I should have been freaking out, but I'd done more than my share of underground tunnelling with my magic, so it wasn't that unusual to me. Though as I currently couldn't use my magic maybe it should have been because if the tunnel caved in on my head then there wasn't going to be anything I could do to save myself. Gah, I really wished we hadn't lost our damn cuff key and all the freaking cuffs hadn’t been changed.
As I descended down the four floors towards the maintenance level, the sound of Plunger digging reached me and I upped my pace. The tunnel sloped hard and my boots slipped a little on the dirt beneath them, but I managed to keep my feet as I drew closer to them.
"How's it going?" I called when I was sure I must be right by them and as I rounded a corner, the red glow from Plunger’s nose filled the space and I could just make his silhouette out ahead of me.
"There's a wall right ahead of me," Plunger replied, his voice all weird and nasally because of that gross star nose situation he had going on. "I can use an ultrasonic boom to loosen the mortar, but you'll probably want to move back a bit and cover your ears, sweetness. It’ll be a big boom that really thrusts into everything – that’s my method."
A hand found mine in the dark and my heart lurched as Ethan's scent surrounded me and his other hand curled around my waist. A deep, canine sound escaped his lips and he nuzzled into me in greeting, the barest scrape of stubble lining his jaw scratching against my neck as he buried his face against me. I couldn't help but give in to my instincts and nuzzle him back, my hand sliding up his back and pushing into his hair as I pulled him closer.
"I've missed you, love," he breathed so low that I could only hear him at all because his mouth was brushing my ear.
He started to walk me backwards, away from Plunger and I let him move me as I drew him closer, the ache in my chest loosening as I gave into the pull between us and let the mate bond have what it had been aching for.
"I've been dreaming of you," I murmured as we turned a corner and Ethan growled in a possessive, self-satisfied way as he threaded his fingers through mine and squeezed my hand tight.
"What kind of dreams?" he asked, his mouth moving to lay kisses along my throat and sending shivers through my skin.
"The kind where you stand up and tell the whole world you're mine," I replied breathily.
Ethan growled in frustration, shifting back an inch until I could feel the brush of his lips against mine.
A high-pitched noise started to build around us and I stuffed my fingers into my ears as Ethan did the same thing half a second before Plunger's ultrasonic boom took out the mortar.
Adrenaline rushed through me and my heart thundered with excitement. This was it. The plan was coming together and we'd be getting out of here really fucking soon.
Ethan kissed me and I let him sweep me up in the excitement of what we were doing, his tongue sliding between my lips in the most delicious way as he dominated the movements of our mouths together and I let him because it felt too good to protest. There were so many unspoken words in that kiss, longing and promises and heartache and grief and I didn't know if it hurt or if it was filling a void in me which I was desperate to see made whole again.
"Let me follow you when you run, Rosalie," Ethan murmured, making my heart thrum like the wings of a hummingbird. "Let's get out of here and figure out how to make this work. I can't keep being without you. It's tearing my heart to ribbons."
"You'd follow me back to my family?" I questioned, wishing I could see him to gauge something from his expression.
Ethan hesitated for a long moment and I knew he didn’t want that.
"I think I'd follow you to the moon itself at this point," he sighed.
I tiptoed up to taste his lips once more then pulled away and hurried down the tunnel to meet back up with Plunger again. I didn't know what to make of Ethan's declarations. He always seemed to find it so much easier to make them in