When Layla tried to lay the marker down, she dropped it on the floor. In the next beat, she leaned against his chest.
Something was definitely wrong. He said softly, "Layla, love, tell us what's happening."
"I-I can't focus. Everything's blurry, and…"
Layla passed out in his arms, but he caught her and kept her upright. As his heart pounded double-time, he slowly eased her to the ground, doing his best to keep it together so he could help his mate.
His brand-new mate, and one he fucking wasn’t going to let make him a widower so soon.
Even before he’d finished easing Layla down, Finn was already on her other side. Chase had barely caressed Layla’s cheek before his clan leader reached for her neck and placed his fingers on it, searching for a pulse.
Chase willed Finn to find it.
After two seconds, Finn swore.
Chase's stomach dropped. No, no, no. Layla couldn't be dead. She couldn’t, not when he’d just finally claimed her.
He pushed Finn's hand out of the way to check for himself, but the clan leader gripped his wrist and stated, "She's alive. But her heartbeat is weak. You stay here and talk to her. Convince her to hang on whilst I'll get Dr. Sid."
She was alive. He repeated the statement inside his head as a lifeline. Now all he had to do was ensure she stayed that way.
And even if he had to move mountains to do it, Chase would find a way to save his female.
Finn left, but he barely noticed, leaning down to kiss Layla’s jaw, her cheek, her forehead, anywhere he could. His lass had always craved his touch, and so Chase continually stroked her with his hands and caressed her face with his lips to let her know he was there.
His dragon said, Talk to her, order her, something. She can’t leave us. She can’t.
He willed his voice not to crack as he ordered, "Layla, love, stay with us. Sid will help you soon enough. Don't you dare make me a widower this soon, damn it. Stay alive, love. There are so many places I want to show you, so many laughs I want to coax from your bonny mouth. Please, Layla, hang on."
His mate didn’t move, twitch, nothing to show she’d heard him.
But he wasn’t going to give up. She was the greatest prize of his life, so he tried loving words, arguing one-sided, and ordering her some more. He tried anything and everything to get her attention.
And yet none of it worked.
Tears built up in his eyes as Layla’s skin grew a little cooler. Only the sight of her chest rising and falling kept both man and beast from going crazy. As long as she breathed, she could come back to him.
He didn't know how long he sat there, ordering Layla to stay alive and wake up. Eventually, Dr. Sid rushed in, pushed him aside, and began examining Layla.
A nurse also crouched down and it all became a blur of orders, needles, and various things he didn't know the name of.
But when Dr. Sid started giving heart compressions, Chase’s own heart stopped beating.
Layla could die, could leave him, could never have the happy life of love and laughter she’d deserved.
He needed to be at her side again, telling her to stay.
Chase tried to get to his mate, but Finn had returned and held him back. Not caring that Finn was his leader, Chase leaned forward, elbowed the male at his back, and even kicked him. “She needs me. Let me go!”
And yet Finn still held him and murmured, “Give Sid a chance, Chase. If anyone can save her, it will be her.”
The fight faded as anger boiled up. Chase shouted, “Don’t you fucking die on me, Layla! You hear? Don’t you fucking die!”
And as he watched the doctor try to save his mate, tears finally streamed down Chase’s cheeks.
Layla was dying—maybe even already dead—and there was nothing he could do about it.
Chapter Seventeen
Two hours later, Chase was back inside a private waiting room, sitting on the sofa, his head in his hands.
While Dr. Sid had gotten Layla's heart beating again, he didn't know anything else beyond it. No one had come to update him. Not even to say if she still lived or died.
The thought of Layla still, her body cooling as life left her, made him want to destroy every piece of furniture in the room. Hell, in the bloody surgery.
Chase had felt helpless before, but nothing compared to his mate hovering on death's door and him sitting in a bloody waiting room, unable to do a fucking thing.
His mother placed a hand on his shoulder. "Dr. Sid is one of the best dragon doctors. She'll help your mate, no question, Chase."
