~14~

Meliodas stalks carefully through the grouping of trees; deliberately making sure not to let any part of him brush any bark and as little shrubbery as possible, after all scent is essential right now.

"Elizabeth..?" He keeps his tone light, almost flat as he knows she won't answer- this is a game. "Where are you?"

The forest is an array of sweet and thick earth, even the moisture in the air threatens to distract him from his goal as he presses onwards, his eyes keen to any motion not of a frightened animals as he knows what he's looking for.

The scent jasmine races electric and sweet across his skin, it's is something that lighter than any cloud, clinging to him unrelenting. He knows it by heart. No imposters can sway him. So when it reaches out to grab him he follows, teeth slightly showing in his growing grin, and on light feet Meliodas prowls around a tree hearts starting to leap. "I... found you!"

The other side of the bark is empty.

He blinks several times.

Then his fingers grazing the wood as his lips part, "what?" the grin falling away. "But I was sure she...?"

A faint giggle sounds somewhere behind him and Meliodas' lips reshape into a half grin. Oh so that was how it was going to be. "All right then. No more messing around." She'd been clever to hide in one place then move to another. But now that he knows how far she's willing to go, he feels free to use whatever means necessary to draw her out.

Neither night or day falls overhead, simply a mix of the last rays of light and the awakening of dark. He keeps his walk a steady pace, and it's the quiet breaths hastening that is a nudge, ears straining for an unusually sounds. "Elizabeth... If you don't come out, you're going to miss the meal I'm making... and I know how hungry you are..." he teases a bit, practically expecting a growl from her stomach to give her away. "Don't you want any of that juicy seasoned meat, Elizabeth?"

He spins at a rustling, the lighter pitch of the woman teasing. "I know you're lying! You said it wouldn't be ready yet!" The pout in her tone is heavy and again behind him. The rustle was merely a rabbit that hops to its next destination.

Meliodas is however pleased with the results his smile widespread as he sneaks closer to where her scent is strongest and her voice originated from. "Well... there is a possibility that it could be finished by now." He makes sure to keep his voice even so as not to give anything away. There's still at least an hour before it can be served. He creeps around the tree arms curved and ready to capture her. "Why don't you come out now? I'll make you as much as you want! Have you even tried my wild boar yet?" The other side is revealed and once again he's stunned by the empty space that stares back at him.

"Oh, you're so mean!" His breath ceases long enough for him to realize where the playful spout of words are coming from and prepare. He twists just in time to catch the body jumping towards his from the lowest branch taking the force of their combined weight as they hit the ground. Elizabeth squeals while his heart nearly bursts his hands grabbing at her waist to hold her close and be sure she's okay. From the breathless laugh she gives as she gazes down at him with windswept hair she's more than fine. "I know that's not true," she pokes his nose.

When he has enough air in his lungs he doesn't hesitate to show his worry in his strained tone, "Are you crazy? What were you thinking?"

Elizabeth smiles like the stars brightening above them, soft and twinkling and his breathing quiets, his hearts thrumming with a growing sensation of adoration with the blush over his cheeks. She leans over him a bit closer, silky locks wondrous where they touch, scent surrounding him filling his every breath, and becomes the only thing he can see—his moon and twinkling stars. "What I was thinking was... I caught you."

She dips down over him then stops a breadth away, her eyes peering into his searching perhaps. As the seconds march on it becomes increasingly clear how aware he is of her. Every breath he takes is mixed with hers, the slight warmth of her mouth not even an inch away. He can almost taste her, can imagine lifting up slightly to graze his mouth over hers and shudder from head to toe from the intensity of it. Though intense can't describe the feeling of lying there her weight entirely stretched across him, warmth swirling over his increasingly sensitivity skin with her cute little mouth right there. His thoughts can't truly form, feeling like collecting water that ultimately leaks between his fingers. Meliodas takes a quick breath fingers twitching at her back as he shifts below her.

She seals their lips together before he can try and comprehend it. It's like a small explosion spreads outwards from his being as a long shaky sigh leaves his lungs. Her lips are light atop of his tingling with every press. And he kisses back enticed by the teasing sensations, making their lips mesh firmer, yet just as slow so the unsteadiness of their breathing is electric between them. Her tongue slides forward first, a jolt of pleasure down his spine that has his hands pressing her every curve into his until the only thing separating them are clothes. He swallows her moans, building a charge of tension under his skin that turns the kisses into sensual dances frantic and wanting as her legs part over his.

