"You'll be okay?" I asked her for the fifth time and even my brothers laughed at Per's growl.

"Ivo, I will be fine, I promise to use the walkie talkie if I think anything is wrong" she barks at me and I bite my lip to stop the grin at how cute she is stood glaring at me.

I hold my hands up in surrender "Okay, Okay we are going" I take a step before turning back to her "Lock..."

"Yes sir, Locking the door behind you, Sir!" and she salutes.

"Fuck, what are we going to do with you", I groan and pull her in for a hug, dropping a kiss on her head before stepping back and suddenly she's surrounded, as Topper, then Thad and finally Rupert also hug and drop kisses on her head.

She stands between them all and looks bemused and her whispered, "Ooh" makes us all smile.

"We will be back as soon as we can" Rupert tells her before herding us all out the door and we wait till we hear the lock engage before leaving.

We had agreed to stay in pairs for safety, this time Topper joined me, Thad and Rupert heading for the gatehouse whilst we tried the staff dorms, eyes pealed for any tracks in the snow.

The staff dorms were all locked up tight and the drift of snow against the main door told us it had not been used since the storm hit. We rounded the main buildings and gain no tracks and no signs of life, it was quite eerie the old stone buildings against the pure white snow, muted colours in every direction. We keep walking, round and checking doors and access points to see what was locked and what was open, everything was locked so far, the next building was the dorms dorm where Per's dorm room was.

Here we found the first signs of disturbance in the snow but it wasn't fresh, it had happened yesterday, similar to outdo out building, we tried the door, we had dropped the latch when we brought Per back to our dorm but the dorm gave under a twist of the door handle. Both Topper and I were alert now, carefully stepping inside, we listened, moving through the building trying the door as we climbed floor by floor higher till we had tried them all, including Per's, nothing out of place and everything locked.

Again we dropped the latch behind us as we left the building, moving this time down towards the gatehouse. Last time we had followed the wall and found the keepers cottage, this time we were heading the other way, looking for the caretakers lodge.

We had just moved past the gatehouse when the other rejoined us "Nothing, I found the cottage but its all locked up" Ru explains and in agreement we all turn back towards the dorms, only to stop at the sound of a vehicle, moving up through the approach road.

We hurry back to the gatehouse, arriving just as a mountain rescue snowmobile comes to a stop, our appearance shocking them as much as their arrival had us. I stepped forward, recognising the caretaker Mr Jones as I moved closer.

"Boys, what are you doing here?" he asked shocked, his gaze flitting between us, as his colleague turns off the machine, making conversation easier.

I quickly explain what had happened to us and how we had been managing

"Boys, this is Peter Matlock, the local ranger, Is it just you four?" he asked as the other man joined us.

"No, there is one female student" I answer and tense as Peter responds.

"Miss Perdita Brooke-Bennett?"

"Yes, how do you know?" Rupert asks from my side, just as the walkie talkie crackles to life in my pocket.

"Hello, Ivo, help" Per's voice is only a whisper over the radio.

"Per, what is it?" I ask back, the tension around me rising as we hear her panicked response.

"There's someone here, I heard them open the door and hid when I realised it wasn't one of you" she whispered.

"We're coming, stay hidden baby" I tell her and exchanged a look with my brothers, we all thought the same thing.

"The gamekeeper" Rupert spat out and then we were all running back towards the dorms, I could vaguely hear the voices of the two men behind us but didn't care, our propriety was to get to her.

The main door was open when we reached our building and we raced up the stairs and in through our dorm door. By the time I got there Rupert had the guy pinned against the wall, his hand at his throat as he questioned him.

There was no sign of Per and I sent a quick look at Topper, tilting my head towards the bedrooms and with a quick nod, he moved away to find her.

"What the hell is going on here?" Mr Jones voice shouted as he settled into the room, his gaze looking at the man against the wall. "Powell? What are you doing in here?"

"Nothing Mr Jones, just checking in, I knew they were here alone and without power, wouldn't want the pupils to get hurt now would we" he wheezes against Rupert hold.

"We left this building secure, the dorm door was locked and the main building door as well, how the fuck did you get in?" Rupert growls and I step forward my hands reaching for his pockets.

He tried to stop me but it wasn't long before I pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and held them up. "Powell where did you get these, you have no business with them?" Mr Jones steps forward, taking the keys from my hands.

"Is this how you got into the females dorms?" Thad questioned.

"He went where?" Mr Jones looked round at us before looking to the other newcomer. "Peter, could you"

Peter stepped past me and pulled two zip ties out of his pocket, moving up to Rupert side, he placed on hand on his shoulder "Step back son, I've got him now" he instructed and reluctantly Ru left him go. As Powell started to rush forward Peter moved and soon the man was on his knees, his wrists secured behind his back, swearing and cursing.

"I think you had better tell us everything" Mr Jones says looking between us.

I straighten, having caught a glimpse of a scared looking Per, in Toppers arms, hovering in the background, out of sight of the intruder.

"Get him out of here first" I demand, I watch as Peter and Mr Jones look at each other before nodding.

"I've got somewhere we can hold him till back up arrives, give us 20 minutes to get him secure and we will be back" he agree's and Peter hauls Powell to his feet, pushing him in the direction of the door.

As the door shuts behind them Topper brings Per into the room and we all crowd around her, each of us giving her a hug before she bursts into tears and Thad sweeps her up into his arms and walks over to the fire, sitting with her on his lap, his hand rubbing her back as he whispers reassuring words to her. The rest of us following with Topper and I dropping into the seats around them, as Rupert throws more logs on the fire and grabs Per's blanket to wrap around her.

We all realise she is in shock but are not sure what to do about it.