Her Chosen Love
Chapter 20

Layla's pov

I tried opening my eyes but every time I put the least bit of effort into it, I was dragged back down into an endless array of memories.

When I met Adrian:

I looked up to see a very handsome man looking at me in concern. He was about a foot or more taller than me, and I could tell he was very muscular from his tight fitting t-shirt. I moved my eyes from his chest before he could see my lingering look.

"Are you okay?" He asked and for some reason his voice sent shivers across my skin.

I nodded and tried to stand, but I fell back down with a cry of pain, but before I hit the ground he caught me and picked me up bridal style. As soon as his skin came in contact with mine, I shivered. His skin was cold but that is not why I reacted that way. I shivered because where our skin touched there were these little tingles. "Thank you...."

"Adrian. My name is Adrian."

When Adrian told me about mates:

"Do you know what mates are?" He asked suddenly

"They're like soul mates, right?" He nodded and took a deep breathe.

"Layla, I have been searching for my mate for a really long time, and today I found her. She is the most beautiful and amazing girl I have ever met. She makes me laugh which I probably haven't done in a thousand years, and you want me to tell you the best part."

"Sure," I said looking down so he wouldn't see the disappointment in my eyes. For some reason hearing him speak about another girl like this broke me. I put my hand on the door handle, ready to get out, but he lifted my face and cupped my cheeks.

"You are my mate," and with that he brought his face to mine and captured my lips with his own. I as soon as our lips touched, the tingles turned into explosions, and I was in heaven.

What he told me after we kissed:

"What do mates do exactly?" I asked.

"They love eachother, despite the others faults. They replace the good in eachother and try to tame the bad. Mates are the most amazing things in the world, and I am so happy to finally have replace mine." When he finished I was sure a blush has spread across my cheeks.

"So we are supposed to love eachother?" I asked hesitantly, and he nodded.

"Layla, I already love you. You are the most prefect mate I could ask for. You're so beautiful and amazing. As soon as I found you, my life revolved around you. You are the most important thing in my life now. You are my everything and you are my world." With that he crashed his lips onto mine for the second time.

When he asked my to marry him:

Adrian pulled away from me for the second time and all I could do was stare into his beautiful blue eyes. Just thinking about what he said before the kiss warmed my heart so much. He stroked my cheek then asked a question I was not prepared for in a million years.

"Would you make me the happiest man and consent to be my wife?" He asked still staring into my eyes.

After all these wonderful memories started came in then the bad ones started making their appearance, making me wish that I woke up.

When I was attacked:

He didn't say a word as he pinned my arms to my side and lowered his face to mine. With a wide grin he licked the side if my face and when he pulled back I caught a sight of his fangs. I doubled my attempt to escape, but I knew I could not escape a vampire. A tear escaped my eye as he lowered his head to my neck.

When I was almost killed:

I was walking to where our table was when I was grabbed from behind and something cold was pressed against my head. I heard a gun go off behind me and everyone got on the ground and looked over to where we were.

"Everyone give me your cash and anything else that is valuable, or I will kill her." The man that said that pressed the gun harder against my head, and I winced. I met Liam's eyes, and he looked at me in horror. The man who shot the gun earlier placed a bucket in front of me and told everyone to put their stuff in there.

Everyone came up one by one and place any money or jewelry that had in the bucket, while looking at me with sympathy. When it was my brother's turn, he slowly took off his watch. I could tell he was pretending to have trouble with it.

"Hurry up, we don't have time for this," one if the men said.

"S-sorry, it w-won't come off," Liam stuttered.

"Well figure it out, or I will shoot her." A tear fell down my face as I heard the gun click. When Liam paused, I was pushed to the ground.

A scream was wrenched from my lungs as I landed on my elbow and the skin split. I looked up and stared into the barrel of the gun. I closed my eyes and waited for my life to end.

When I was kidnapped:

The only place to hide was under the bed. Just as I had slipped myself under it, the door was kicked open. I covered my mouth so my breathing would not give me away. I saw a man open the closet door but he closed it soon after. Just as I was starting to relax, I was pulled out from under the bed. I tried kicking him but nothing worked, and I was brought face to face with three men.

"We have her. Let's go." This was news to me. I didn't think that that were after me. They dragged me through the castle, but when we reached the huge foyer, I was thrown down.

