Her Chosen Love

Layla's pov

I watched as Adrian put the rest of my things in the trunk. Yesterday he sent the limo back and had someone bring one of his cars. He wanted everyone to think it was just a normal person's vehicle, so I would not be in any danger on the way to his castle. Apparently he had a lot of enemies that wanted him dead.

"Layla, come meet my best friend and royal adviser, Daniel." I went to where Adrian was standing and saw a man leaning on the car. He was about a few inches shorter than Adrian, but still taller than me.

"Nice to meet you." I said politely.

"The pleasure is mine, my queen," Daniel said kissing my hand. Adrian growled and pulled me to him. I laughed but snuggled further into his arms. "She's yours. I get it." Daniel laughed.

"Come on, love," Adrian said guiding me to the back seat. When I was seated, he scooted in beside me and pulled me to him once again, but I wasn't complaining. I loved when his skin made contact with mine. Just one touch made tingles shoot through my body and made me crave more contact.

The drive to the castle was spent in a comfortable silence. Adrian was staring out the window as he played in my hair with one hand, and I was drawing random shapes on his chest with my finger. I knew he was enjoying it because there was a low purring sound coming from the back of his throat and I was glad I could get this reaction out of him.

Just as I was starting to doze off, I felt the car stop and Adrian gently shake me. "It's okay, love. You can sleep. I will carry you in," he said while carefully picking me up. I nodded my head even though I didn't pay attention to what he said all that well. I just wrapped my arms around his neck and started to go back to sleep.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew we were headed up a set of stairs but I didn't know where we were going until he opened a door and revealed a huge bedroom with a large king sized bed. The bedroom was beautiful. It was mostly black but it had some maroon and white in certain places that made the bedroom even better.

I thought he was going to put me on the bed which looked really great right now, but he went past it and opened a door to a very spacious bathroom. It was white and the tiles had black veins in them.

He placed me on the counter and then returned with and outfit from my suitcase. It was a blue crop top and a high waisted black and white striped skirt.

"Take a shower. I will be right in the bedroom." He kissed my forehead and turned to leave. "Dinner will be ready in a little bit."

I groggily pulled myself off the counter and turned on the shower then hopped in when it reached the perfect temperature. I had to wash with what I believed was Adrian's soap since he didn't get mine out. The shower helped wake me up, and I was glad I would not have to face people looking like I was sleep deprived.

When I got changed, I exited the bathroom, and true to his word, Adrian was sitting on the bed waiting for me. I went to the bag with my accessories and put on a gold watch then some light perfume which made him chuckle.

"What?" I asked totally confused.

He stuck his nose in my neck and took a deep breath as his arms wrapped around me. "Despite your perfume, you still smell like me."

I gasped and slapped his arm. "You did that on purpose!"

He chuckled and nodded. "Of course. Everyone will know you are mine."

"And I always will be." He squeezed me tighter and I turned in his arms to kiss him. He immediately started kissing back, our lips moving in synch.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and he grabbed the back of my thighs lifting me up without breaking the kiss. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer to me. He groaned and I smiled at his reaction.

Suddenly he pulled away and we put our foreheads together as we were both breathing hard. "We better go down stairs before we don't leave this room." I blushed at his words and he chuckled and kissed my forehead before setting me back on the floor. He grabbed my hand and led me out of the room.

Not too long later I was totally lost. All I know is that we took like two turns to get to the stair case and then after that I was completely lost. Thankfully Adrian still had a grip on my hand or I would hate to think of where I would be.

"After we eat, I will give you a tour." I just nodded still doing my best to get a sense of direction in this place. I knew that it would take forever to learn where everything in this place was.

We had just walked in the dining room when I was suddenly tackled to the ground and I gasped as the air was knocked out of me. I looked up and saw a pair of unnaturally bright green eyes belonging to a young boy staring at me. He crawled up me until his mouth was near my ear.

"You're pretty. What's your name?" he whispered in my ear.

"Layla. What's yours?" I whispered back.

He leaned in closer and said it so low I almost didn't hear when he said, "Jace."

I picked him up and put him on my hip as I got up. "Well then you must be very brave. I read a story once where a guy with your name basically saved the world." He giggled and hid his face into my shoulder. I laughed and looked up to find everyone's eyes widened in shock besides Adrian's whose eyes were filled with adoration. "What?" I asked filling as if I have done something wrong.

"You didn't do anything wrong, dear," said a woman coming my way and taking Jace from my arms. "Everyone is just in shock because Jace has only ever talked to me or Adrian here. He especially never talks to people he just meets."

"Oh." I truly didn't know what to say. Was him talking to me a good thing? Before I had a chance to think anymore of it, Adrian pulled me to the head of the table kissed my hand.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce my mate, Layla Waters," he said with a big grin. Everyone cheered and I smiled at all of them. As we all sat down I noticed the chair on my side was empty, but I didn't pay any attention to it. The food was soon set out and we all started eating.

About halfway through the meal the door opened but I just continued eating like everyone else. I was about to take another bite until a familiar voice started talking.

"Sorry, I am late. I was caught up." The fork I was holding fell to my plate bringing everyone attention to me. I stood up from the table and looked at who had just walked through the oak doors.

Finally seeing him after two years, I did the first thing that came to mind and slapped my brother across the face. I wiped a tear away impatiently, and walked out the doors, or at least tried to. He caught my hand and turned me around.

"Layla, it's been a while." Out of all the words he could of chosen, he chose these, and it made me mad.

"Two years. It has been two years, Liam." I snapped, and he looked down.

"I know." He cleared his throat then asked, "How are mom and dad?"

"Fine, I guess. Mom called today."

His eyes turned a bright red and I knew he was angry. "You left? Didn't you think they needed you?" As soon as the words came out of his mouth, I snapped.

"Yes, I moved out! Do you want to know why? I moved out because my presence hurt them! I reminded them too much of their son that they thought was dead. When you went missing our family broke. Dad started drinking, mom went into depression, and I was the disappointment. They didn't say anything, but I knew they didn't love me the same anymore. I either made them sad by being too much like you, or disappointed them by not being like you enough. And when I moved out, they got better. I did what I had to, so don't you give me crap for my decisions because you weren't there!" When I was through, I was breathing hard, and when I looked up, I realized that I had said that in front of everyone at the table.

I did my best to smile at everyone. "It has been nice meeting all of you, but if you would excuse me."

"Layla, please," he tried to grab my arm, but I dodged him.

"No, just.... just stay away from me."

As soon as I stepped out I was wrapped in someone's arms and by the tingles I knew it was Adrian. I started to break down, and he picked me up and carried me to our bedroom. When we got there he helped me change into one of his shirts and then changed himself into a pair of joggers. After we were ready for bed, he pulled me to his chest and that night I cried myself to sleep with Adrian doing his best to comfort me.

Adrian's pov

It hurt so much seeing her like this. I was supposed to protect her, and right now I felt like a failure. How was I supposed to protect her from something like this.

I never knew Layla had a brother and despite living with him for close to two years now, I never knew Liam had a sister. I never asked either one, and now I regret it. Maybe if I had done something different Layla would not be crying right now.