"Hey girl," Jasmine said, plopping down beside Levi and me in lecture the next morning. She tossed her silky brown hair over her shoulder and wiggled her brows at me. "I heard what happened last night."

My cheeks flushed, and I rubbed my sweaty palms together. "You did?"

"Of course!" Jasmine smacked my shoulder. "What do you think this is? Everyone in the entire pack knows that you marked Alpha Lee last night. When an alpha marks someone and vice versa, everyone in the entire pack can feel it."

I scrunched my nose. "You could feel it?"

"Yeah, like sexually," Levi said, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "No. There's like a different aura that falls over the land."

"Levi, you really need to find yourself someone." I shook my head. "If Callum heard you—"

"He'd probably rip my balls off."

Leaning closer to me, Jasmine grabbed my hand. "You know what this means, though!! Soon, you'll be having pups and having a cute little alpha family to raise in our pack. You don't know how excited I am for it!"

"Pups?" I whispered.

"Oh, yeah, Alpha Lee is definitely going to want a family soon. His time is running out."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "It's not running out, Levi. He's just... older."

"Much older," I whispered, staring at my desk with my stomach clenched.

Did this mean that Callum wanted to have a family soon? I mean, from those smutty wolf stories that I read online, I kinda gathered that wolf couples liked to reproduce more often than humans. But did that happen in real life too? And by what Callum was saying the other day in his home office to me...

He definitely wanted pups.

But soon?

"You have to get strong before then, though," Jasmine said. "And you could probably guess who asked me to start training with you tonight. Yep, that's right, Alpha Lee because he definitely wants to put pups inside you soon."

"God, I think Levi is rubbing off on you a bit, Jasmine," I said, trying to laugh it off.

But I was scared shitless. Pups, now?!

"Bria getting stronger? I don't even think it's possible," Levi said, tapping his fingers on the desk and shaking his head. He glanced over at me and raised his brows. "I mean, do you? Remember a couple days ago when you literally smashed your finger in the doorframe and walked away like it didn't hurt like a bitch?"

I rolled my eyes and turned back toward my textbook, flipping through it aimlessly.

Jasmine smacked him on the back of the head. "Will you shut your mouth?"

"No, but I'm being serious," Levi continued, staring at the empty podium where Callum would show up at any moment. "Like how the hell are you supposed to get any stronger than you are now? You stopped two alphas from killing each other in your human form the other day."

"Yeah, I guess so." Still I wouldn't be able to stop Thiago and The Council.

Glancing over Jasmine, I stared at the empty seat beside her. Holden wasn't here yet.

And while I hoped that he would never show his stupid, ugly face in this classroom again, I knew that he would turn up sooner or later, probably sooner along with the rest of The Council.

My stomach tightened as I thought back to yesterday at the library. Between Holden's eyes changing colors, even though everyone thought he was human, to his lies, to the way he wanted to know everything about me, something felt terribly wrong.

And it was more than him being in The Council.

Something else was up that I couldn't quite put my finger on yet.

When the door opened in the back of class, I sucked in a sharp breath and inhaled Callum's calming scent. I glanced over my shoulder. He walked down the center aisle toward the front of the room with his laptop case slung over his shoulder and his eyes on me. I swallowed hard, my cheeks flushing at the thought of yesterday in his office, and glanced at his neck.

While his button-up shirt covered it slightly, I still saw one of my canine marks peeking out from under the material. I pressed my thighs together, wanting nothing more than to jump on him right here and right now.

Ever since last night, I had to hold myself back. Not because I feared my wolf anymore, but because if given the chance, I would ride my professor all night long. And neither one of us would've gotten any sleep for today.

"I want to see you after class, Bria," Callum's voice rang out through my head.

This must've been the mindlink.

Last night, Callum mentioned that it formed fully once both wolves marked each other.

I sat up a bit taller, my nipples pressing hard against my t-shirt. I might've forgotten to wear a bra today because I wanted to see Callum Lee riled up during class. I wanted him to loosen his tie, pull on his collar, and show me his mark.

"So, that was your plan," Callum said, pulling on his collar and showing me a bit more of my mark. "You wanted to see this?"

Sucking in a sharp breath, I pressed my lips together. "You can hear my thoughts?"

His lips curled into a small smirk, and he walked around the podium, placing his computer case on the table beside him and pulling out his laptop to start the lecture for today. He glanced up at me with those golden eyes and drew his tongue across his lower lip.

"You're a tease, Bria Benton."

My lips curled into a smile. "Only for you, Professor."

When the door opened in the back of the classroom again, I sucked in another sharp breath and glanced over at the empty seat next to Jasmine, reserved for Holden. My stomach turned and twisted, and I gripped the seat handles, not daring to look over my shoulder.

Because I knew that if Holden did come to class today, he wasn't coming alone.