Chapter 170 Suppressed Wolf

Estelle’s POV

For as long as I could remember, I didn’t have a wolf. That was something Jessie and Ashley would not let me forget as well.

They made it very clear to me that because I was wolfless, I should be thankful that Asher was willing to choose me as his mate. At first, I truly was grateful. I thought that Asher was willing to look past the fact that I was an orphan and the fact that I was wolfless, and still chose to love me rather than wait for his fated mate.

However, that had all been a lie.

Because I didn’t have a wolf, the Moonveil healers declared that I would never be able to conceive. That was why Asher convinced me to adopt Finn and care for him as my own.

I now suspected that Asher might be the reason why I was wolfless, and why I wasn’t able to have children.

It was unlikely that Jessie and Dorothy were in on it as well. After all, according to the phone call I shouldn’t have overheard, Dorothy was insistent that I bore an heir for the Moonveil Pack before leaving, even if I insisted on cutting ties with them.

For someone so determined to have me birth them a child, it was unlikely for Dorothy and Jessie to cripple me this way.

Asher might’ve acted alone, or with Hazel’s help, and not the whole Daniels family.

“Estelle?” Zayne’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “What’s wrong? You’ve gone quiet.”

I shook my head, focusing back on him. His eyes were filled with concern as he continued to hold my hand.

“I don’t remember ever having a wolf,” I said finally. “I wasn’t able to awaken one even when I turned of age, and just naturally thought that I was wolfless.”

Zayne went quiet. His expression became thoughtful, almost calculating.

Was Zayne second-guessing this relationship? Surely he had already known I was wolfless when we first got engaged.

However, even if he claimed not to care about pack politics or traditional expectations, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lycan King would want a mate who could at least shift.

Zayne said, “If you healed so quickly, it might be a sign of your wolf showing. Maybe you do have a wolf after all, and it’s just been suppressed.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Suppressed?”

“There are ways to suppress a wolf,” Zayne said carefully. “Certain herbs, potions, even prolonged exposure to specific substances can keep a wolf dormant.”

I pursed my lips in silence.

“Either way,” Zayne said, standing up from the couch. “Let me help you clean this up first. We can figure out the rest later.”

He moved to gather more napkins from the kitchen while I sat there processing his words.

When Zayne returned, he began carefully cleaning the alcohol stains from the coffee table and couch. His movements were gentle, just like when he had examined my hand.

“I’ll look into the matter,” he said without looking up from his cleaning. “Don’t worry about it right now.”

I nodded, watching as he carefully wiped away every trace of the spilled alcohol. The way he moved, the careful attention he paid to each detail, made something warm flutter in my chest.

“I want to take a shower first,” I said suddenly, my voice coming out slightly breathless. “Can we hold off movie night until after I return?”

Zayne glanced up at me and nodded. “Of course.”

I stood up quickly, needing to escape before he noticed my face heating up. Looking at Zayne made my heart thunder furiously in my chest, and I needed somewhere to hide and collect myself.

I headed toward my bedroom to gather fresh clothes, then made my way to the bathroom. The hot water felt good against my skin, washing away the stickiness from the spilled alcohol and hopefully cooling down my flushed cheeks.

I took my time in the shower. When I finally finished and reached for my towel, I realized I had made a crucial mistake.

I hadn’t brought any fresh clothes into the bathroom with me.

“Zayne?” I called out, wrapping the towel securely around myself. “Zayne?”

No response.

I pressed my ear to the bathroom door but heard nothing from the living room. Maybe he had stepped out onto the balcony, or perhaps he was in the kitchen cleaning up more of the mess.

I took a deep breath and decided to venture out. It would only take a few seconds to dash to my bedroom and grab the clothes I had laid out on my bed earlier.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside, expecting to see my empty room with the stack of clothes waiting on my bed where I had left them.

Instead, I froze.

Zayne was standing in my bedroom, holding the exact stack of clothes I had originally picked out and intended to bring into the shower.

Our eyes met across the room. His electric blue gaze traveled from my face down to where I was clutching the towel around myself, then back up again.

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I realized what was at the very top of the stack of clothes he was holding.

My lace underwear sat right there on top, clearly visible in his hands.