Her Passion 16

Ava's POV:

He held his gaze as he stared at me in shock, my eyes must've been completely blank because his expression was utterly stunned. I couldn't help but wonder if he'd assume it was me who'd done it, and part of me hoped he wouldn't draw any conclusions that would destroy the trust I'd already built with him.

"Holy shit."

"OMG."

"Are they serious?"

A murmur went through the hall, the entire pack staring in my direction as I put on an expressionless face. Why don't they just blame the villain? Did they really have such a problem with me that they blamed me for something they'd no proof that I was the one who did it?

"YOU!" I think it was Benjamin who yelled accusingly at me, to which I raised an eyebrow in his direction, unimpressed.

"Who, me?" I asked innocently, okay, I'm not going to deny that I was intentionally teasing him. It was no secret that I'd a sick sense of humour, and from his narrowed eyes I could tell it was working well.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted her!
She's a rouge after all," he spat, and my mate grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Did I mention that my mate was smoking hot when he was angry, because he's, and at that moment, seeing his eyes flash with his inner wolf, he was the hottest I'd ever seen him. Hello, beautiful...

"Call her a villain again and you'll see where you end up," Ethan growled in his face, and Charlotte tensed as she stared at her mate with panic and worry.

"Don't worry, Charlotte." I smiled as I saw her relax a little, but her eyes remained fixed on her mate. I couldn't blame her, she was on the verge of tears at the scene before her.

"Get that bitch Ethan, she set my parents house on fire!" Sophia screeched and I rolled my eyes. Sighing, I propped myself up on my hand as I continued to watch the scene before me. Could it have been any more dramatic?

"Sophia, we don't know that," growled Ethan, who obviously didn't like the fact that his obsession had called me a slut. Hope sprouted in my chest at the thought that he trusted me enough not to jump to conclusions, even if I'd been the one to burn the damn house down- so what? The fact that they'd immediately jumped on me said a lot about how little I was really trusted, and I didn't know what to make of that realisation.

"Of course we know, it's obvious," she continued to screech, and I was impressed that she didn't seem to be getting a headache from all the yelling.

I continued to listen to them argue while Levi stared at me with an amused expression on his face. Whatever they might think, I hadn't set the house on fire, and my brother was fully aware that if I wanted to take revenge on my so-called parents, I'd act as a grim reaper and just kill them. It might sound cruel, but I'd the attitude of a rouge after all, so it was hardly my fault for thinking that way.

Sighing, I ran my hand over my face before enjoying my lunch. My pleasant hum went through the cafeteria as everyone looked at me with an expression of amusement and disbelief as I continued to eat my lunch. I was hungry and I'd already paid for it because unlike most in the hall, I didn't have Dad's credit card to waste on my heart's desires... not that I'd take it if it was offered to me, as if I owed this man anything!

"How can you be so calm?" Ella whispered to me, to which I shrugged, at least my new best friend didn't seem to think I was the cause, and while she was right that I hadn't started the fire, I doubted she knew what I was capable of when the mood got the better of me.

"Don't you find this amusing?" I asked, the corners of my mouth twitching to keep from smiling. She gave me a look of disbelief and confusion.

"What?"

"The fact that practically everyone thinks I did it, but none of you noticed that she smelled like fresh smoke, which means it happened literally minutes ago," I grinned as I took a sip of my drink, and Sophia's eyes widened in panic as Ethan took the few steps toward her before inhaling.

"How did you-," Ella started to ask, and my eyes widened. Damn. I shouldn't be able to smell that on her... think Ava....think...

"I inhaled it when she walked past, it was hard to miss when she was that close."

I explained with a shrug, keeping my voice casual so everyone shrugged before nodding. I suppressed the sigh of relief that wanted to escape me, thank goodness they weren't that knowledgeable about female shifters.

"I don't know," she muttered in a strained voice, the alpha command obviously having prevailed. "I was on my way to my house when I saw the flames, I thought this would be a good opportunity to get back at that bitch," she hissed, pointing at me, at which I raised my brows, delighted.

"Get back at her for what?" my brother (Levi/Leo) asked confused, I guessed what she was getting at but I kept silent and watched.

"Sophia, what happened?" Ethan's alpha command filled the room and made me shudder, God, he sounded so hoarse....yummy!

"Because she stole you from me!" Sophia yelled, making the boys cringe at the volume, hell, even my ears were ringing slightly and I was sitting across the hall.

"OMG, she's lost it," I heard Gianna whisper and I couldn't help but agree with her.

"We will deal with that later, Sophia, and just so you know, you don't own me!" growled Ethan, which caused my wolf to purr because it sounded so vicious, hello Mr. Big Bad Wolf...growl!

"But, but..."

"That's an order!" he continued to growl, whereupon she lowered her head in a submissive gesture and showed her neck, her eyes showing how much she loathed the action, but her wolf made her do it. I wanted to roll my eyes, didn't she know when to give in and accept that she had to back down? Fool!

"Yes, Alpha," she whimpered before running out of the room. Gossip spread through the cafeteria as the tense atmosphere dissipated, even though I was suddenly the talk of the school again as everyone debated whether or not I was actually the cause of the fire, and if not, who was.

I watched Ethan walk toward me, his expression changing from nervousness to worry. Worry confused me, what did he have to worry about?

"I'm sorry," he whispered immediately as he sat down next to me, what the hell was he up to?

"For what?" I couldn't help but ask, I was curious what he meant to be sorry for.

"For jumping to conclusions and thinking it was you," he explained and I frowned. "The more I think about it, the more I know it wasn't," he continued to whisper, obviously not wanting the pack to hear his apology.

I didn't blame him, he was the alpha, and since he not only apologised but was honest and confided in me, I couldn't help but forgive him almost immediately. Heck, he made my inner walls crumble so fast it gave me a headache!

"Thank you," I whispered as I moved closer to him and pressed my lips to his cheek, causing delicious sparks to fly between the two of us and our wolves to purr with pleasure.

"For what?" he asked, obviously confused as to why I wasn't yelling at him like he obviously expected when he came over.

"For being honest, for apologising, for having faith in me. You can pick whatever reason you want," I smiled, to which a relieved expression formed on his face as his eyes lit up at my comment. It was clear that my reaction was what he had been worried about.

"You're amazing," he laughed as he pulled me onto his lap, his head nuzzling my neck as the tension was broken.

"I'm sorry, Ava, I really am, I just..." Benjamin started, the guilt in his eyes and the look he was getting from Charlotte made him realise he wanted to get rid of some of his guilt.

"It's okay Benjamin, you must have a good reason for not liking rouges and I respect that." I waved it off, causing him to look at me in a new light; I rolled my eyes because I didn't want to know what made the boy look so damn conflicted.

"You're perfect," I heard Ethan whisper, and in that moment I heard his feelings for me. His love, his hope, his admiration, and I knew I had to tell him. I just hoped he would let the whole shifter thing go. I crossed my fingers that I actually had the courage to tell him, he would eventually be the first to know, but that wasn't what worried me...