A throb picks up in his skull, the racket of his blood starting to beat there, and it's near impossible from him not to slide a hand to the small of her back holding her firmly to him as his hips gently roll up between her legs. He finds the soft noise she makes as her lips falter over his mesmerizing and the pulsing feeling under his skin wants to hear it again, louder and more frequent. But Elizabeth's fingers tighten at his shoulders and she pulls her mouth away only an breadth, but that's too much to him. "Meliodas, do you want to do this by the fire?" Her tone is ginger and coaxing, overly addicting to his ears, "It's soft there... Not too far," she captures his mouth in a searing kiss as breathing takes a back seat for the time being. She wants to move... her body even curves away from his now with her wondrous kiss being the last part of them to break. But no that's not right, her hand is in his, soft and warm with a beautiful strength underneath as she stares down at him asking him to follow.

Taking in slow breaths he climbs to his feet a little awkwardly from the growing stiffness in his pants and tries to use the air not surrounding her to untangle his thoughts. Elizabeth must see right through him, an ability he loves and flushes from, as she presses right up to his front until his shallow breathing is too loud in his mind and places several small kisses to his mouth intoxicating him to the point of wanting to snatch her up and have her right on the ground once more. But she tugs back with a breathless laugh their feet almost stumbling through the darkened forest to the golden gleam in the small distance.

The sight of the cooking food and hearing it pop and crackle doesn't sober him as much as the way watching Elizabeth step back from him just to lay herself out in the young grass dotted with soft hues all around. She's more than a sight before him with long, sheeny silver hair tumbling around her, pale supple skin just waiting to be touched and soft innocent features gazing up at him with curious lust and so much love his knees almost fail him. To Meliodas she's resplendent both inside and out. She's a goddess. His goddess.

Elizabeth must notice the twinge of hesitancy overtaking his features because her voice becomes slightly thick besides the smile she wears, her eyebrows creasing. "I want to be close with you Meliodas. Please? After today I just... I want to feel like I won't lose you."

His hearts lurch throwing away the image that was trying to form in mind, sending him to his knees as he bends over her. "You'll never lose me, Elizabeth. Why would you—?"

"Then show me." She closes her eyes for a long moment and he knows that she's trying to conceal something from him in doing so. Their eyes meet again and all the festering questions, the need for answers, are overshadowed by his want to comfort her, to make the little tremble in her lips go away. That's what he's wanted this entire trip. She's offering him the best way.

The kiss he pulls her into is different this time. There's no need to play games. They know what they want, what they've both wanted for a while and the strength and passion building behind every twist of their lips is consuming. His hands cup her round cheeks holding her steady as he simply devours her, unrestrained for once, delving his tongue along the seam of her plump lips, sliding over hers, and sucking noises from her throat that kindles sparks through his veins. Elizabeth is pleasantly responsive with eager hands carding through his hair so the scrape of her nails winds down his spine. Those delicate fingers tug and pull at his hair whenever he nips at her mouth something he decides she likes from the sweetness of her whimpers.

Their breathing is rushed and almost raspy, his turning into a sudden hum when her fingers, burning hot, presses into his lower belly. Slowly he breathes moans down her throat as her fingers glide with the pace of a slug up his torso, leaving a trail of crackling with desire in her wake. It's clear when her fingers reach his collarbone, her lips mouthing the corner of his, that she wants his undershirt off. Leaning up off of her he takes it in hand and pulls it from over her head tossing it to be forgotten. The look of satisfaction in her gaze leaves him shaky and hot all over his skin. She quickly sits up in seeing this, her hands almost too much to his sensitive flesh, when she grabs around his back her mouth working fervently over his chest. He trembles all the more blood set to a gut fluttering simmer as his hands shoot out to grasp around her with a choked groan. Wet sucks caress his muscles that twitch and roll beneath her attention her fingers working a second assault at his back never ceasing motion whether they're sliding up or scraping down making his cock achingly throb. "I've always wanted to explore you like this, Meliodas," she pants in clear excitement, her tone low and kittenish while he tilts his head back with a hungered moan.

