Leaning down, Ulric connected his lips to Amaryllis's once again while his hands roamed her body.

Grabbing her by the hips, he pushed her up against the pantry door in the kitchen. "Ulric," she gasped when his hand slid under her shirt while the other traveled down to grip her ass.

He was so tall and built that his entire body covered her own and prevented her from seeing anything but him.

Her heart was racing out of both nervousness and excitement, but the excitement was winning that race by a mile.

His hand squeezed around her abdomen just under her boobs and she found herself wishing that she wasn't wearing a bra.

She placed her hands on his upper chest while he continued his assault on her mouth. Since there wasn't a single inch of her body not being touched by his own, she felt his hardening erection growing against her stomach.

"You are delicious," he groaned when he ran his tongue across the skin of her neck. She moved her hands up his chest and wrapped them around his neck because she wasn't sure she could stand on her own. Ulric noticed because he wedged his leg between her own so she could support herself against him.

"Oh," she gasped when his hard leg brushed against her core. Ulric intentionally pushed his leg up even more into her core to get a reaction out of her.

"Ulric," she moaned out of breath. He smiled into her collarbone as he kissed his way down her chest.

After a few moments, he picked Amaryllis up in his arms and walked them up the stairs toward the master bedroom.

Amaryllis looked up into his eyes as he led them to the room. She couldn't believe that she was giving herself to this man so easily. In reality, she didn't know much about him at all, and he didn't know all that much about her either. Yet, she couldn't pull herself away from him.

She shook her head. She was slightly disappointed in herself that she had no willpower when it came to Ulric, but at the same time, she did not regret anything they had done this far. It was new and exciting and she liked it. But she wasn't ready for sex yet. She knew that they had to get to know each other more before they took that step.

Ulric stepped into the room and kicked the door shut with her boot-clad foot. He then sat Amaryllis down on the bed before kicking his boots off and crawling on the bed to get on top of her.

She leaned up and connected her lips with his before wrapping her arms behind his back. She couldn't help but begin pulling his T-shirt to expose his tanned skin underneath.

Ulric broke the kiss and sat up to pull his shirt all the way off and Amaryllis couldn't help but stare at him. He was so handsome that it almost hurt to look at him. Back when there were just rumors of vampires, everyone assumed that if they were real, they were pale and dead looking, but that was the exact opposite of what they actually looked like.

Ulric was tan and very much alive-looking. He had the body of a Greek god and Amaryllis couldn't keep her eyes off of his delicious abs.

Tossing his shirt on the floor he quickly went back to his mate's lips. Amaryllis trailed her fingers across his muscled abdomen. He groaned above her when her fingers traced the V that started at his hips and disappeared into the top of his jeans.

Ulric's hand moved down her body from her face to her thigh. He gripped her thigh in his hand while continuing to massage Amaryllis's lips with his own.

His hand slowly gravitated from the outside of her thigh to the inside of her thigh and began to move up her leg to her core. Before his hand could make contact with her core, she reached down and grabbed his wrist.

Ulric pulled his lips away from hers and nodded his head in understanding. He rolled onto his side so he was lying beside Amaryllis.

She cleared her throat of lust before she spoke. "I'm not ready yet."

Ulric nodded his head. "I know."

Ulric wasn't ready either. Yes, his body was perfectly ready, but his heart wasn't. He knew Amaryllis would most likely be all lovey after their first time together, and he knew he wouldn't be able to handle that yet.

He needed to get used to her more and get to know her better because he knew if they were to have sex now, he would be distant with her afterward because the rush of feelings and emotions would overwhelm him. That would hurt her and he didn't want to hurt her.

The couple laid on the bed in silence simply enjoying each other's presence for quite a while.

Amaryllis cringed and squeezed her hips as an awful cramp ran through her. She laid her head back and slowly inhaled and exhaled as her cramps got increasingly more painful.

Amaryllis closed her eyes and when she opened them again, Ulric was straddling her thighs. She let out of small scream as she didn't even hear him move.

When did he move?

Ulric moved his hands down to Amaryllis's hips and started to massage her there. When he was a teenager, his mother was a midwife for human females, but she would also give back massages to pregnant women to relieve them of their pain. She would bring Ulric along sometimes to teach him spots that relieved women's pain so he could help his future mate if she was ever in pain.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm massaging you," he answered. "My mother taught me points of the body that relieve menstrual pain and in your abdomen, there are several spots that relieve menstrual pain," he answered as his fingers pushed down on a spot below her belly button.

After a little bit of Ulric's massage, her cramps started to lessen and the pain was much more tolerable. "Thanks, Ulric," she said quietly as to not disturb the peace. She was glad that Ulric wasn't grossed out by her current state, but why would he be? He literally lived off of blood.

"You're welcome, Amaryllis. Are you hungry?"

She immediately shook her head no. He had been so nice to her that day that she didn't want to make it seem like she was using him or something. He had already done so much for her, she didn't want him to feel like he had to do more.

However, she was freaking hungry and her stomach decided to roar like a lion at the exact wrong moment.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said once her stomach was done digesting the damn boulder she just ate, or at least that's what it sounded like.

