“But I am not like you!” I snarled. “I am a creature, an animal! I do not even know who I will be when I shift. What if I murder innocent people? What if I am murdered by your people?”

It was a fair question. I would look just like every other black hound in a pack.

Adrian’s mouth tightened. “You will not be killed,” he said.

“And you can control that?”

“I will,” he said.

We glared at each other for a moment. I was the first to turn away, closing the shutters. I crossed to the bed where Adrian’s robe lay folded on a chair, pulling it on.

“You are failing to see the potential in this power,” Adrian said.

“It is hard to do so when I do not know what this means for me,” I said. I had already expressed my fears. Did I need to repeat myself?

“What happened last night?” I asked. “After I turned.”

“You came out of the water and collapsed and turned back into…you,” he said. “I brought you inside, and you were still feverish, so I opened the window while you slept.”

I did not know what to say, so I remained silent, attempting to process everything that had occurred.

“Do you think I will leave you to figure this out on your own?”

The angry part of me did not want to figure this out because I did not want to be this.

“And how will we do that?” I asked.

“You are not the only shifter in this kingdom, Isolde,” Adrian said. “There are others like you.”

“Sorin is a falcon, not a—”

“Monster?” Adrian cut me off. “But he is a monster. We all are, and we all have sides of us we must learn to control. You are no different. You never have been.”

I clenched my jaw hard. Right now, I did not feel like controlling myself. I wanted to tear him to shreds. I wanted to eviscerate him with my words. I wanted to lash him with my tongue.

And he must have been listening to my thoughts because he laughed. “I would take the tongue-lashing,” he said, “if it meant I could fuck you on your stomach.”

“You haven’t even tried to understand my fear,” I said. “What makes you think I would let you touch me?”

Adrian’s gaze hardened, and it was my turn to smile, though there was nothing entertaining about this.

“Get dressed,” he said, and I bristled at the order. “High Council is in an hour.”