

“No. Not until I saw mine. When it appeared on my hand, it hit me like a punch, clear, final. I didn’t know it would happen.

I didn’t even know it could happen with you.

Not that fast. Not like that. But once I saw it, I knew there was no going back. ”

Lily stared at him. “Then why are we doing this? Why rush a wedding when we just found out? Why force me into it like a prisoner?”

Zane planted his fists on his hips. “Because the second that Brand appeared on you, the rules changed. They’ll come for you harder now, whoever’s behind the breach, the attacks.

You’re not just a loose end anymore. You’re leverage.

And if they get to you before that ring’s on your hand, they’ll either kill you or use you to control me. ”

She wrapped her arms around herself, but it didn’t help.

Not with the way he was looking at her. Like he already knew every inch of her, inside and out, and wasn’t sorry for any of it.

Her voice shook, but not from fear this time.

From the war inside her. “So this is a shield,” she whispered. “Not a choice.”

Except her body hadn’t gotten the message. Because even now, even with everything crashing down, it leaned toward him. Ached for him. And that scared her more than the vow waiting downstairs.

Zane stepped closer. “It’s both.”

She blinked, startled. “You really believe that?”

He nodded. “I didn’t plan on any of this. But the moment I saw that mark on my hand, everything locked into place. You’re mine, Lily. The Brand doesn’t lie. And I’ll protect you, even if you hate me for how it has to happen.”

Silence fell between them.

But it wasn’t empty.

It vibrated with tension, thick, hot, magnetic.

The kind that hummed just beneath her skin, making her too aware of the man in front of her.

The closeness. The heat. The way his eyes dropped to her mouth and lingered.

Her breath hitched, and suddenly the air between them felt electric, charged with something that didn’t care about timing or reason or vows.

She could feel the pull in her belly. Low. Demanding.

Dangerous.

Then Lily took a breath and stepped forward. “Then say it to me. Not Titus. Not the priest. Me. Say why you want me to do this.”

Zane’s tone sank, low and harsh. “Because I’ve already failed you once. And if I let you go downstairs without that vow between us, I’ll fail you again. And I can’t live with that.”

He hesitated. Just for a second. Like the next part cost him.

Then his voice dropped, rougher still. “But it’s not just about protecting you, Lily. It’s not just strategy or survival anymore. I want you. Every stubborn, brilliant, impossible part of you. The second that Brand appeared, I stopped being able to pretend otherwise.”

She glanced at him. Then looked down at her palm again.

The dove still watched her.

She nodded.

Zane didn’t move. Not at first. Just stared at her, at the fire still licking beneath the uncertainty in her eyes, the way her chest rose like she couldn’t quite catch her breath. And then, without warning, he was in motion.

One hand cupped her cheek, firm yet gentle, but it was the other that wrecked her. It slid to her waist and then lower, fingers splaying over her belly, his grip unapologetic. Possessive.

The contact lit her nerves on fire, seared a path straight down her spine and ignited heat between her thighs.

Her breath hitched before his lips even touched hers, body arching subtly into him like it had a will of its own.

She could feel the promise in his hands, what he wanted, what he’d take if she let him.

And part of her, God, part of her wanted him to do it.

Right here. Right now. Consequences be damned.

His kiss wasn’t gentle.

It was consuming. Raw. The kind of kiss that ripped her open from the inside out, dragging every rational thought down into a place ruled only by instinct and heat.

Her knees buckled, her fingers clutching at his shirt like it was the only thing tethering her to earth.

His mouth took hers with a hunger that wasn’t just about need, it was about possession.

A claim. And every stroke of his tongue, every bite of his lips, told her exactly what he wanted.

Her. All of her. Without apology.

Lily gasped, one hand flying to his chest. Not to stop him. To feel him. To anchor herself to the heat and tension and command of him.

Zane’s hands roamed lower, skimming the curve of her hips, then slid back to grip the underside of her thighs, pulling her flush against him. The contact was electric, no space, no mercy. She felt the hard press of him through the thin barrier of silk, and a gasp tore from her lips.

The soft fabric of her gown bunched under his fingers as he gripped and lifted, just slightly, like he was one second from hiking it up and backing her into the nearest wall.

His breath came fast, hot against her neck, and every inch of her pulsed with the tension growing between them, sharp, inevitable.

He broke the kiss with a groan, dragging his mouth along the curve of her cheek, down to her neck.

“You have no idea what you’re doing to me,” he muttered. “Say the word and I’ll have this dress around your waist in seconds. I’ll fuck you so hard you forget your own name.”

Her breath hitched, sharp and high. Her fingers curled in his shirt. Her body said yes before her mouth could speak.

But he stilled.

Barely.

His forehead pressed to hers. His voice was a rasp against her lips. “After the vows, we finish this. But make no mistake, Lily. You’re mine now. Don’t ever doubt it.”

Lily blinked up at him, dazed. Branded. Owned. And maybe, just maybe, okay with it.

“Then let’s get this over with.”