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.