"He kissed me," Amaryllis said quietly to Cameron as they packed Cameron's stuff up. She didn't have many things, but she was bringing with her the things she had accumulated over the years like clothes and hygiene products.

She was leaving in three days to go back to her home town to work at the blood bank. Amaryllis was going to miss her friend dearly, but she was very excited for Cameron. Amaryllis would love the opportunity to see her own family again, even if it was just for a little while.

"Who?" She asked.

"The King."

"The King?" Cameron screeched.

"Shhh. I don't want anyone to hear. And don't tell anyone okay?" Amaryllis demanded. She didn't want people to know. It was her and Ulric's business, not anyone else's, but she was too excited about it to not tell Cameron.

"Okay, I won't tell anyone! Now give me details," she squealed.

"Well I was in the kitchen two nights ago, and it was very late. He came back and just started talking about things and then he asked if I was a virgin. And then he started kissing my neck and touching me, and he pushed me up against the wall and kissed me!" Amaryllis said as a blush crawled up her neck, remembering what happened two nights ago.

"Oh my gosh!" Cameron whisper yelled.

"But that's not even the best part. Then he told me that I was his. What does that even mean?" She questioned.

"I have no idea," Cameron said with a shrug. "But it seems like the King has a thing for you," she giggled.

Amaryllis blushed even more. Did the king have a thing for me, she thought to herself. But she wasn't sure. It had been two days since Ulric had kissed her, and she hadn't seen him once!

Once the girls finished packing up Cameron's stuff, they parted ways for the day as Cameron had chores to attend to around the castle.

Ulric once again hadn't given her any tasks to complete, so Amaryllis walked toward the kitchen to see if any of the ladies there needed help with anything.

On her way to the kitchen, a guard she had never seen before strolled around the corner. Amaryllis tried to move out of his way and walk around him, but he stood in front of her.

"Amaryllis Westbay?" He asked.

"Yes," she nodded as a tight knot formed in her stomach. What did he want with her? Was she in trouble?

"King Posillico wants to see you immediately in his office," he said. Amaryllis let out a sigh of relief, she thought the guard might have been rude to her or might have tried to do something to her.

"Okay, I will go immediately," Amaryllis said as she walked past the guard. Now she wondered what Ulric wanted with her. Maybe it was about the kiss, she thought. But then again, he didn't seem too interested in that because he hadn't talked to her in two days.

The guard traveled behind Amaryllis a few feet away. King Posillico ordered him to deliver her to him within the next few minutes, but not to touch her. He was only supposed to take her to the king's office to make sure she got there quickly and without being hurt in any way. The guard was promised with harsh threats of what would happen to him if he touched the girl.

When Amaryllis arrived at the office doors, she turned and smiled at the guard. She was thankful he followed behind her during the walk because she would get creeped out sometimes when she passed by vampires. She was a human after all.

Amaryllis knocked on the door and waited. "Come in," a gruff voice said behind the large wooden doors.

She opened the door, huffing at how much energy she had to exert to push the door open. It was very heavy.

Ulric looked up and made eye contact with her before looking behind her. "Thank you," Ulric said to the guard. "You may leave." Amaryllis then heard the door close, indicating that the guard was gone.

Ulric looked down as he scribbled something on a piece of paper. Amaryllis wasn't sure what to do, so she stood halfway between the door and his desk, looking around the room as she rocked up and down on the balls of her feet.

His office was huge, Amaryllis realized. She had never gotten the chance to really look around at his office as she had always been much too preoccupied with chores and whatnot the few times she had been in there.

It was almost as big as his bedroom and the design of the office was very Victorian. There were brown, rustic looking leather couches and a coffee table placed in the middle of them. There was a gigantic fireplace in front of the couches as well. Grand paintings hung on the walls, paintings of different men and women. Amaryllis assumed they were Ulric's relatives, past kings and queens of the kingdom.

There were also bookshelves along the walls filled with both ancient and modern texts. She was amazed. Even the library didn't have some of the same texts as he did.

"Amaryllis," the sound of Ulric's voice caught her attention and she was pulled out of her daze. "Come here," he said.

Amaryllis tentatively walked toward the king's desk where she stopped just in front of it.

"I see you enjoy reading," he said as he stared the young girl in the eyes. He knew she was curious, wondering why he called her in there.

She gave him a confused look. How would he know that she liked reading?

"I've seen you in the library," Ulric continued. "And I know Thierry took you to that book store in town."

Amaryllis nodded. "Yes, I do enjoy reading very much."

"Go pick a book and come back here," Ulric demanded and she nodded, stepping away from the desk toward the bookshelves.

She scanned the rows of books for quite some time before stopping at The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum. It seemed to be the first edition and it was in wonderful condition being that it was over 100 years old.

Grabbing the book from the shelf, Amaryllis was careful as to not be too aggressive with it. She did not want to be responsible for ruining such a wonderful piece of art.

Ulric watched his young mate as she scanned his collection of books. Over the many years he had been alive, which was 325 years, he had stocked up on many novels.

He was intrigued as he watched her, passing by the war theories and philosophy type novels, heading straight for more fictional texts.

"I found one," Amaryllis said as she stood in front of his desk again.

"Come here," he said once more. Amaryllis looked confused as she walked closer to him so she was standing only a few inches in front of him.

She gasped when he grabbed her uninjured wrist and pulled her body into his. She was sitting on his lap with her head laying on his muscular chest. A blush grew up her cheeks as she realized the position she was in.

"Read," Ulric said as he scooted his desk chair closer to his desk and picked up his pen once more, going back to filling out forms and such.

Amaryllis felt like a tiny little thing compared to his huge form. She felt like a baby being tucked away in the man's strong arms.

