Page 47 of Lone Wolf in Lights
Buck sneered, his gaze flickering over the roomful of Christmas crafts and the women who had painstakingly created them. “This fucking place. You fucking women. All out to ruin a man’s good reputation. I was fired because of the lies spread here.” With an animalistic growl, he swept his arm across a nearby table, sending delicate glass ornaments crashing to the ground.
“Look at this crap! You think this junk is going to change anything?” Buck’s voice dripped with hatred as he stomped on a hand-painted ornament, grinding it beneath his boot. He began ripping up the Christmas cards, one by one.
Willow couldn’t move...couldn’t breathe...could only watch as each stomp felt like an assault on the happiness they’d discovered these past weeks.
The room, once filled with laughter, now echoed with the sharp breaths of fright. Women huddled together, their eyes round with terror as they watched Buck’s rampage.
“Call the police,” Amie begged.
Buck snarled, turning back to Amie.
Willow wasn’t thinking, but only knew she couldn’t let him hit Amie again. She raced in front of Amie, trying to form a human barrier between them and Buck’s wrath. “No,” she barely managed. But even as she spoke, she knew it was a futile gesture; he was a tornado of rage, and she was in his way.
“What are you going to do, huh? Protect her?” he sneered, his voice slicing through the air, sharp and malicious.
With a grunt of rage, he lunged forward, shoving Willow hard in the chest. She stumbled backward, her legs tangling with a chair that toppled over, sending her soaring toward the ground. A gasp escaped her lips as fear gripped her, the coldness of the floor a stark reminder of how quickly things could turn from bad to worse.
“Willow!” The cry came from multiple directions.
But as she struggled to right herself, her palms pressed against shards of glass, causing her to cry out. Buck towered above her. She could feel the heat of his anger, a palpable force that threatened to consume everything in its path. And with his looming presence over her, she was right back there with Niko that night...the pain...the fear...it all blanketed over her. She curled into herself, placing her hands over her head, protecting herself from the fury she knew was coming her way.
Suddenly, the front door of The Naked Moose burst open with a force that shook its hinges, and through it stormed a figure with eyes glinting with a dangerous fire as he held a box. Eli’s broad shoulders heaving, his gaze locked onto the scene before him. Until those blazing eyes landed on Buck towering over Willow, from her spot on the floor.
“Move. Now,” Eli said calmly—too calmly, setting the box down.
Buck’s face contorted into a mask of rage. “Stay out of this, Cole! This is between me and—” Buck’s sentence was sliced short as Eli charged forward, the very air seeming to ripple with the power of his movement.
The world seemed to tilt on its axis as Willow watched Eli bulldoze over Buck, his body a battering ram against Buck’s looming threat, as Eli tackled Buck into the table with the wreaths.
Willow forced herself up onto her feet to get out of the way, wincing against her bleeding palms. Aubrey gripped Willow’s arm a second later, yanking her away.
“Stop, please!” Amie’s voice rang out, as Buck managed to get back to his feet.
“Back off, Cole, or I swear—” Buck roared, his threats cut short as Eli landed a punch that sent him staggering back, his footing unsure.
Just as Buck regained his balance, Eli lunged with a blind ferocity.
The door suddenly crashed open again, and yet Willow couldn’t even find it in herself to feel relieved that the police had arrived, racing toward Eli and Buck. She stood frozen, unable to even process what had just happened. She should feelsomething,but she felt...quiet.Too quiet. Too silent. Too...disconnected.
But one thing she knew for certain, every wreath, ornament, Christmas card, all the items they made for the Christmas market were now destroyed...
“Timber Falls PD! Calm down!” A commanding voice shouted out as Eli was pulled off Buck and restrained with handcuffs. Finally, the adrenaline began to wear off and he struggled to recall what had occurred. He had dropped off Ranger at his new home with a very happy teenage girl and then picked up a craft box full of donations for Willow on the way back. But upon seeing her on the ground with Buck hovering over her, clearly having been pushed down by him, something inside Eli...broke.
“Stand down, Buck,” came another shout, followed by the scuffle of a brief struggle.
Eli turned his head, trying to see Willow, but only saw the damage then. All the Christmas crafts were destroyed, and the remainder of the adrenaline engulfing him left in a rush as he saw broken wreaths, smashed glass ornaments.
“It wasn’t Eli,” Charly said from somewhere behind him. “He was protecting us.”
The officers paid no attention to her as they forcefully pulled him up and led him out. He looked over his shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of Willow, but she was nowhere to be seen. “Willow?” he called but was met with silence.
Eventually, he found himself being shoved into the back of a police car and then driven to a jail cell. He heard that Buck had been taken to the hospital; Eli had apparently broken his nose during the scuffle.
Nothing about any of this felt good. All those crafts were gone. Every minute of hard work the Empowerment Elves had made was now erased. Buck might have been the reason, but Eli had been a part of that destruction. His gut twisted.
In the jail cell, Eli sat on the metal bench, the back of his head resting against cold steel bars. He shut his eyes, breathed past the tension in his chest.
“Eli,” came a familiar voice.
