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."