Ulric wrapped up his massaging and moved off of Amaryllis. He bent down and pulled his shirt on that had been previously forgotten on the floor.

Amaryllis crawled out of the bed and followed Ulric out of the room. "I'll be back," he said and opened a door that must've been to a basement.

He came back up into the kitchen a few moments later holding a package of ground beef in his hand. He then opened up the pantry door and grabbed out a bag of pasta shells.

"Does beef and shells sound good?" He asked.

"Yes," she nodded eagerly. She used to love it when her mom would make food like this. She loved beef stroganoff or anything with beef and noodles really.

He pulled out everything else that they needed and then grabbed lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, and carrots from the fridge.

"Do you like salads, Amaryllis?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. I have dressings and stuff in the fridge for when we are ready to eat," he said.

"Okay. Sounds good."

Ulric started on making the beef and shells and Amaryllis didn't want to stand around being useless, so she pulled out a knife from the knife block and began to chop up the vegetables on the built-in cutting board on the counter.

"Ow!" Amaryllis yelped when her finger got in the way of the blade. She sliced her pointer and middle fingers at the first knuckle.

She watched as blood trickled down her fingers from the two abrasions on her skin. She took a step back to go rinse her hand off, but she was stopped by Ulric's body. She hadn't known he was standing behind her.

"Can I use a paper towel or something to clean this up?" She asked as the blood dripped from her fingers to the floor. It really hurt.

Ulric took Amaryllis's hand in his own and brought her fingers to his lips. He opened his mouth and slid Amaryllis's fingers in between his lips. He sucked on them gently; gliding his tongue softly across the cuts. He sighed in pleasure as her blood met his taste buds. Her blood was the most exquisite thing.

After her wounds had healed, he pulled her fingers from his mouth and looked them over to make sure everything was right again.

When he looked down at Amaryllis's face, he was met with a rosy blush in her cheeks, something he had grown quite used to seeing as she blushed constantly. He was addicted to her blush and he often did things that he knew would make her rosy. Her eyes were also sparkling with wonder and awe.

"Vampires can heal humans with their saliva and their blood," Ulric explained.

She nodded. That's was she assumed. "That's what you did after you bit me. And I saw a vampire heal that woman at the club when you bit her with his own blood. I never knew vampires could do that though until I got here," she said.

"Thank you," she said as she looked at her fingers. The pain was completely gone and so were the gashes.

"You're welcome."

Later that night when they were in bed, Amaryllis laid her head against Ulric's chest and his arm was wrapped around her back.

At this point in their relationship, they weren't very romantic or passionate as they really didn't know each other all that well yet, but they did know that they loved being around each other, so that's what they did. They simply hung around each other, enjoying each other's presence and the feel of the other's touch against their own skin.

"Amaryllis," Ulric said. Neither of them had spoken since they got into the bed about half an hour earlier.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Sorry about what?" She asked. She leaned up on her elbow to look him in the eyes. She had no idea what he was referring to. He hadn't been anything but nice to her that day.

"For treating you poorly all of this time," he replied.

"Oh. It's alright, Ulric," she said. She felt kind of awkward. He'd never directly apologized for anything before, and he was so much more powerful than her, that it was awkward to accept his apology because that meant she would indirectly be admitting that he was being a jerk.

"No, it's not alright, Amaryllis. I made you sleep in the dungeons, and clean out the bloody cells, and I bit you. I never apologized for any of it. I'm sorry," he said. He sounded kind of flustered like he wasn't used to apologizing for things - which wasn't really a surprise.

"I know you didn't verbally apologize for biting me. But you healed me that next morning. And you're much nicer to me now than you were when I first got here. So, I took that as your apology. But I forgive you, Ulric," she stated. She didn't like to hold grudges as life was far too short to hold things against people.

"Thank you, Amaryllis," he said as his thumb ran across the bare skin showing on her hip between her shirt and sleeping shorts.

"I have a question for you," she said.

"What's that?" He inquired.

"How do you control yourself around blood so well. I mean, I know most vampires do, but I saw a human once that fell on a rock and he split the skin of his knee open and one of the vampire guards was barely able to compose himself. But, you've never had that problem."

"Well, for one, I'm hundreds of years old. The older you are, the more control you have over your emotions and your actions. So when I see blood, I've practically trained myself over the years how to behave. It doesn't affect me like it does the young vampires because I'm used to being around it and know how to control myself and my urges. I crave blood, but I've trained myself to push down and ignore the urges for so long, that I don't recognize or get the urges for blood anymore unless I allow myself to feel them. Secondly, being the King has its benefits. My bloodline is superior at controlling ourselves than all other vampires," he explained.

"Hmm. That's very mature of you, I guess," she giggled. She wasn't really sure what to say to that.

"The only problem is that with you, I'm not the best at controlling myself. That's why I bit you. I let my primal urges for both blood and my mate get the best of me, but I'm learning to control myself around you." He said.

"Well, I think you're doing a good job," she innocently encouraged.

