Hollow Mate: The Roma Academy

Chapter 4

-Leon POV-

“Connor, where have you been? Yesterday I met the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.” I say.

My cousin Connor—who is sitting on one of the lunchroom tables with a taco in his mouth—turns to me as I sit next to him.

‘Correction, the most gorgeous girl we have ever seen.’ My wolf, Ares, says and I completely agree with him.

I kept thinking about her all day and night.

“Nu ghil?” Connor asks with his mouth full.

“You mean new girl?” I ask, trying to make out what he said.

He nods.

“I don’t know... maybe... I hope so.” I say.

He smiles and swallows his food.

“Who is she? Is she from one of the neighboring packs?” He asks.

That’s when I remember that she is human. I deflate and am disappointed.

“She’s human. So, she won't be going to this school. I probably won't ever see her again.”

‘No, we will.’ Ares says confidently.

‘How do you know that?’

‘Because I said so!' He barks out.

I roll my eyes but he continues.

‘We will see her again because you are going to find a way to see her again or I’ll end up eating someone. Almost did it once already... remember?’

‘You are a psycho, Ares.’

He laughs maniacally.

I am a momma's boy and I love my mother to death but... my wolf took after her. So needless to say, he can be very... psychotic. My mother is not known to be sane. People in the pack love her but they are also terrified of her. Then you have my cousin— Connor's sister— Abigail, and then my little sister Hazel who were both basically cut from the same cloth.

Don’t get me wrong, I am no saint. I tend to cause trouble around here. It’s fun pulling pranks. I can’t deny that I have a little of my mother in me but I am more like my father though not so dumb. At least that’s what I like to think.

The stories my mother tells me of them when they were younger and the stupid things he did, make me cringe. Maybe because I am like him, that is why we bud heads so much. He and I tend to argue a bit and that is why I am here in The Roma Academy. So, I can have a breather from him and the craziness in my pack.

I sigh. I put my elbows on the table and support my chin with my hands as I aimlessly stare at the distance.

(Maybe I can ask uncle Marco about her...)

“Holy s**t man! You are already so gloomy and you’ve only met this girl once?” Connor asks.

I snap out of it and nod. “Ares is planning on eating someone again if we don’t see her.”

Connor straightens up. “Oh.”

He is wary of Ares and so am I because we all know Ares will try to do it.

“So, any plans for later?” Connor asks and I know exactly what he means by that.

“Nope, I woke up early today and did it already. It was a simple one.” I say.

“To who?” He asks.

“Mr. Martinez. The asshole had it coming.”

He has been my target of late.

‘That man deserves more than simple pranks.’ Ares says. ‘Let me eat him.’

‘No. Stop. Think about the pretty girl we met yesterday and calm yourself.’ I say.

He doesn’t say anything and I know he is doing exactly that.

Connor’s phone suddenly vibrates. He takes it out and when he takes a look, he groans.

“What?” I ask.

“Abigail is here.”

I also groan.

I love my family but, they are sometimes insufferable.

“Heads up.” Connor says motioning towards the door.

Kalani walks in with her friends. I look away in hopes that her love-hate towards me has subsided. But with my luck, that’s a big no. She walks straight towards me.

“You still breathing?” She asks.

“Yea. You still have a stick stuck up your ass?”

She growls at me and I quickly give her my warning look. I am of Alpha blood and that defiance does not sit well with me.

She steps back but still stares at me with anger.

Her eyes roam down to my chest and then to my pants. She bites her lips and gives me her seductive eyes but I just roll my eyes at her.

‘That girl couldn’t get us up even if she tried hard.’ Ares says, feeling disgusted.

I completely agree. All I feel is indifference towards her now.

“Well, I gotta go meet with my sister so, see ya.” Connor says to her and her friends. He pulls me by the arm and we walk out while she now stares daggers at me.

I imprinted on her about a year ago but then I found her messing around with another guy. She begged me to forgive her and gave me a stupid excuse. She said she was just getting it out of her system before we were fully mated. When I didn’t give her a chance, she started being passive-aggressive towards me. She says she loves me and begs me to take her back but then she says she hates my guts and insults me.

We wolves imprint when we find a potential mate. Imprinting creates a mate bond. When our inner wolf feels a connection, interest, or attraction to another's inner wolf or human, he imprints on them, this creates the mate bond that with time grows. But only male wolves can imprint on another—whether it's female or male— and you don't have any power over who to choose, your inner wolf decides who he wants as a mate. The female or the one that was imprinted on can always reject them. That is why we have Claiming Ceremonies. We are only allowed to mark a mate after a claiming ceremony, though we don't always wait. It is hard containing ourselves from marking someone when we imprint on them.

