Her Chosen Love

Layla's pov

Later that night I woke up in an unfamiliar bed. I tried to sit up but I was pushed down with not two hands but four. I looked up to see two sets of eyes that were angrily glaring at eachother.

"Please someone explain to me what is going on!" I yelled snapping them out of their glares.

"Love, this is, Aaron, my brother. Aaron this is Layla. She is my m....."

"No she is not. She is mine," Aaron growled interrupting Adrian.

"What is going on?"

"You are both of our mates, and you have to choose which one of us you choose to accept." Adrian said getting right to the point.

"What happens to the one that I don't pick?" I asked. I didn't want to hurt anyone with a decision I have to make.

"Usually I would say they have a second chance mate for them, but in this situation...... I don't know. No one in history has had two mates, so we are the first people to go through this."

"But don't worry about that too much right now. We have bigger problems to solve."

What Aaron said caught my attention immediately, and Adrian seemed to know because he started explaining.

"The rebels have already attacked both of our castles. They don't like us having the throne so they are determined to overthrow us."

"I know who the leader is. He was like a brother to me." I whispered.

Adrian caught this and it seemed to severely anger him. "Is he the one that did all that to you?" I knew what he meant so I nodded. "Who?" he ground out.

"His name is James. He is Will's older brother."

"Does Will know anything about his brother?"

I shook my head. "No, he thought he just ran away because of Liam going mi.... I mean Liam leaving."

Adrian smiled sadly at me. "How about I go get your friends for you? They need to be protected anyway."

"You would do that?" I asked looking up at him.

"Of course, I would do anything for you. Even if it means that I have to be separated from you for a little bit," he chuckled.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome, my love." I brought his head to mine and I quickly kissed his lips, but he grabbed my face in his hands and made it last longer. I am pretty sure the kiss would have got a lot more heated if it wasn't for someone clearing their throat and it was only then that I remembered Aaron was still in the room.

"I'm sorry," I said feeling bad that I forgot about my other mate.

"It's okay. You knew him a lot longer than you knew me." Despite his words I could see the hurt in his eyes as he turned away from me and left the room.

"It's okay, love. Don't beat yourself up about this." Adrian rubbed my back trying to soothe me.

"Why do I feel guilty even though I just met him today?"

"It's the mate bond. It will do that to you." He smiled apologetically at me. "I hate to leave you again, but I am pretty sure you don't want anything to happen to your friends."

I nodded sadly and he kissed my forehead then he left me. All I could do after he left was stare at the ceiling. I had no idea where I was, and I didn't want to take the chance of getting lost.

After a few minutes the door opened and I stared at the random guy that had walked through the door. When he saw me he looked shocked, but did his best to hide it.

"When Aaron said he found his mate, I didn't believe it, but here you are." I could tell he was mostly talking to himself, so I just stayed silent and looked down. "Hungry? I can take you to the kitchen. I'm Jake by the way."

At the mention of food, my head shot up and I quickly got out of bed. I heard the guy chuckle but ignored it entirely. I followed him to the kitchen and on the way I noticed that it was as confusing as Adrian's place, but for some reason the turns were very familiar.

"I know what you're thinking," Aaron said and I jumped at his voice suddenly appearing beside me. Ignoring my frightened reaction he continued, "Adrian and I have twin castles. Our parents built them when we were born."

Not knowing what to say, I just nodded. We continued our way to the kitchen in a tense, awkward silence, and I was glad Jake left when Aaron showed up. I didn't need anyone else to experience the tension between us.

While we walked, our shoulders kept brushing and I could feel the soft tingles going through my arm and traveling down my body causing me to shiver involuntarily.

We finally made it to the kitchen, and when I walked in, I wanted to walk write back out. The kitchen was already occupied by five guys one of which was Jake. They were all very muscular and power seemed to radiated from all if them.

"Sit down and I will make you something." I mumbled a thank you and sat down. I could feel the guys eyes on me so swallowing my nervousness, I looked up to meet their eyes. They gave me reassuring smiles, which I returned letting them know I wasn't afraid. They all seemed to let our a breathe and relax, and I couldn't help the small laugh that escaped my lips. Suddenly Aaron set down a plate and sat down beside me with his own.

"Hey! How come you didn't make anything for me. I'm hungry too," one of the guys whined which made me laugh.

"Because you have two working legs to get up and make your own," Aaron said sounding bored. "Layla, this is Mason, Carter and Drew they are my top warriors. This is Zach, my Delta, and you know my beta who is Jake. Everyone this is Layla, my mate."

Suddenly the guys all got up, and sat on the floor behind me. "So...... how did y'all meet?" Mason asked looking like he was a little hid waiting for story time.

"Ummmm, Aaron rescued me from some rebels that had kidnapped me." They all looked at me with wide eyes, but didn't have a chance to say anything to me because Adrian walked in the kitchen looking mad with Charlotte and Will following behind him. "Adrian, what's wrong?"

He threw a small box on the table along with a piece of paper, causing the guys to get up from the floor. I picked up both items, and began to read the note. It said:

Dear Layla,

I can't stop thinking about you. You were the only one that could withstand my torture, and I admire that about you. I wish you were still with me. You looked so beautiful when you were tied up while my knife slicing through your skin. My favorite part was your screams. They were like music to my ears. Tell your mates that I will see them soon. They won't survive the encounter though.

All my love,

~ J ♡

P.S. I hope you enjoy my gift.

I put the letter down, and opened the box with shaking hands. As soon as I got a glimpse of what was in the box, I ran to the sink and emptied my stomach. Not even a second later Adrian was there holding my hair up.

After I was done I wiped my mouth and turned around into Adrian's chest. He held me tightly ignoring the glares he was getting from Aaron's friends.

Suddenly I heard a loud crash from another room and that was when I realized Aaron wasn't in the room. I quickly ran to where the crash sounded. When I got, there I was frozen.

Aaron was throwing everything around and then started punching to wall over and over again. Without thinking I ran to him and threw my arms around him. He stopped punching the wall, and I let go of him as he turned around to look at me.

"Are you...." I was caught off by him cupping my cheek and lowering his face to mine while I just froze not knowing what to do. Just as his lips brushed mine, he was sent sailing across the room. As soon as he landed, Adrian was on him. They started to fight and I just stood there shocked.

When Adrian crashed through a table the noise brought me out of the shock I was in. "Stop! Stop fighting!" I tried to run to them but arms wrapped around me and help me back. "No! They could get hurt!"

I struggled in the person's arms, but it was no use. I sank down and let out a sob. When I heard the fighting stop, I looked up and saw two concerned faces looking down at me. Just when they were about to say something, my best friend came to my rescue.

"Just leave her alone. Y'all have done enough for tonight," Charlotte said moving to stand in front of me. Will helped me up and I went back into the kitchen to wash my face of the tears. I needed something to take my mind off my mates so making up my mind, 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."