He has to find his tongue when he peeks down to watch her own dart out and taste the dips between his muscles on her way down. His hearts leap when he realizes she's trying to move from underneath him in order to press him on his back. And while that's a blush-inducing, cock-straining plan, Meliodas sweeps his fingers under her chin stopping her advances temporarily with a short laugh. "Shouldn't I be saying the same thing about you?"

She visibly shivers, her tongue sliding across her lower lip which gleams in the mix of moonlight and fire's glow. Using the tightening that forms in his stomach he guides her onto her back and gently nudges her legs apart with his knees. Carefully his hands press over her clothed stomach feeling it quiver as she makes a trembling noise in her throat. Upwards his hands go cupping her breasts only fleetingly as a whiny sound escapes her lungs making him smirk. Part of his goal is reached when he starts unbuttoning his shirt from her, his eyes locking with hers and watching the growing want roll and crash through the darkened blues like waves enthralling him. His lips capture hers desperately as the shirt comes undone, part of the obstacle in his way that his hands dip under and around her, firmly holding her up and to him in doing so. He waits for her to shrug it completely off while his lips move insatiably over hers.

Soon she starts to fidget and move beneath him; his mouth finds a new path to take, one that drives her fingers tight around his sides as her thighs slide over his. Her neck is sucked with care, her skin drawn between his teeth so that she makes that high pitched mewl that curls his fingers a little more at her back. His tongue is languid in the way it strokes her flesh tasting the potent saccharin of her being seasoned by her growing passion. He eases downwards sucking in needed air as he threatens to lose himself too soon just from her hands on his skin, her taste on his tongue. Her collar bone is prominent, a place he sucks as Elizabeth's body quivers with an urgent groan. "Meliodas... I want..." Light as air she breathes out for him and he reacts by sliding his hands to the hem of her yellow undershirt, promptly ripping it down the middle.

The shredded fabric in his hands seems to stir an embarrassed flush in his cheeks and he peeks at her expression to find her eyes wide upon him. She breaks out into a blinding grin shoving the ruined shirt to the side unwittingly displaying the jostle of her perky breasts and peaked nipples in doing so. Meliodas clears his throat feeling a blaze stir like gales under his skin as she goes on to kick off her boots leaving her in only her bright orange shorts. Leaning down he kisses her nose, shocking a breath from her. "I'll buy you another shirt sometime..." He promises while carefully guiding his hands to her bare sides almost immediately overwhelmed by the sensation of such velvety warmth on his coarse palms.

Her lips burn like a touch from the sun just under his chin, a silent thank you. Once more he dips over her his hands grasping her thighs as his lips trail between the valley of her breasts. Just a gaze of them on his cheeks tempts him and he finds his lips climbing one sucking the skin softly as she sighs out then hard when she croons deep heady moans. He just about loses it even a budded nipple brushes his lips, his tongue darting out to flick rapidly over it as Elizabeth brings a fist over her mouth to cover a short curse. It inflames him as he sucks her breasts one rosy peak after the other urging her spine into a breathtaking bend when he grazes his teeth on one and roughly kneads the other. He feels her becoming just as hot as he when his mouth moves under her heaving chest his teeth nipping at the sensitive flesh just under her swells for a time. He can taste it in her sweat, smell it in her scent, and hear it in her heavenly voice how much she desires what they have rising like an inferno been them. Her fingers curl into his hair just when his lips kiss her belly tenderly his decision to finally end her growing torment made.

Her fingers tight in his locks are enough to hold onto reason when his lips graze her skin above the hem of her shorts, the scent of arousal there so strong his hips roll as a growl scrapes through his throat. Her panting his name isn't helping as her own hips arch up for him to remove her shorts. Eventually he finds the steadiness to get them off and is more pleasured than he feels he should be when pulling them off her shapely legs. The sodden blue panties waiting for him there are perfect and he lets her know with a warm smile, his fingers skimming the insides of her thighs.

Elizabeth tries to smile back but it's a bitten off noise disturbs the visual. She instead bestows a loving gaze in his direction and innocently informs him, "You're eyes... they're so dark. They make me feel so hot... everytime you look at me."