"Contact the boss and tell him we have her," one of the guys said. When they weren't paying attention, I tried to make a run for it, but one of then caught me. Irritated he slapped me and I fell to the floor for the second time. He was going to kick me, but the most amazing voice interrupted him.

"Let her go!" Adrian yelled. Even from here I could feel the anger coming off him. I thought they were going to let me go but nope. I let out a scream as I was hauled up by my hair.

I was going to fight back, but I froze as a blade was pressed against my throat.

"If you make one move towards us, we will kill her," the man behind me said.

"No they won't. The only reason they are here is..." I let out a scream as the knife was stabbed into my thigh. Apparently I was needed alive, but not unhurt.

Adrian took a step towards me but the man twisted the knife and yanked it back out wrenching another scream from me and then brought the blade back to my throat. "Not so fast. I will do a lot more than kill her if you do anything stupid."

All three men came really close to me and started backing out the door very slowly, and I could only watch as the love of my life got further and further away from me. When we were almost out the door I saw twenty people attack him and I fought to get to him, but it was no use. They were to strong for me. I gave up and just sank to the ground as we exited the castle doors.

Vaguely I knew one of the men picked me up and put me in a car, but I was too numb to really pay attention to anything going on around me.

When the car stopped I looked up. We were pulled up at a small cabin in the middle of the woods. I was roughly pulled out the car, and pushed to the front door. Another man opened the door and grabbed me. He threw me into a chair and tied me down.

After tying me up, they just left me in that first room. I tried to loosen the ropes, but they were tied too tight and wouldn't even move and inch. When my hands were starting to hurt, I gave up and looked around the room. It didn't seem like a room where you would hold prisoners. It looked just like a living room and for some reason it was very familiar to me.

I spotted a picture on the wall, but before I could study it in greater detail, a man walked through the door. He had a hood so I could not see anything of his face. He sat in front of me and just stared.

He slowly started to remove his hood, and I waited impatiently to see who had kidnapped me. When his face was visible I gasped. Sitting in front of me was Will's older brother, James. The guy who was as protective of me as my own brother, but all my old thoughts of him were wiped away by what he did next.

"You are going to answer some questions, and if I were you I would answer them correctly." He pulled an knife from his pocket with a smirk.

"I'm not telling you anything," I spat at him. He stood up from his chair and walked to me with a sinister smile while clutching the knife in one pale hand.

"Well, then let the torture begin."

When I was stabbed:

I fell to the ground, and James picked me up, but I still fought against him.

Finally losing his patience, he stabbed me in the stomach with the blade that was still in his hand. "Try to fight with that," he growled in my ear.

I stopped struggling immediately as I felt the first sting of pain. He was bringing me to a car, but we didn't make it that far. We were tackled to the ground, and I screamed as the knife was pressed in deeper. I turned around despite the the pain I was in and looked towards James. He was on the ground fighting with a wolf, but with my gasp the animal looked up and started walking towards me.

When I discovered James had my mom:

I took a deep breath and grabbed the box as I prepared myself to open it again.

I removed the top and held back the bile that threatened to come up. Laying in the box was a severed finger. On the finger was a silver wedding ring that was heartbreakingly familiar.

Will peered around my shoulder and gasped. "Is that....." I nodded to his question not trusting myself to speak. Already tears were streaming down my face again, and I knew if I opened my mouth, I would only begin to sob.

"What is it?" Jake asked confused.

Not looking up, I touched the small heart shaped diamond. When I told them, I spoke softly hoping what I said was not true. "This is my mother's wedding ring."

When I agreed to go with James:

"I was wondering when you would call," said a familiar voice.

"Where is she?" I asked clutching the phone to my ear.

"That can wait. Let's talk for a little bit. I must say, it is wonderful hearing your voice again."

I held back a gag, and did my best to talk to him calmly. "Please, don't hurt her."

"Don't worry, darling. That wasn't even her finger. I knew you would never forgive me if I harmed her, so she us quite ok," he said in a soothing voice that just made me cringe.

"Let her go, James. I will do anything, just let her go." I pleaded with him.

"My name sounds so wonderful on your lips. And you know what I want, darling."

"Me," I whispered.

