Sauter (Ironside Academy, #3)(122)

She just stared at him, working her throat nervously.

Cian would have been a beautiful baby with those aquamarine eyes and tousled golden locks. The idea of anyone trying to harm him made her physically sick, and she curled her hands around her stomach, hoping the story didn’t get any worse.

“I was the final addition,” Kilian said, his pale eyes watching her carefully. “I’m also twenty-one. My adoptive parents knew Silla. They heard she was open to training up possible Icons, and they sent her my picture.”

“Kilian didn’t need protecting from anybody,” Mikel explained. “But like Elijah, he had a staggering amount of natural talent. We decided he was going to be our secret weapon.”

“So you’re all going to try and win the game? As a group?” she summarised. “What kind of group? Like a band or something?”

“More than that.” Kalen looked amused. “A performance group. A mix of genres and styles, but they can all sing and dance at an elite level, and by the time they graduate, they’ll be the most popular group in the world. Everything we’ve done up until now has just been to create mystery and stir up interest. As of next year, every single performance piece is going to be as a group or for the group, and everyone is going to be expected to pull their weight cultivating the group’s fan base. It’s going to be tireless and constant, far beyond what people normally do to win this game. Their careers are starting inside Ironside, not after Ironside.”

She could imagine Theodore and Kilian singing as they performed complicated choreography, because Theodore was good at everything and Kilian was graceful, with a beautiful voice. She could easily see Elijah and Gabriel pulling it off, as well. Even Cian, if she was honest. But Oscar? Singing and dancing? And Moses? And Niko?

“We want you in the group, Isobel.” It was Elijah who spoke, his arms still loosely folded, his cold eyes expectant. “You’re a fantastic dancer and you have a killer voice. With a bit of Mikel’s fine-tuning, you could be a complete ace, like Theodore.”

“Why are you an ace?” she asked, tipping her head back to the smirking Alpha.

“He’s just a natural at everything,” Kilian answered, rolling his eyes. “Picks up choreography like that”—he snapped his fingers—“and he has a stable voice with a natural range that barely needs any work, unlike the rest of us. We had to train for years to match what he was born with. You’re a lot like him.”

“Please.” Theodore rolled his eyes. “Elijah has perfect pitch and an eidetic memory. I’m not the ace.”

Elijah just shrugged.

“What about you two?” she asked, looking at Mikel and Kalen. “You put all this work into the group and then you get sent back to the settlements when they win? How does that keep us all together?”

“Actually.” Mikel grinned, his scars twisting along his cheeks. “The group has signed a contract with me and Kalen as co-managers. It has a ten-year term, and it was signed three years ago. Starting next year, we’ll be making no secret of the fact that we’re managing you and the boys, and the fans will begin to think of us as just as much a part of the group as anyone else.”

“You really think the officials are going to let this happen?” she asked, trying to keep the doubt from her tone.

“I look forward to watching them try to stop it,” Kalen said, far too casually. “What do you say, Carter? Do you want to play this game on your own, or do you want to play it with us?”

If she chose to go her own way, she would win. The officials would make sure of it, even if it was purely to stop the Alpha group from winning. She could get her hands on the surrogate pills and live her own life exactly the way she wanted to, without any mates to answer to.

That reality hit her suddenly, and heavily.

She could win the game.

They had to have reached the same conclusion, but they were still giving her the option. They were giving her everything. Even the power to destroy them. It would have been wiser to secretly get rid of her. To find a way to get her expelled.

To forget about her.

The longer she sat with her thoughts, the less control they seemed to have over their emotions, and little flashes of anxiety, fear, and uncertainty began to bat away at her chest. Theodore had gone a little too still, his breath no longer stirring against the top of her head.

“What about Cesar?” The thought popped into her head unbidden. “My dad made me sign a contract assigning him as my manager already.”

“We’ll find a way to deal with him,” Oscar promised darkly, making her head snap in his direction. He looked too serious.

“Mikel and I will deal with him,” Kalen corrected with a frown.

“What’s the name of your group?” she asked.

Moses barked out a laugh. “We don’t have one. Been trying to figure that out for years. Maybe you should name it, since you’d be the final member.”

She felt suddenly put on the spot, her mind racing for an idea that wasn’t terrible. “What about Eleven?”

“There are nine of us, doll.” Cian was smirking at her.

“There’s eleven.” She pointed to Kalen and Mikel. “You want the fans to include them, right?”

“That’s actually not bad.” Elijah sat up straighter. “That wasn’t on our list of options at all.”