His mum had kept saying such things for the last hour, ever since his brother had brought her to the waiting room. Chase knew it was supposed to give him hope, but it was becoming harder and harder not to snap.
And when he realized that, he felt like an arse. His mum had lost her mate for good. Maybe not through death, but it hadn't been any less painful. He could at least dredge up some patience and be kind. "I hope so, Mum."
His dragon spoke up. Layla is a fighter and strong. She'll pull through.
Not you, too.
Would you rather I give up on her? Because I won't.
He mentally sighed. I know. I'm just afraid of the worst.
The door opened, and his brother walked in. Chase glanced up at Grant. "Any news?"
"Dr. Sid is on her way here. All I know is that Layla's still alive."
Thank fuck, he murmured to both himself and his dragon.
Of course, alive was only part of the equation. He still didn't know what was wrong with his mate.
He nodded at his brother. "Thanks for the update, Grant. You can go back to Faye and the bairn."
His brother moved to sit next to him, on the arm of the sofa. "Faye said if I didn't stay a wee while with you, she'd have me thrown out of the room. So, here I am." Grant placed a hand on Chase's shoulder. "Right now, you need me more."
Chase and his brother had never been overly affectionate with each other. But in that moment, Grant's firm grip on his shoulder gave him an influx of a wee bit of strength.
Dr. Sid burst into the room. They all stood. Once the doctor shut the door, she gave her report. "Layla is stable for now. While her dragon-shifter hormones were low, it wasn't what caused her crash. We're still running tests, but some of her initial bloodwork came back abnormal."
He clenched his fingers into a fist at the non-answer. "Meaning what?"
Dr. Sid didn't blink at his growly tone. "I don't have all the results yet, but all of her symptoms and initial bloodwork makes me think she has a rare blood condition."
He frowned. "Isn't that something she would've known about?"
"If she were human, most likely. But as dragon-shifters move from decade to decade, their bodies change a fraction, sometimes for the better but usually for the worse, beyond simply getting older. If my theory is correct, it probably began not long after she turned thirty. It's purely will that's kept her on her feet for as long as she has been, especially with the hours she works. Not to mention she hasn't had a yearly exam in nearly a decade. If she had, then she would've known to start treatment years ago."
Damn it, Layla. He was going to have to force her to get them from now on, even if he had to sling her over his shoulder and drag her kicking and screaming.
"When will you know for sure if it's this rare blood condition?" Chase asked.
The female doctor didn't miss a beat. "Within the next few hours. But if it is a blood disease, that creates another problem. The medication to treat it is rare and the plant required to make it is difficult to find. In this part of the world, it grows only in the most remote parts of Scotland and Ireland."
"Show me a picture."
Sid frowned. "There's no way you've seen it."
He growled. "I've spent a lot of time over the last two years flying to remote locations to try and distance myself from Layla and resist the true-mate pull. One of my hobbies is collecting plants from everywhere I go. There's a good chance I've seen it and c
an find it."
It was almost as if fate had steered him to create a secret garden for his doctor mate to use one day.
Even with a skeptical look on her face, the doctor pulled out her mobile phone, tapped it a few times, and turned the screen toward him.
It was a bush covered in red flowers that were shaped like stars.
And aye, he'd noticed it before, on the Isle of Lewis and Harris. He was fairly sure he had one or two of them in his garden. "I've seen it before. If it's in season, then I can fetch some." If not, then, well, he'd rather not think about it. "Is there anything else I should look out for?"
Grant chimed in. "Chase, you should stay here. If you tell me the location, I'll send one of the Protectors."
"No. This is something I can do, and much quicker on my own than trying to describe the place." A place he wanted to save for Layla, once she was better. Because she would get better. "Let me help my mate."
"It may not be what she needs, if the test results come back different than I think they will," Dr. Sid stated softly.