"Bingo, so if you want your mother, I want you to walk out side and walk east until you reach a river. Swim across and wait right there for me. Make sure you're not followed. I would like tonight to go without one of your mates dying. See you soon, darling." With that he was gone, and I just sank onto the bed. I knew I had not choice but to go meet him, and it scared me more than words could express.

When I was back with James:

"I like your fear. It is a very beautiful look on you," he said stroking my cheek with the back of his hands. "Be mine, Layla. I will train you to be stronger."

I knew what he meant, so I shook my head. His version of stronger meant being able to withstand pain, and I was not going to be willingly tortured. I may want my mom back, but I knew she wouldn't want me to suffer through that just for her. I looked up just in time to see his eyes flash with anger and his hand crack across my face.

"Do you think I was giving you a choice?" he yelled. "You are either with me willingly or not. The decision is yours."

"I would rather die," I said after spitting in his face.

"Too bad. That's not one of your options," he said wiping his face.

Suddenly he yanked me off the bed, and started dragging me out the room. When we reached a set of stairs leading to a basement, he smirked at me then kicked me down. I was breathing hard and struggling to move as he walked down the steps to where I was.

With all the pain in my body, I could hardly move, which made it very easy for James to tangle his hand in my hair and drag me to a chair in one of the four cells. He sat me in the chair and locked me down despite my struggles, however futile they were.

"Now where were we," he said grinning down at me. I just ignored him, which of course made him even angrier. "You don't have to answer. I just want to show you something that may change your mind."

He walked behind me, and started to fiddle with the chair. After I heard a click, I felt the back of the chair drop, so now I slouching with my hands still tied to the arms of the chair. I heard some noises coming from behind me then everything went silent.

Suddenly a loud crack filled the air and excruciating pain cut through my back. It was honestly the worse thing I have ever experienced. It took me a second to realize what happened to me, but when I did, I was mortified. I was just whipped. Just when I was beginning to think the pain was getting bearable, he brought the whip down again which caused me to scream.

"I do love that sound. Do it again." Whether I wanted to or not, I screamed each time the whip came down until I thankfully sank into unconsciousness.

When he killed my mom:

"You shouldn't have tried to escape, my dear. Now your mom has to pay the price." James said.

"No, please. Leave her alone. Punish me." I pleaded with him.

"I have already punished you. Did you think being whipped was just for my amusement?" he chuckled. "And I figure this is a worse punishment. Knowing you mom died because of you, so . . . any lasts words."

"Liam's alive, mom," I said at last.

"My boy's alive?" my mom's weak voice ask.

I was going to respond, but before I could say anything, James cut my mom's throat. I yelled mom's name, but I knew nothing could change what happened.

Suddenly the door was thrown open, and my brother stormed into the cabin. James's head shot up to him, and his eyes widened, but he quickly snapped out of it and ran behind me, and I couldn't help but cringe at his closeness.

"Well, well. Look who is alive. I thought your sister was trying to help your mother, but apparently she wasn't lying after all." He laughed and put his hand on my shoulder. Suddenly Adrian moved behind Liam and glared at the hand on my shoulder.

"Let her go, and we'll let you live." Adrian said calmly which I knew took a lot of effort from the strain in his voice.

"Why should I live without her? Would you live without her?" he asked and by the silence the answer was obvious.

"Either way she is coming with us. You can either give her willingly and live, or we will kill you and take her anyway." Aaron snapped.

"You know, I don't like either options. How about if I can't have then no one can?" Before they could do anything, I felt the pinch as he injected me with a purple liquid.

With this last memory my eyes opened.

Adrian's pov

Ever since the accident I have been staying by Layla's bed. It has been about a week, and she still hasn't woken up. The doctors don't even know why she is in coma. They say her body is healed well enough for her to wake up, but she still hasn't.

While she has been in her coma, I have refrained from replaceing my brother. I needed Layla to be awake so I could protect her if something went wrong. I was hoping nothing did, but you never knew in these situations.

Frustrated I started pacing around the room, and that is when I heard it. I heard a small gasp, and I looked over to replace Layla's eyes opened, and as I saw he he pain and fear in them, I couldn't stop myself from running over to her and wrapping my arms around her shuddering body.

"I remember," she said quietly.

"What do you remember?" I asked stroking her hair back. I thought I was ready for anything she said, but I found out that I was wrong with her next words.

"I remember everything," she whispered in a broken voice.