Claimed By The Three Royal Princes

Chapter 7

"What's the use of this meeting and why couldn't it wait until morning?" Jayden fumbled as soon as he barged into their private room and slammed the door shut behind him.

He located an empty chair at lowered himself on it. He was in his mother's chambers after they had come back from the cabin when the head maid came to inform him that Jared had called a meeting and wanted to speak to all of them.

He didn't want to leave his mother who has been bedridden for days now but she has insisted that he attends. He hated that Jared always tried to exercise his rights by telling him what to do. He doesn't like being told what to do. He might be the first prince by age but it doesn't necessarily mean that he could order them around. It also doesn't mean that he was older than all of them combined. He was first and that's his only advantage.

"Because we don't have until morning." Came Jared's response. "We have to figure out what to do with Lily as soon as possible and come to an agreement together."

"We?" Jayden arched his brow at his brother with a scoff. "I never asked to be a part of this problem. We had a shot at doing what's right hours ago but you insisted that we let her be so this is all on you Jared. Don't put the burden of that woman on me."

"She's our mate Jayden." Jared reminded him. "She's just not any woman. How can you just suggest that we kill her off? Doesn't the prophecy or the bond mean anything to you?"

He scoffed while Jareth looked back from both of them as they argued. He couldn't believe that he had given up a night at the tavern where he was supposed to be tangled up in the sheets with a courtesan for this.

"It doesn't and that's why we have to put an end to her now that we have the chance. Haven't you thought about the possibility of her fooling us?" Jayden asked. "She was in our bathing house. That place is heavily guarded so how on earth did she make it inside if she didn't have a plan to do something to us?"

"Did you see that girl? Does she look like someone who could hurt us? She was just as confused as we were."

"Unbelievable." Jareth muttered under his breath. His chin resting on his hands tiredly.

"Don't tell me that you bought that crap she spilled back there." Jayden countered in disagreement. "She committed treason. If it were any other woman in her place, we wouldn't even be having this argument right now."

"And that's because she's not any woman."

"Aren't you both overreacting?" Jareth blurted out and they whipped their heads towards him at the exact same time. "I'm just saying that she probably doesn't even want anything to do with us so why should we care? She wasn't even thrilled at the idea of being our mates."

"At least your brother is more sensible than you are in this matter." Jayden clicked his tongue mockingly. "It's settled then. We'll get rid of her first thing tomorrow morning and move on from this like it never happened. We don't know her and there's no point trying to form a connection."

"Then how about we bring her here to the Palace to live with us." Jared suggested and Jayden bit on his lower lip to suppress his anger. How does he keep on coming up with more suggestions that wasn't even favourable to him?

"She clearly doesn't remember anything when i spoke to her." He went on. "What if she's really saying the truth? What if she's lost or worse? Instead of killing her, we can bring her here to understand her more and figure out why she's here and why we have a connection with her."

"Why are you even doing this Jared? You're betrothed to be married soon so why does this girl even matter to you?"

"I just feel like it's wrong that we get to kill her when she's yet to do anything to us." He answered. "If she's a spy like you claimed then wouldn't it be wise to bring her here under our supervision so that we can watch her every move and see what she's up to?" He added but Jayden knew better.

He knew that the only reason his half brother was suggesting this was because of the prophecy that came since the moment they were born. There can only be one true alpha king. Whoever finds his mate and marks her first would rule over the others but what they didn't know was that they would all be mated to one woman one day. That's why it came as a shock when they both found out that Lily was their fated mate.

Jared was already trying to play his cards. He has always wanted the throne so Jayden wasn't surprised that he was insisting and trying to defend this girl. He wants her for the throne.

Jayden scoffed, his eyes shining in blatant irritation. "We both know that that's not the only reason why you want her here Jared. It's because you want to succeed after our father."

"And what's so wrong with that?" He countered. His voice taking a lower note. "Lily is our mate and if one of us should have then why can't it be me? It's not like I'm doing anything wrong. We all know that I'm fit to rule this pack. It is my birthright."

"Anyone is fit to rule this pack Jared." Jayden said to him with a straight face. "Jareth and i are equally princes and we are our father's children so we also have a right to the throne if we want it. We might even do a better Job than you ever would."

"How about we make this a little interesting?" Jareth spoke up and rose to his feet. His face beaming with a smile a he grinned from ear to ear. "We clearly cannot fight amongst us for who is more deserving of the throne so why don't we place a bet?"

"Whoever marks her first between the three of us gets to be the true alpha king after our father and the rest his subordinates." Jareth shrugged with an unbothered look on his face. The throne was the least of his worries but his brother fighting between themselves for a woman, now that was something that he couldn't afford to miss in this lifetime of his.

It'll be interesting, watching them go neck to neck with each other to emerge victorious and that's why he instigated it. The goddess has mated them to one woman so why not make the best out of it?

"I'm not interested in fighting over a woman whom i barely know all because of a stupid prophecy and a silly title. If you want the throne so bad then you can have it." Jayden spat out in rage and turned to go but Jared's next words stopped him.

"Are you sure that you're not interested or are you only saying that because you're too scared of loosing to me."

Jayden turned to face him slowly with a deep frown on his face.

"I've never been scared to go on a fight with you Jared. Be it a wolf fight, sword fight or hand to hand combat and you know it too but if that's how you want to play this game then fine." He agreed and walked up to him.

"And to make it fair, I won't only mark her but I'll make sure to get intimate with her then I'll kill her and offer her on a silver platter to you as a trophy for winning the bet. And don't forget that you asked for this and not me." He added and barged out of the room in anger.

The maids that walked past him bowed their heads in reverence as he made his way back to his mother's room. Just what on earth do they take him for? He'd make sure to show Jared what he's capable of. After all, he had challenged him first and he would make him eat his words when he was done.

*.*.*

The next morning, at the first break of dawn after getting themselves ready, they all set out into the woods as they made their way back to the cabin where they held her captive.

The arrived to find the door broken beyond repair and empty. Jareth did a thorough search of the area but couldn't find a single trail of her or anything that would point to her escape. As if to make matters worse, the rain had washed off all trails of her so they couldn't find any scent of her as well.

"I'm guessing that she ran away last night after we left." Jareth crouched to the ground to touch the soil. "There's no footprint of her anywhere and my nose can't pick up a single trail."

"I told you she was a spy." Jayden yelled furiously, directing his anger to Jared. "We had a shot at killing her last night but you wouldn't let me do it. Now she's gone back to her pack and who knows what they might be planning next!"

The food that they had left for her was untouched. How was she able to untie herself? And did she really run away under that heavy downpour last night? Jared couldn't help but worry about her. What if she's in some kind of danger?

"It's no one's fault Jayden." Jareth came to Jared's defense. "No one would've thought that she would escape last night. She's quite efficient."

"I knew that she would escape. Her stupid sob story about not remembering anything was just as stupid as the people who fell for it." He shamed them. "You let a pervert escape and for all we know, she could be an assassin who has gone back to regroup with her clan."

"And whose fault is it that she chose to run away from here?" Jared attacked him. "You were the one who kept on threatening to kill her so could you blame the poor girl for running away?"

"Well she had better not set her foot back into this pack because if i ever set my eyes on her again then she's as good as dead!" Jayden deadpanned, leaving the others speechless and at a loss for words.