"That's because you don't know what's going on inside my head, little mate. I think about stripping you naked and sinking my teeth into your neck while I take your innocence far too much for you to say I'm doing a good job."

Amaryllis couldn't even respond. She just let her mouth hang wide open at his confession. Tingles erupted all over her body and she had to squeeze her legs together to ease the pressure between them.

"With my bloodline, we feel the mate bond and the effects of it much more strongly than anyone else. I especially feel the effects more since I am the King."

"I still think you're doing a good job," she said as she placed her head back on his chest. That was all she could say at that point. No other words could form.

Amaryllis woke up the next morning before Ulric. She woke up quite early and when she looked at the little alarm clock on the bedside stand it was only 7:00 in the morning. She was surprised that Ulric was still asleep because he always woke up quite early in the morning to start his day.

She turned back to look at Ulric. His face was beautiful with all of the sharp, defined contours of his face. His strong jawline and the 5 o'clock shadow covering his skin was extremely appealing.

His eyebrows were absolutely luscious as well and she was quite jealous of them. They were perfectly grown in without being groomed at all.

She put her pointer finger at his hairline and trailed it down his face to his thick, strong neck. She repeated her actions several times, stopping her fingers to trace them over his lips and cheeks as well as running her hands through his thick hair.

She felt like a creepy stalker, but she couldn't stop herself from touching him. She blamed it on this "mate bond" that he spoke of.

She moved her hand down his naked chest as well. The feel of his rippled muscles under her fingertips portrayed his raw masculinity - something she could not get enough of.

"Are you having fun?" His voice rang out in the dead silence of the room.

She pulled her hand away from him and jumped back on the bed. "You just gave me a heart attack," she whispered as she tried to catch her breath. Her heart was racing.

Holy freaking cows.

"I thought you were asleep," she sheepishly admitted once she caught her breath.

"I've been awake since about 5, but I wanted to see your reaction if you thought you woke up before me."

"So you were pretending?"

"Yup," he said.

"That wasn't very nice," she said while looking down at her fingers.

"What wasn't very nice was you groping me while you thought I was asleep," he retorted.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and turned away from him in the bed. She was too ashamed. She shouldn't have done that.

"Damnit Amaryllis, I'm just messing with you," he said as he slid his arms under her body and turned her so she was facing him once again. He was just trying to joke with her.

"I'm still sorry," she whimpered, regretting her actions.

"Don't be sorry. It was harmless. Now, stop being mopey." He said while brushing a few strands of hair away from her face. He let his fingers linger on her soft cheeks a while longer.

He gazed down into her green eyes and watched as they sparkled with desire, similar to the desire that he felt as well. He also saw a shy innocence in her eyes which excited him.

"When are we going back to the castle?" Amaryllis asked as she sat up in the bed.

"Once your period is over. I don't want you in the castle so close to other vampires while you are bleeding," Ulric answered.

"Do...do female vampires not have periods?" She asked.

Ulric shook his head. "No, they do not. They go through heat. Once they meet their mate, their bodies go through heat which is a very painful process that happens once a month on a full moon. The women say that it feels like they are on literal fire that keeps getting hotter and hotter. They can feel their bones aching, almost like every bone in their body perpetually breaks over and over for hours. Their veins feel like they are exploding. I've seen some women go through it and all they could do was lay crumpled up on the floor while they scream and writhe in pain until the sun comes again."

Amaryllis looked at him in horror with her mouth agape. "That's horrible," she said. She never knew that the women vampires went through something so awful. Now she felt guilty for complaining about her measly cramps.

"The only thing that stops it is mating with their mate. Then they never go through it again. The purpose of a heat is to force mates together to hopefully impregnate the female. The longer the female tries to deny her mate bond, the more painful her heat will get until she simply can't handle it anymore and will give in."

"So, it forces mates together so they can't deny the mate bond?" She asked trying to understand the mate bond as best she could. Ulric nodded.

"Why do women have to get pregnant from the heat?"

"Because vampires, just like werewolves, have the primal desire to both have sex with their mate and then to reproduce with their mate, so the heat forces them to do both. The women don't always get pregnant from it because we have developed types of birth control and condoms that fight against potent vampire sperm, but most people don't even use birth control because they are too focused on being with their mate."

"Do we have to have... um... so we have to...?" She stumbled over her words as she blushed, feeling embarrassed about proposing the topic of them having sex.

Ulric nodded his head, "Yes. To complete the mate bond we have to have sex."

"Complete the mate bond? What does that mean?" There were so many things she was learning within a ten-minute span that she had absolutely no idea about before. It was a lot to take in.

"To complete a mate bond, I have to mark you which means I have to bite you in a particular spot on your neck, and then mate you. Have sex," he said.

Her mouth dropped open again and she looked away from his eyes. She was too embarrassed to make eye contact with him at that point. "Interesting," she said. Her heart started racing a little bit. She recalled the time he bit her and how agonizing it was. She didn't want to go through that ever again.

"What is wrong?" He asked.

"I don't want to be bit again," she said sadly with her head hanging down. She really didn't want to experience that all over again.