Roaring

to them. They all blink at her wordlessly as she sits back down, a regal tilt to her chin. Then, as one, they break into raucous laughter.
“Enough! Enough! Enough!” Alfred says, attempting to get control of his class. However, his lips are quirked upwards in a wry smile. “We’ll discuss vampires again when we reach that chapter in our textbook.”
Relieved that we’re no longer discussing how to kill my fucking mate, I relax back in my seat.
The class grumbles, thoroughly disappointed, as they flip to the chapter Alfred indicates on the board.
“I should also announce that we’re expected to receive a few new students starting next week,” he continues. “With the Roaring fast approaching, we have had over twenty students transfer to Prodigium from neighboring schools.”
“How many hunters?”
“Any vamps?”
“Do we have the list of species?”
Alfred waves away the sudden flurry of questions, moving to sit back in his leather chair. It creaks under his weight, once more proving that this man isn’t fit to be a hunter.
Literally.
“I do not know all the information,” he admits, and I just barely resist the urge to scoff. No fucking surprise. He’s low on the totem pole, both here and in the hunter’s guild. “I do know, however, that we will have a new student in this class. I expect you all to be on your best behavior…”
I zone him out yet again as the conversation steers from new students to the beheading of zombies. When the bell finally rings, I rush from class like my ass depends on it.
I need to find Violet.
It’s been way too fucking long since I last spoke to her, and the distance is making me crazy. I know she’s pissed at me—both because I left her at the party to meet with Cheryl, and because I didn’t protect her when she needed me—but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it up to her. At this time of day, she should have Practical Theory with Mr. Pumpkin. Hopefully, I can corner her in the hall and demand she listen to my apology.
Honestly? I don’t know if I want to choke the girl half the time or kiss her. Probably a combination of both, if I’m being honest. Violet is the only person alive who can irritate the shit out of me while simultaneously making me want to lay her naked over a table and fuck her senseless.
I’ve just stepped into the hall when a perfectly manicured hand touches my chest.
“Fucking hell,” I gripe, narrowing my eyes at the redhead before me.
Cheryl fucking Ness. The bane of my existence.
Her blue skin shimmers under the fluorescent lights, highlighting the numerous scales clamoring up her arms and neck. She blinks her eyes at me coyly before taking a step closer. My back hits the wall, and my eyes narrow even further. I’ve never hit a girl before, but Cheryl? She makes me want to.
“Vinny Poo,” she mewls in that obnoxiously high-pitched voice.
“Don’t fucking call me that,” I hiss, shoving at her hand until she drops it back to her side. Still, she’s way too close for comfort. It’s almost as if she emits a sickly poison that corrodes everything it touches. Spend too long in her air space, and you fucking die. “We talked about this.”
I’m done with pleasantries. I was kind to her at first because of our shared past, but that is over. The girl can’t take no for a fucking answer. Even when we were dating, I hated being around her. She kept promising she’d grow on me, and I reluctantly agreed—knowing full well that I’d have her removed, like I would any cancerous growth.
“How many times do I have to tell you?” I seethe, lowering my face to her level. I want her to see the determined set of my jaw, the sincerity in my eyes. I want her to know that whatever relationship we once had is over. “I am—”
Before I can finish my sentence, she pushes up onto her tiptoes and kisses me. Shock and disgust make me momentarily immobile. I just lift my arms to push the bitch away when she steps back with a satisfied smirk.
What the…?
“See you around, Vinny Poo.” She wiggles her fingers and sashays down the hall as my mind struggles to catch up with what just happened. It feels as if there’s slime on my lips, and I have the irresistible urge to stick my face in a pot of acid.
I’ve turned to do just that when I spot a familiar shock of blonde hair framing a cherubic, almost elfin, face. Her eyes are wide with hurt and disbelief, and her lips are popped open. Betrayal contorts her beautiful features, and that one look stabs me, flaying me open, until I’m standing before her damaged and unloved.
Fuck!
“Violet!” I plead, wondering what the hell she saw. If the pain emanating from her eyes is any indication, she saw more than I would’ve liked. When she looks at me like that, like I shattered her heart in my hands, I feel abhorrent and disgusting…like a monster.
The darkness that is always percolating just under the surface, waiting for me to unleash it, returns with a vengeance.
“Violet!” I begin stalking towards her, determined to take her in my arms and…
And what?
Shake her until she sees reason? Until she knows that Cheryl means nothing to me and she’s my fated mate?
Kiss the daylights out of her?
Before I can do any of that, she turns on her heel and, with a burst of vampiric speed, races away.
When her golden mane disappears around the corner, I feel my heart splinter down the center. One section remains with me, but the other…
The other leaves with her.

CHAPTER 5
VIOLET
There’s a gaping hole in my chest where my heart should be.
Literally.
As I watch, my flesh stitches back together, concealing the organs inside. Mrs. Talling—my teacher for Introductions to Paranormal Anatomy—claps her hands together gleefully.
“Thank you so much for volunteering, Violet,” she gushes.
Because what better