"I know that. But I'd rather have it in case Layla needs it."
Dr. Sid bobbed her head. "Then I'll send a few more pictures to your mobile of other possible plants I'll need, in case you see them, too. The more remedies I have available, the better."
Grant interjected. "And Cooper will go with you. Don't argue, it's nonnegotiable."
Cooper was Grant's second-in-command, and Chase knew the male could keep a secret if he asked. "Fine, he can come. But I'm leaving as soon as possible, so have him meet me at the main landing area." He looked back at the doctor. "Can I at least see Layla once, before I leave?"
Sadness flashed in Dr. Sid's eyes. "No, I'm afraid not. I'm still pinpointing the cause, and we're keeping her in a sterile environment and in quarantine until I sort it all out."
He nearly snarled and demanded to see her, but then his dragon murmured, Dr. Sid would let us see Layla if she could. You know that.
Now his beast was the calmer of the two. Aye, I do. But I don't like it.
Neither do I. But let's focus our energy on getting to our hidden garden as quickly as possible.
After muttering his farewells, Chase walked out of the surgery and straight to the landing area. As he shucked his clothes, he focused on what he could control—shifting into his dragon form and flying as quickly as possible to the south.
Chapter Eighteen
Cat MacAllister stared at the closed door of her guest bedroom and willed for Aimee King to have a peaceful night.
The lass had been doing fine, working on one of her paintings, but then a sound of a dragon flying overhead had sent her into a panic. No amount of coaxing had been able to pull the lass out of her nightmare, and so Cat had resorted to calling the doctor.
The doctor had forced her into a medically induced coma, one that should last for a while yet.
She hated that the dragonwoman had to be drugged, but she knew nothing about medicine and trusted the doctor's judgment.
All she hoped now was that the doctor's statement, about Aimee sleeping for a total of forty-eight hours, held true and not just for the female's sake, either. Cat had asked her brother Connor to come over and listen for anything amiss while she ran an errand. Cat didn't want to leave Aimee, but she had a long-standing appointment to keep. And when the Department of Dragon Affairs reached out to a person about spearheading a project, a dragon-shifter simply didn't say no.
Her beast spoke up. You could reschedule if you wanted. And don't give me the excuse you can't. In reality, you just want to see him again.
Cat resisted looking to the room she used as her studio, where more than one painting featured the male in question. If I want to see him again, it's only to refresh my memory and memorize more details of his face and form to improve my next painting.
Her dragon snorted. Right, tell yourself that.
A knock sounded at the front door. Ignoring her beast, she opened it to find her younger, but much taller brother Connor. She motioned him inside.
Since Cat was the eldest of five, she couldn't help but stand up a wee bit straighter and put a touch of dominance in her voice. "Remember what I said, Connor. Don't bother her unless absolutely necessary. I know you think you're a gift to all females, but she's having a difficult time and doesn't do well with males. Leave her be."
Connor raised a dark eyebrow. "I'm not ten years old, Cat. And I'm not a gift to all females." He placed a hand over his heart. "Females who fancy females will always just miss out on all of this."
She rolled her eyes. "You only say that now because Jade and her long-time girlfriend turned you down. As I recall, they laughed at the idea of sharing your bed, to the point they both started crying."
He shrugged, pretending it didn't bother him in the least. However, Cat had noticed the split-second flattening of his lips before he'd forced a smile again. "It just gives me more energy for those who could appreciate a bloke like me."
Feeling a headache coming on, Cat turned from her brother and picked up her bag. "Aye, aye, you're so brilliant and fit, I know." She glanced over her shoulder. "But I'm your sister and I know full well there's a kind, caring heart inside that chest, underneath all the swagger. If you're not careful, I may even share a secret or two about your time caring for our old Auntie Maude."
Connor growled. "If you tell anyone I put together a fancy high tea for our auntie, I'll just happen to share a photo I snapped of that painting, the one with your half-naked human."
