Chapter 145 Chapter 145
Violet
Elijah's fist connected with Nate's jaw with a crack that I felt in my bones.
Nate's head snapped back, blood already streaming from his nose, but Elijah didn't stop. He followed him down as Nate staggered, grabbing him by the shirt and slamming another punch into his face.
And he just kept raining punches on him, hitting until I couldn’t tell if the blood on his knuckles belonged to him or Nate.
Elijah had positioned himself between Nate and me, his body a wall I couldn't see around. The conversation was tense, voices raised, but I was distracted by the way Elijah's shoulders had gone rigid, the tendons in his neck standing out in sharp relief.
His other hand grabbing Nate’s collar trembled slightly. I knew him well enough by now to know he wasn't afraid of Nate. This was something else.
"Elijah!" I screamed, but he didn't seem to hear me. I tried to grab his arm, tried to distract him but he had already run behind Nate who was trying to scurry away like a rat.
“You fucking scoundrel!” Elijah roared again and a few bouncers arrived upon hearing the ruckus he was causing.
Nate was slithering on the floor, his hands slipping on his own blood. He noticed the bouncers and weakly pointed at Elijah.
“He is a monster. Get him!”
The bouncers looked up at Elijah and hesitated for a bit of a second but Nate shouted. “I am the son in law of alpha Alaric. Do you want me to call him?”
That line had the desired effect and the bouncers immediately ran towards Elijah who didn’t slow down at all.
One of the bouncers spoke something in the walky talky, alerting more bouncers and security personnel as I stood leaning by the wall, my chest heaving.
I had seen Elijah fight in cold blood before, had seen him take on ten rogues at once when we were looking for Cassie long ago.
But it had been dark and I had been stuck in the car. Now, I had front row seat to the menace that he was.
And he was terrifying. Elijah didn’t give a damn about the bruises he received nor the weight of ten bouncers trying to hold him down.
He rammed into them like a beast, kicking and punching as they all struggled to contain him.
Meanwhile, Nate was looking around frantically for the nearest exit and fumbling for his phone, trying to call someone. Probably alpha Alaric.
But before he could even say hello, Elijah managed to grab him by the scruff of his neck and viciously shove him down.
Nate hit the floor, and Elijah went down with him, straddling him, raining down blows even when the bouncers were fighting for their life to get him off Nate who was screaming and wailing. Each impact made a wet, meaty sound that turned my stomach.
"You. Fucking. Touched. Her." Each word was punctuated by another hit. Nate's face was a mess of blood now, his nose clearly broken, his lip split open. "I told you what would happen. I fucking told you and yet you dared look at her!"
Now, more crowds had gathered and people were screaming, scattering, but no one was trying to stop it.
And I realized that if I didn’t stop him, he would probably kill Nate with a thousand witnesses. He might not regret it but I didn’t want him thrown into prison for simply protecting me.
His parents already didn’t treat him well. I didn’t want to be the reason for more discord between them.
"Elijah, enough!" I went forward and tried again, but my voice was lost in the chaos.
Nate's hands had stopped trying to block the blows. They fell limply to the floor, but Elijah kept hitting him, pounding his fists into Nate's face like he was trying to erase him from existence.
“Elijah, you will kill him! Stop!!” I shouted but he was muttering to himself over and over again.
“How dare you touch her!”
Suddenly, I heard a loud shriek from behind me and noticed someone run towards Elijah.
"STOP!"
Nicole's shriek cut through everything.
She came running from somewhere, her tiara gone, mascara streaming down her face, and threw herself between them or tried to.
Elijah caught her by the shoulders and moved her aside without even looking at her, his focus entirely on Nate.
"Please!" Nicole collapsed to her knees hugging his legs and sobbing hysterically. "Please stop! You're going to kill him! Elijah, please, you're going to kill him!"
Nate was now probably unconscious because he wasn’t replying and lay in a pool of his own blood.
Elijah had raised his hand to deliver yet another punch to Nate’s face when Nicole threw herself on top of Nate, bracing for the attack.
“ELIJAH!!! STOP!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
That seemed to finally penetrate the rage.
Elijah froze, his fist raised for another blow, Nate's blood dripping from his knuckles. He stared down at the unconscious man beneath him, at Nicole begging him to stop, and something shifted in his expression.
He slowly let go and stumbled back and turned to me, and all the fury drained from his face, replaced by something softer.
The wrath faded from his eyes, leaving them their normal dark black, but they were fixed entirely on me.
"Violet." He was in front of me in two strides, his bloodied hands came up to cup my face with infinite gentleness. "Did he hurt you? Are you okay? Did that bastard touch you anywhere else?"
I couldn't speak. My throat was closed, tears streaming down my face. I could only shake my head.
But then I saw reinforcement arrive and someone raise a giant rod lying around from the periphery of my vision.
“Eli…” I began but the rod connected with his head and he crashed down on the floor.
“NOOOOO!!!”