Dr.
Henry pushed the document across the table.
Isla looked down at the name printed across the top.
Henry Medical Research Institute.
“I would like you to join us as a junior research fellow in wolf pharmacology,” he said.
“You would have access to our laboratories, equipment, and clinical database.
I would personally supervise the development of your serum.”
Isla could hardly believe what she was hearing.
No one had ever valued her work before.
Cassian had called it a pointless hobby.
Every request for funding had been rejected, and the Spencer family had treated her provisional patent as worthless paper.
Now one of the city’s most respected physicians wanted her on his team.
“What happens to my patent?” she asked.
“It remains yours.”
“And the serum?”
“Any research you completed before joining us belongs entirely to you.
Future developments will be credited according to contribution.”
Isla studied his face.
“You would let an Omega control something this valuable?”
Dr.
Henry frowned slightly.
“I would let its creator control it.”
The simple answer tightened her throat for reasons that had nothing to do with her injuries.
He continued, “The position includes a salary and flexible hours during your pregnancy.
The institute will help you reconstruct the missing formula, secure your records, and prepare for proper clinical trials.”
“I want an independent lawyer to review everything before I sign.”
Approval entered his eyes.
“Good.”
“I also decide who can access my original research.”
“That can be included in the agreement.”
“And I won’t participate in any experiment that could endanger my child.”
“Of course.”
Dr.
Henry leaned back in his chair.
“Those are precisely the questions a researcher should ask.
Visit the institute first.
If you are satisfied after your lawyer reviews the contract, the position is yours.”
Vespera watched Isla from the head of the table.
“You should protect the formula before accepting anyone’s money,” she said.
“Talent without protection is merely easy to steal.”
It was not praise, but it was the first time Vespera had spoken to her as something other than a carrier.
“I intend to,” Isla replied.
Logan followed her into the corridor after they left the dining hall.
Henry offered me a position,” Isla said.
“I intend to consider it.”
“It is your decision.”
“The marriage contract requires me to remain under Vale protection during the pregnancy.
I need to know whether working away from the penthouse violates that clause.”
Logan stopped.
“The clause exists to protect you.
It does not give me ownership of your life.”
Isla searched his expression.
“You won’t try to stop me?”
“No.”
“What about the research?”
“What about it?”
“The serum could become valuable.” She folded her arms.
“Do you expect a share because I’m your wife?”
His gaze hardened.
“It is yours.”
“Even if Vale money is used to protect it?”
“I won’t invest unless you ask me to.
If you do, the terms will be negotiated by your lawyer.”
She hadn’t expected that.
Cassian would have taken everything and claimed she owed him for allowing her to live beneath his roof.
Logan could have used their marriage to seize control of her work, but he hadn’t even tried.
“I would like to visit the institute,” she said.
“I’ll arrange a driver and security.”
“One guard.
Outside the laboratory.”
Logan held her gaze before nodding.
“Agreed.”
He did not argue or turn his protection into another form of confinement.
It did not erase what he had done to her.
But it mattered.
That afternoon, Dr.
Henry met Isla at the entrance of the research institute.
Logan’s driver remained outside, while the guard waited in the lobby as promised.
Dr.
Henry guided her through secured corridors and bright laboratories filled with equipment Isla had only ever seen at Ashworth.
He showed her the chemical analysis department, the sample vault, and a room containing advanced machines that measured the neurological connection between wolves and their human consciousness.
Finally, he stopped beside an empty workstation.
“If you accept, this will be yours.”
Isla ran her fingertips along the polished surface.
A computer, microscope, and secured storage cabinet waited for a researcher who had proper funding and permission to use them.
She imagined reconstructing the missing formula here.
She could build a future that did not depend on Logan’s contract.
Several researchers glanced at her with open curiosity.
One looked doubtful when he noticed her Omega status, but no one laughed or ordered her to leave.
For the first time in years, Isla could picture a life where she was not an unwanted daughter, a betrayed fiancée, a contract wife, or the mother of someone else’s heir.
She could simply be Isla.
“I want the position,” she told Dr.
Henry.
“After my lawyer approves the contract.”
He smiled.
“I was hoping you would say that.”
On her way back to the car, Isla noticed a baby shop beside the institute.
The guard remained near the entrance while she went inside.
Tiny clothes lined the walls.
Soft blankets, picture books, and stuffed animals filled the shelves.
Isla picked up a small gray wolf with silver ears.
‘The pup needs that,’ Serena decided.
‘The pup cannot even hold it yet.’
‘Then we will guard it until they can.’
Smiling, Isla placed it in her basket.
She added a picture book about the moon and a pair of silver-gray socks decorated with tiny paw prints.
The socks were hardly larger than her palm.
She was imagining the baby wearing them when a familiar voice cut through the warmth of the moment.
“What an unpleasant surprise.”
Her hand went still.
Serena growled before Isla turned around.
Coel stood at the end of the aisle, wearing an expensive coat and the same arrogant expression she had once mistaken for confidence.
His gaze dropped to the institute badge clipped to her bag.
Then he noticed the toys in her basket.
Finally, his eyes settled on the curve of her stomach.
Disgust twisted his face.
“So the rumors were true.”
He walked closer, his mouth curling into a cruel smile.
“You really are pregnant with some stranger’s bastard.”