He sucks in a breath looking down as his fingers tense around her skin a knot of uncertainty forming.

Until Elizabeth rushes on, "It just means you want me like I want you... very much."

He nods knowing this to be true more than anything and leans down to place a kiss on the inside of her thigh to prove that. One kiss turns into two, his touch lingering and persistent as he relishes more and more of her. Her hastening breathes urge hum on, the heat of her skin and the tremble of her thighs. And before he even realizes it after taking a nice nibble out of her flesh his tongue laps over her panty covered slit and her hips buck with a thick moan. She's right there, hot and wet only separated by a barrier his tongue presses harder and harder against to try and taste more of her while she trembles and cries out pleas. In a way he's testing himself, as his pulse ticks rapidly under his skin, finding out how much he can take of her sinful noises as she grows wetter, her lewd motions he tries to contain, and the hint of her ripe flavor that's already twisting relentlessly under his skin.

It really only takes her fingers weaving back in his hair like a sharp command to get him tearing at her underwear until his lips are the only thing she feels in fervent deep kisses. He squeezes his eyes tightly shut at the onslaught of sensations that hit him at once. The high urgent moans and cries of her voice as she tries fruitlessly to buck and twist beneath him shoots straight to his cock encouraging breathy groans from his throat. His mouth is insatiable once more his head bent over her spread legs with a hunger that has her pleasure practically seeping from her. She's exquisite, silky heat on his tongue he can't get enough of. His fingers hold her thighs further apart with a guttural noise feeling her starting to twitch more frequently as her voice strains higher and higher the deeper he kisses her. His hearts flutter wildly in his chest overjoyed with how pleased she seems, her hands haven't left his hair once and her body curved towards his. Pressing closer if possible he drags his eyes open to see her while his mouth works where she needs it with a passionate flare, catching how her mouth opens wide with a spine tingling wail of his name. His eyes slip back closed to savor the image of flushed cheeks and sweat dotted temples just as her core spasms with a gush of heated release.

Feeling overly hot across his cheeks, Meliodas laps at her gently taking in what she has to offer until she sags to the ground with labored breaths.

Gazing down at her so utterly gorgeous in the relief of orgasm, he tells himself this is all she needs from him, that he shouldn't take anymore-even if they went into this with the promise of more. Meliodas brushes his palm over her cheek causing her closed eyes to reopen. "I'm just going to... uh, make sure the food doesn't burn." He swallows nervously when her hands latch around his and she starts to sit up. "I know you wouldn't want to go on an, um, empty stomach."

Trying to back away proves to be in her favor as she forces him down onto his back. She grins brightly working off his shoes and socks then starting to unfasten his pants as she straddles his thighs. "I'm willing to wait. We aren't finished Meliodas..."

He chokes on his breath, hands flying to her hips when she grips him in hand and fuck if the velvety clutch of her hold isn't beyond sensational. "E-Elizabeth...!" His protest easily dissolves into thick groans as she strokes him with confidence, her thumb rubbing just under the head in a way that makes his eyes drift shut while he rolls languidly into the hole in her fist. She pleasures him like this for a while and he finds he doesn't mind her sensual touch or the way it heightens his arousal. He doesn't notice when her weight disappears off his thighs. He does however notice when his tip begins to press inwards into a tight, heated slickness that steals his breath away.

Meliodas' eyes fly open to watch with a dry throat Elizabeth gradually take him inside her core. His hands tighten over her hips balancing her weight as his hearts skip beats all over the place. The look on her face tinged in bliss and discomfort and the draw of her eyebrows tells him she's determined. She wants this and he won't make it any harder for her. Despite the incredible feel of her sliding inch by inch over his cock, Meliodas pays attention to her expression, rolling his hips upwards slowly when he can until her folds rest over the root of him, fully seated. That's when he allows himself a deep moan his eyes falling shut to really take in the pleasure surrounding him while she adjusts. His hands slide up and down her sides pressing at her ribs to take away any sense of displeasure. And he's shocked when she bends forward for a moment breasts kissing his skin as her hair curtains their faces. Elizabeth's hands brace on the ground beside him before she rocks forward slowly then seats herself with a breathy sigh of his name.

