**Mason''s POV


    The moment I''ve been longing for for weeks has finallye, and I can barely speak. I can''t tell my daughter everything I have been wanting to tell her. The words just won''te out. So, Instead, I go into management mode. We don''t have the luxury of riding off into the sunset for our happy ever after. The kids are safe, but there''s still so much to do.


    Everything has changed. I can sense it. My daughter is home, but she is not the same girl who left this house weeks ago. She might think she can hide behind the mask she has painted on her face, but I can see right the it because it''s the same mask that I used to wear. The one that turns you bitter the longer you try to maintain it.


    When I returned from my ordeal as a teen there was no one there to tell me it was okay to feel the way I did. There was no one there to call me out on my act, to tell me I didn''t need to pretend I was fine just to make life easier for everyone around me. I won''t let Harper, Archie, or Dillon hide the way I did. Whatever they''ve been through needs to be spoken about, not locked away and left to fester whilst it slowly eats away at them from the inside.


    After a quick dash around the house to gather up the rest of our belongings, we port back to military headquarters. I hope I never step foot in that holiday home again. I hope the ce falls down and takes all the bad memories with it


    Robert is taken straight to the medical bay. He will be healed and, hopefully, we will have gotten him permission to be released from the prison before he is ready to leave the medical bay so he never has to return to the prison. He and I still have some conversations to have, but they can wait. He may not have saved me as a teen, but he saved my daughter, and that is more important to me.


    Raff has food brought in for the kids, and they sit at a table together whilst they eat the sandwiches like they''ve been presented with a grand feast. They split the food, letting each other sample what they have. I realise I''m not the only one watching them. My entire bond group, Archie''s parents and some of Raff''s men watch them too, all of us silently wondering what they''ve been through.


    "What have they been feeding them?" Theo whispers as I fasten the buckles on the side of his vest.


    "I wasn''t there long enough to get a full meal n, but from what I saw it was dry cereal for breakfast and I saw some packaged snacks. Some of the kids that work bring back food from their ce of work, but I doubt it''s enough to feed them all," Luke exins.


    "How many kids did they have there?" Axel asks as he checks if Josie''s gear is


    secure.


    "I saw at least thirty teens, but I suspect there are more," he says as he adjusts the straps on his tactical vest.


    "Ready to move in?" Raff asks as a fully geared-up team filters into the room. "Yes," Luke nods.


    Okay, we have six porters. Is there somewhere discreet you can port them all in?" Raff asks.


    "Not discreet, no, I can take two at a time. The rooms are small unless we port directly into the tunnels or themunal area," Luke shakes his head.


    "Right, let''s forget going for the element of surprise then. How many are youfortable porting in at once?"


    "Ten," Luke says.


    "Perfect, six porters and four to start securing the area. All the porterse straight back here to pick up the rest


    *


    of our team," Raff calls out.


    The n is not perfect, but it''s the best we coulde up with in the short amount of time we have had. Harper, Dillon and Archie will be here with some more of Raff''s men and Archie''s parents to reassure any teens we rescue. I''m not a huge fan of having to leave my daughter already or have her involved in this rescue mission, but she had insisted she would be the best to help calm the teens we bring back


    Raff has another unit porting into the location where Luke and Robert first made contact with the rogues at the same time that we enter the tunnels. I just hope we haven''t given them enough time to work out what is happening and move out.


    Luke ports in with a group of ten, including Raff and Deacon. Momentster all the men with porting abilities return and collect the rest of us.


    We port intoplete darkness. I can tell we are underground by the smell and the thickness of the air. Blue eyes begin to re all around as we all use our gifts to see. A few moments pass whilst we all adjust to our new surroundings and then a light flickers on..


    "There are lights on the walls. Find one and press it to turn it on. Blue curtains are bathrooms. Be careful going in them, they are just a shit and piss-filled hole in the ground," Luke calls out, and everyone begins to move.


    My bond group moves together as one, pulling back curtains as we pass. At first, I think we are toote. The ce seems deserted, but I hear a small whimper of fear as I pull back one of the curtains. There is a group of three feens huddled together. They look terrified.


    "Three here," I call out. I don''t have time to coddle them, we just need to get them out and safe first.


    Deacon rushes in, porting out with the teens before returning to us a few momentster. We work our way through the tunnel system like that, Luke and D taking turns to take any teens we find to safety.


    Today''s Bonus Offer


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