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“You know, Sorin, turning into a dog is usually the furthest thing from my mind when I am fucking.”

“It was only a question,” he said. “Everyone has different sexual tastes. I am not here to judge.”

I glared. “I will stab you. I have no qualms.”

“No one knows that better than Isac,” he said, and then he sighed. “I suppose we will have to do this the hard way.”

I started to ask him what he meant by the hard way when he attacked.

I had not spent much time watching Sorin fight, but he was fast and nimble. I barely saw the flash of his sword as he brought it down on me, and all I could do was block it with the daggers I kept strapped to my wrists. They were a laughable weapon compared to his, but I managed to cross them and stop his blade.

“What do you think you are doing?” I seethed.

“What does it look like?” he asked.

He unlocked his blade, and I barely had time to escape, dropping to the ground to avoid his blow. I freed the hilt of my blade from its brace and swung, but Sorin jumped back. The distance allowed me to rise to my feet. I weighed my options quickly, wondering if it would be worth throwing my dagger, but I did not trust I would hit my mark with his speed.

“You have more than one strategy for defense,” Sorin said. “Use it.”

“An animal cannot hold a weapon,” I said.

“You do not need to hold one,” he said. “You are one.”

“You cannot tell me you fight as a falcon,” I said.

Sorin smirked. “I won’t tell you then.”

He lifted his blade as if it were a spear and threw it. Once again, I found myself ducking as it zoomed over my head. It landed with a thud, the hilt vibrating, in the wooden mantle of the fireplace, and before I could rise to my feet to go after the blade, Sorin had shifted and flown upward, toward the high ceilings, and was now diving for me at a speed that made him nothing more than a blur in the air.

I bolted, but even as I ran, I felt his sharp talons in my hair. I covered my head with my hands.

“Sorin!” I screamed.

His answering call was a command—do something!But I felt no pull to shift, no indication that there was any other part of me than my human self.

Fear would not tear this creature from me.

Something stung my hand, and I knew Sorin’s talons had cut me. Then he flew ahead of me, shifting as he reached for his sword, and by the time I was able to come to a stop before him, the tip of his blade was pointed square at my face.

I glared at him.

“You are a horrible trainer,” I said, letting my hands fall from my head. I examined the wound he had made. It was a long and deep cut.

Sorin inhaled. “Adrian will not be pleased with me.”

“I’ll convince him not to cut you up if you promise to never do that again.”

Though I was not as angry as I wanted to be. There was a part of me that appreciated facing Sorin and watching how he fought.

He frowned. “I truly am sorry, Isolde.”

I sighed. “I suppose I cannot be frightened into shifting.”

“No, but apparently you can be aroused into it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not funny.”

Sorin sheathed his blade. “You have to admit, it is amusing.”