She turned around with a frown. "When were you in my studio? Not only is it off-limits, but I also lock it anytime I'm not in it."
Her brother grinned. "As if that would keep me out."
What she wanted to do was scold Connor and treat him like a child, not caring that he was twenty-three years old. However, she needed to leave in the next minute or two if she didn't want to be late for her meeting. And considering Lachlan MacKintosh was Mr. Punctual to the extreme, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of her being late.
Not that she always tried to be tardy, but sometimes Cat lost track of time when it came to drawing, painting, or even daydreaming.
She glared a second at Connor and then murmured, "We'll talk about this later. Just be nice and quiet with Aimee here, aye? I should be back in an hour or two."
"Of course I'll watch over her, Cat. I can be cheeky, but I'm not a bastard."
She smiled. "I know." Moving toward the door, she gave her brother one last look before exiting her small cottage.
As she made her way toward the Protector's main security building, where the meeting was to be held, her dragon growled before saying, I don't like that Connor broke into our studio.
Neither do I, dragon. But scolding him will only provoke him into sharing the photo. So we'll have to tread lightly.
I don't know why you're so worried. It's just a painting.
Aye, but a painting of a human who never gave his permission for us to paint him. And given both his position and his personality, I don't think he'll like it much if he finds out.
Originally, the project had been to make a silly painting, one that would make Lachlan the Serious smile.
But as she'd worked on the thing, it'd turned into something more. Something she'd love to display and show off since it was probably her best work to date. However, it would also raise suspicions about Cat wanting the human male.
And she most definitely didn't need another challenge in her life at the moment, what with her mother not feeling well for the last few months and Cat having to help out more and more at her mum's restaurant. Lachlan may be sexy in his own quiet, reserved way, but she didn't have time to find out what made the human so reserved and strung tight.
After helping to raise and take care of her four siblings, Cat was tired of trying to heal and look after others. Maybe if she found the right male, that would change. But Lachlan was most definitely not the male for her.
She finally arrived at the security bu
ilding and made her way to the first conference room, which was always the one used for human visitors, to avoid giving too much of the building's layout away. Stopping at the door, she greeted Iris, one of the higher-up Protectors. "Hello, Iris. Is he here yet?"
"Aye, although I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't worn a hole in the floor from all his pacing."
She murmured her thanks, took a deep breath, and walked in.
Lachlan MacKintosh stopped on the far side of the room in mid-pace, and she had to blink. He'd changed in the nearly nine months since she'd last seen him.
Aye, he'd been strong enough before, but he now had muscled biceps to rival that of a dragon-shifter. Not only that, his hair was softer, a touch lighter from either time somewhere sunny or he'd highlighted his hair.
Her dragon snorted. I doubt he'd sit still in a salon.
Given his tanned skin, Cat agreed it was probably from the sun. And most definitely not from being in the UK either since it was winter.
He raised an eyebrow in question but said nothing. The action snapped her back to the purpose of the meeting. "If you're waiting for an apology about me being two minutes late, you're not going to get one."
"I wasn't expecting an apology. But you were staring, and I was curious as to why."
The male and his infernal politeness. "You're fishing for a compliment, aren't you?"
He shrugged his well-defined shoulders. "No. But aye, I'm different from before. Considering how much I'm going to be working with dragon-shifters in the coming months, I decided to better prepare myself, in case the worst happens."
Once she shut the door, she asked slowly, "What sort of assignment requires you to train up like that?"
"My answer will depend on how this meeting goes."
She resisted narrowing her eyes at his vague statement. If she could handle her younger siblings—Connor and Jamie in particular—then she could certainly handle one polite, arrogant human male.
Cat pulled out a chair, sat down, and crossed one leg over another, readjusting her long skirt as she did so. "Well? I'm here, so aren't you going to start? As I recall, you love keeping everything to a timetable."
The Dragon's Pursuit (Lochguard Highland Dragons Book 7) Page 17