The reason we have claiming ceremonies is because a lot of times, a she-wolf, or the wolf that was imprinted on, would be claimed and marked forcefully without their consent. And once you are marked, it's permanent, you belong to each other. To prevent forced markings, a Claiming Ceremony was enforced a long time ago. Now, in a pack, once you've imprinted on someone, you are only allowed to claim them on a Claiming Ceremony held by the pack's Alpha. That way, the claimed wolf can reject the claim if they choose to. The rejected wolf is then closely monitored to make sure that they don't impulsively go after them and forcefully mark them. Once a wolf is rejected, it takes a few weeks for the bond that was created through imprint to break. But during this time, some wolves can't handle the pain that the rejection causes and they turn wild, if this happens, then the wolf is held in the packhouse dungeon until the bond is broken and they return to normal.

In my case, when I found what Kalani had done, I was the one who rejected her on the spot. She went crazy feral on me but I managed to subdue her and then Marco took her and locked her up until she came back to her senses.

But here we are. She still wants to be with me yet resents me.

“Hey, Ares...” Connor says looking at me. “If you are going to eat someone, eat her. Do us all a favor.”

‘No. I rather starve to death.’ Ares says sounding disgusted. ‘I’ll eat HIM for even suggesting that.” He says and then mumbles as he thinks of Kalani. “...Nasty coochie.’

I burst out in uncontrollable laughter. My eyes water and I kneel, unable to support my legs.

‘It’s not funny.’ Ares says.

Connor stops and waits for me while I try to control myself. When I am done, I wipe my face and take a deep breath.

“No chance. He hates the idea.” I say.

Connor shrugs. “Worth the shot.”

‘I rather have me some of that new girl.’ Ares says and I instinctively bite my lip.

(Now that, I am not against.)

After thinking of the Tinsley girl for another minute I notice that we are aimlessly walking around and I am confused.

“So... what are we doing now?” I ask.

“Finding Abigail. She got lost again.” Connor says but as he says that, we hear shouting coming from one of the halls.

“I am not in the mood for this crap!” Abigail's voice echoes through the walls.

We turn a corner but we have to abruptly stop when a body goes flying past us. The guy hits the ground and groans in pain.

Abigail walks over to him huffing with her face red with anger and I swear I can almost see smoke coming from her nose.

She grabs the guy by his shirt collar and pulls him towards her. “Do you see this!” She takes out her pet tarantula and holds it in front of the guy's face. “I will let my baby here bite your face off if you ever make a pass at me again..." She points a finger at him. "...comprende?!”

The guy quickly nods with his eyes wide. She lets him go and the guy runs faster than Speedy Gonzales ever did.

“Making friends?” I ask.

She takes a deep breath and pats her clothes.

“Sure. With Leon here, it’s a piece of cake.” She says holding her tarantula up, then puts it on her shoulder.

I roll my eyes and look away, annoyed and pouting. She named her stupid spider Leon, and it is a female spider! She did it just so that she could perpetually annoy me.

She then looks at Connor. “Little brother, I could smell you a mile away. You stink. Have you even bathe?”

“What the hell Abigail? Yes, I took a shower this morning.” He responds with irritation and she starts laughing.

She hits his back. “Just making sure, though...” She looks at me and I know where this is going. “...it was Leon who used to run around the packhouse naked because he refused to take showers.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Ha, ha, ha” I give her mocking laughs and lift my arm. “You want to smell my armpit and check?”

Her face scrunches in disgust. “Nope.”

I did that once. She kept teasing me so I pulled her head into my armpit and she took a whiff... I had just finished a run. That’s when she names the spider Leon.

“Why are you here anyway?” Connor asks, still irritated.

“I was bored. Just checking on uncle Marco and uncle Z, see what they are up to.” She says.

She calls Ezekiel uncle Z even though neither he nor Marco are her real uncles, but Marco is my uncle by blood.

“LEON BLACK!” Someone suddenly shouts from across the hall.

I quickly tense up knowing that it is Mr. Martinez.

“s**t!” I say hiding behind Connor.

Abigail squints her eyes at me. “What did you do now?”

Ares and Connor laugh.

“He probably found the tampons scattered in his classroom.” I say as I scan the hallway to make sure it’s clear.

Abigail gasps and Connor laughs even more now.

“Tampons? Really?” Abigail asks.

“He is going to know it was you.” Connor says. “You are always pranking him and you are the one that straight-up called him a p***y and told him to get a tampon so he could plug his blabbering mouth. That was last semester but he probably remembers.”

“He has no proof that it was me other than his suspicions.” I say. “I am in the clear.”

As I say that, Mr. Martinez steps out into the hall and his eyes quickly zone in on me.

“Crap. Gotta go!” I bolt it out of the hall and head straight outside into the back of the building. I quickly start to go down the stairs and decide to cut some time, so I jump from the side and land perfectly but hit someone that was standing there.

“s**t! Sorry I-” My eyes meet with those beautiful green eyes that sent me into what I would call a love spell just yesterday morning.

‘Tinsley.’ Ares says her name, his voice filled with want.