20Nina lay curled on the couch, thinking about what she had witnessed. After the battle between Soren and Alex, Aedan’s hands had relaxed on her slightly, and she watched in curiosity and confusion as Soren resumed his human form, standing before the entire Pride as naked as the day he was born. She hadn’t been able to make sense of the sentences he had passed down—knowing only from the slinking, the downcast eyes and backward steps, that several members of the Pride were exiled. Several more were, as Aedan had explained, leading her to the car, banned for several consecutive hunts. It was the equivalent of probation, a punishment that was not so permanent, but which would still sting for communal animals such as the were-lions were.
Aedan had instructed her carefully to drive back to Sor