It's hypnotizing watching the raw pleasure wash over her eyes as she begins to move discovering what she likes as she does so. His hands glide down her hourglass shape to the flare of her hips to find her ass to grab on when she leans back. And when her own brace on his chest to help her start bouncing in place his stomach melts into pools of boiling hot tension leaving him a moaning mess beneath her. Elizabeth moves over him the way he knows her thoughts to be-unpredictable. One minute she'll be riding his cock like she's determined to blow his mind, his breathing rushed to match hers as his head falls back to show the straining cords of muscles in his neck and the flush bleeding down his chest. Though the next she decides on a sensual roll of her hips, that ensnares his being, his eyes being helpless to watch her take pleasure from him and give it in such a beautiful toe curling way. And his most favorite is when she takes his hands and slides them up her chest to capture her bouncing breasts while she rides him purring his name low and desperate.

The pleasure sings between them no matter what thrumming over his balmy skin like never before. He's almost sure that this is some kind of dream that they aren't giving into their love and want for the other. That he really isn't rolling her nipples as she shudders out a helpless noise to bring her closer towards another peak. But she falls over him lips at his throat and hands clutching the grass beside his head and he's positive this has reality. Breath hitching a bit at the way she slides over his rigid cock in a way that makes his muscles tense in readiness ever so subtly, he slides his hands over her sides bringing them over her rear once more as his knees are brought up."Elizabeth... Ooh Elizabeth..." He moans a bit tight noticing her core clutching him more and more the deeper she brings him and the longer they make love.

Her skin prickles under his grip, her voice noticeably shaky and weak at his throat. "Meliodas... Please... I need..."

That plea is all he needed to begin pumping up into her, his skin slapping loudly against hers. He grunts as her weight falls completely onto him little cries now filling the forest with the same ferocity he drives into her. It's intense the heat that clouds his mind melting the foundations and threatening to shatter him whole while she claws at his arms. But it feels beyond flames and sparks dancing in his blood as his throat strains with throaty growls at her core reacting the way he sees fit, tightening and squeezing as he knows she's bound to release. It's almost indescribable knowing as she starts to quake that he's doing for her what no other will ever. He smooths his hands up her sweat slicked back cock beginning to pulse as he all but slams into her. But then he freezes, his breath a jagged stab through his lungs.

His fingers graze over feathers, downy, soft and undoubtedly connected. Feathers that normally coat wings. Wings. He's paralyzed with the thought, his eyes staring ahead as his fingers mindless roam over her back.

Elizabeth gives a panicked cry of his name her body moving over his almost frantically at his discovery. It takes her lips slanting over his with wordless desperation for him to fall into his shattering bliss, his hips grinding upwards in an almost pained fashion to pump her with seed. Elizabeth quakes over him sobbing into his mouth as her fingers clutch at his hair, her mouth still tangled with his. The pleasure is bone deep and almost excruciating in a way as they move together savoring their joining for as long as they can.

His fingers still brush over her back with a shaky motion. He doesn't know if her sobs are entirely from rapture. He does know when he begins to soften in gratification nothing will keep his mind away from the things he should've noticed. "T-These feathers came in when your back was hurting. Your power grew with them. E-Elizabeth you... What do you know about what's happening to me? What's happening here? Tell me—"

"No!" Her face hidden at his neck with ragged breaths lifts to hover over his attempting to cease the maelstrom thundering through his mind, but it's pointless. His mouth refuses to shut his eyes burning into her and seeing through her all at once. "You know something... This t-thing affecting me. Memories..." He starts to inhale too quickly his hands growing cold and clammy as something tries to overtake his mind dark, heavy, and too much. "Liz killed by... G-Goddess I loved E—"

A shock of power invades him pressing over his consciousness like an enveloping blanket, blocking out everything as his eyes fall shut. And yet as he drifts in his forced state of calm slumber, it feels unnatural, the darkness is too thick around him. And somehow he knows she's there with him her voice a tiny heartbroken thing that reaches him even there.

"I know this won't work for long... It never does. I love you so much, Meliodas... I just wanted to be close. And for a while there as we loved each other, I forgot there was a world outside of Elizabeth Liones and Captain Meliodas. I forgot I couldn't be selfish."

In this odd state a world away from her, he finds his soul breaking, tears bleeding from his heart as her words truly resonate with him.