Honestly, I stared too.
Meanwhile, Professor Kenna materialized directly between the broken booth and Arthur McFadden’s unconscious body with all the exhausted irritation of a woman who had absolutely had enough of supernatural nonsense for one evening.
The professor stared at the scene.
The destroyed game booth.
The unconscious Alpha.
The celestial moonlight still crackling faintly around Menon.
The scattered carnival debris.
The witnesses.
Then she closed her eyes briefly.
“What,” she asked wearily, “is happening now?”
Everyone immediately started talking at once.
“It wasn’t my fault?—”
“He attacked first?—”
“Arthur half-shifted?—”
“The Alpha insulted his mate?—”
“There was a mating contract?—”
“Someone exploded the lanterns?—”
Professor Kenna lifted one elegant hand.
Silence slammed down instantly.
The woman weaponized disappointment better than most Monsters weaponized claws.
“Marvelous,” she muttered flatly. “Another Equinox catastrophe.”
Her sharp green eyes swept over the scene once more before settling fully on Menon and me.
On our joined hands.
The glowing celestial mate marks beneath my skin.
The lingering silver-blue blessing still shimmering faintly around us from Máni himself.
Something softened briefly in her expression then.
Not surprise.
Not even concern.
Recognition.
Like she’d expected this all along.
