"As promised..." I passed out sheets of paper with quiz questions on the front. "... a five-question quiz about the reading last night. For those of you who just switched into my class, this quiz will have to be made up in office hours."

After a collective groan, the room became quiet, everyone taking out pens and pencils to complete the quiz as quickly as they could so they could leave. Bria answered the questions at lightning speed, like she was ready for it, and it made me smile. In all my years of teaching, I hadn't found anyone as enthusiastic about this material as I was. But now... my mate was here.

"When you're finished, please drop your quizzes up front."

Once everyone began finishing up, Bria sat at her desk in the front row. From where I stood, I could tell that she had answered all the questions and even wrote a paragraph explanation for one. But she still didn't get up. It was as if she were waiting for everyone else to leave first.

And when Levi, the last person to finish, stood, she did too.

"Bria..." Levi swung his backpack over his shoulder and smiled.

My blood fucking boiled. This kid didn't listen to a word I fucking said yesterday.

"Enjoy your night in? Jasmine said you wanted to study instead of party. Kinda makes you seem like a lo-ser, if you ask me."

"Well, if you ask me, nobody cool sounds out the word loser anymore," Bria said, gathering her notebooks and returning Levi's smirk. "But, I had a great time, thank you. I got some studying in and..." She glanced in my direction, looking right fucking at me watching her, blushed, then looked away. "And I found my next good read."

"Who reads anymore? I don't."

"And that's why you failed my class last semester, Levi," I interrupted, loathing the fucking way he stood so close to her. I wanted to rip her away, claim her. It hadn't even been two days yet, and she was already driving me wild.

Bria smiled and raised her brows at Levi. "Maybe you should be doing that instead of partying on a Monday night."

Levi shook his head, turned to me, and handed me his paper. "You know, I aced the quiz. A 100%. Check it out."

I glossed over the answers and raised my brows. "This is good, Levi. You're off to a better start this year." I gave him my best professor smile and continued the conversation through our mindlink. "But if you don't stop messing with Bria Benton, you won't be."

Straightening his back, Levi gave us a tense smile and waved us off. "Well, I gotta get going. Don't want to be late. See ya." And, with that, he was off, rushing up the aisle and out of the room.

When Levi exited the room, leaving both Bria and me alone again, Bria hiked her backpack onto her shoulder and handed me her quiz. "Here you go. I was stuck between two answers for question four, so I wrote a detailed description as to why I thought it was the answer I chose."

I took the quiz from her, my fingers brushing against her slender ones and my wolf howling inside of me. The mere touch sent tingles up and down my arms, her scent becoming even more powerful somehow.

"Mate. Claim mate."

After I glanced over her answers, a warmth spread throughout my chest. "Oh, Bria, you've gotten everything right except..."

"Except?" she asked with big eyes, staring down at the quiz and going over the questions and answers again. She looked to be one of those students who stayed up all hours of the night studying for a simple five-question quiz, needing to get all the answers correct. "It's question four, isn't it?"

"Your name."

She placed a hand over her heart and let out a breath, staring down at the empty line on the top of the sheet for her name. "Oh, gosh..."

"You could get points taken off for such a simple mistake."

"I wouldn't be able to... to make those points up somehow?"

My breath caught in the back of my throat, and I didn't know if Bria really wanted extra credit or if she was flirting. All I knew was that my wolf was going wild for her right now. I needed more, a taste, something to calm him.

"For you, Bria, there will be extra credit, but I don't think you'll be needing it."

Though I hoped she would.

"What if I wanted it?" She gnawed on the inside of her cheek, then quickly followed up with, "You know, just in case I fail a quiz or an exam or... something else. I just... I want to make sure that it's an option for me."

Unable to stop myself, I grasped her chin and forced her to look me in the eye. "It will always be an option for you. I'll have extra credit for whenever you need it. Discipline too."

"Discipline," Bria whispered, shuffling her feet. "So, I, uhm..." She hugged the book to her chest and lingered at her desk. "I saw you running yesterday afternoon. Do you run everyday around the quad?"

"I do." Lie.

I never ran around the quad, but I did now. If Bria studied on the grass every afternoon like she had yesterday, I'd be running around this campus every day to see her. It was that or stalk her dorm room, which would definitely get me kicked out by the council.

She became quiet, her thighs suddenly pressing together. "Good to know."

"You're welcome to come with me sometime."

Fuck, why did I fucking say that? She's my student for goddess-sake.

Instead of taking it back—because she wasn't just my student, she was my mate too—I leaned against the desk and patiently waited for her answer, my wolf growing restless inside of me every time she blushed.

"God, no," Bria said, eyes widening in surprise. She glanced up at me through her lashes. "I mean, it's not that I don't want to. I would love to run with you. I..." Her cheeks turned even redder as if she thought she were digging herself an even bigger grave. But I couldn't get enough of it. Eventually, she looked back down at her shoes. "I just hate running. Kinda with a passion."

"Hate running?" I asked, crossing my arms. "What do you do for exercise?"

To my surprise, Bria looked me right in the eye with her cheeks still flushing, and said, "Other things." Her voice was filled with a tinge of sultriness, and I couldn't stop myself from thinking about bending her right over my lap and punishing her for making me so fucking hard during class today.

I inhaled the sweet scent of her salivating cunt.

Goddess, Bria was going to fucking destroy me. One of these days, I wouldn't be able to handle myself. I'd throw my office door open, pull her into the room, and claim her with everything I had, my teeth in her neck, my tongue on her pussy, my hands all over her body.

After a few moments of silence, Bria smiled and pulled away. "Anyways, I should get going. I need to get to the library to pick up that book you suggested, before my next class. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Don't let mate leave."

"Wait," I said, stuffing my hand into my bag, pulling out The Red Hammer, and handing it to her. "I had this copy laying around back home. Take it."

She stared at it with wide eyes. "Are you sure? I don't want to take your personal copy."

"It's fine. Just return it when you're finished." I collected the messed up stack of quizzes on my desk. "I hope you enjoy it."