She shifted her head up, looking as he focused on the paperwork in front of him. She tried to study his handsome features, but then he shifted his own eyes down to hers. She quickly looked away and tucked her chin down.

Amaryllis opened up the book, but she couldn't exactly focus. Not when her body was pressed up against the body of the man who made her feels things that no one else had ever made her feel. Not when the entirety of her being lit up with pleasurable tingling as their bodies made contact. Not when any time he was around, a bubbly feeling went off in her stomach and her heart started to beat faster.

Ulric looked down at Amaryllis as she flipped through the pages of the novel. He enjoyed the feeling of her tiny body pressed against him. His entire being yearned for the touch of his mate.

The whole reason why he told her to come to his office was that he could no longer stand being away from her any longer. Since he kissed her, he had been trying to distance himself from her. He didn't want her developing more feelings for him than she already did, and he didn't want the mate bond to grow even stronger the more they spent time together and grew more intimate with each other.

However, he couldn't keep himself away. Every day the mate bond grew stronger and stronger, and Ulric was finding it increasingly more difficult to fight against his most primal urges.

After avoiding her for two days, he could no longer handle it. He felt as though he was going to go insane if he wasn't touching or at least around Amaryllis. He hated admitting it, but the pull of the mate bond and the primal desire he had to protect, cherish, and mate his mate were outweighing his want for never being tied down to a mate. It was as if the more he tried to push her away, the more he needed her in every way possible.

Ulric watched his mate's eyes begin to grow tired as she read the story. Soon her eyelids were fluttering closed as she tried to keep herself awake, but she soon dozed off into sleep.

Her body went limp against his own. He grabbed the book out of her hands and placed it on the desk, sticking a scratch piece of paper in between the pages in case she didn't remember where she left off.

After an hour of sitting in Ulric's lap, Amaryllis's head against his chest as she laid horizontally against his body, she fell asleep. Even though his body was rock solid, he was a very comfy pillow.

Amaryllis woke up two hours later when she felt something running down her back. She whimpered as she woke up, wanting to go back to sleep.

Her eyes widened as she looked around at her surroundings. She was still in Ulric's office, but she wasn't sitting with him at his desk.

Her head was laying on his thigh as her legs were stretched out on one of the leather couches. Ulric was in a seated position, a book laying on the armrest next to him. His hand ran aimlessly up and down Amaryllis's back as she slept.

Ulric's head rested on the back of the couch as his hand moved randomly across her back.

Was he asleep?

Even though she greatly enjoyed the position they were in together, she tried to sit up to give him personal space. However, his hand pushed down on her back as she tried to move, keeping her locked in place.

"Ulric?" Amaryllis questioned.

"Hmm," he replied. He didn't open his eyes, but he was clearly awake.

"Nothing," she said quietly as she looked back down. She liked being in the man's grasp very much, in fact, it was something she had wanted since she first saw him, since she first felt that odd sensation the drew her towards him. But she was confused. She didn't understand why all of a sudden he was being affectionate towards her. Why now, she wondered.

Amaryllis gasped quietly as Ulric's large hand found the bottom of her shirt and went below it, tracing the skin on her back. Ulric smirked when he heard her gasp, enjoying the effect his touch had on her.

He moved his hand up further and as he did so, her shirt pulled up revealing her skin. He trailed his hand up to her bra band and then further to her neck.

The bra band, however, he found to be annoying as it got in his way, so he unclasped it. Amaryllis froze, completely tensing up as she worried what he was going to do to her.

Ulric felt the way her body tensed up below his hand. "I'm not going to touch you," he said, and immediately he felt the tension leave her body. He heard her blow out a sigh. She must've thought I was going to have sex with her, Ulric thought to himself.

Ulric continued running his hand up and down her back for a few more minutes. He finally felt calm for the first time in two days now that he was touching his mate. He couldn't focus on anything for the last two days, but now he felt calm and relaxed.

"Ulric?"

"Yes?"

"Can I go get something for lunch? I'm hungry," Amaryllis asked as her stomach rumbled.

Ulric reached his hands down and clasped her bra and pulled her shirt back down. Amaryllis sat up looking like she was in a daze. She couldn't believe what just happened. No one had ever provided her with such affection before.

Amaryllis sat up and stretched her body out before getting up from the couch. Ulric stood up as well and set the book he was reading on the coffee table.

"Let's go," he said and nodded his head toward the door. Leaving his office, they walked toward the royal dining room. There, Ulric and Amaryllis went into the kitchen where Ulric ordered the human cooks to make them something special.

Ulric ordered a barely even cooked steak with mashed potatoes, and he got Amaryllis a turkey and cheese sandwich - one of her favorite sandwiches - and homemade potato chips.

While they waited for their food to be done, Ulric and Amaryllis sat at a smaller table in the large room. No other royal was in the dining hall at the time, so it was just the two of them.

Amaryllis sat across the table from Ulric. She wasn't exactly sure what to do with herself, so she stared at and fiddled with her hands as Ulric stared at her.

He was engrossed by her beauty. He had never seen such an alluring woman before. She had beautiful, long, strawberry blonde hair that he imagined running his hands through all day long. Her beautiful light green eyes sparkled every time she looked at him, also an indicator of the effect the mate bond had on her. The freckles that dashed her face drew him in. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

When he would pick different women up for one night stands, he usually went for the "hot" girls. The ones that weren't afraid to show off their perfectly skinny bodies by wearing revealing clothing. But after meeting Amaryllis, he no longer found those types of women appealing. He only had eyes for Amaryllis.

Upon first glance, you could tell Amaryllis wasn't a "hot" girl. She was cute, and beautiful, and undeniably sexy. But she didn't have to flaunt her looks or be barely clothed in order to make Ulric want her. He thought her body was perfect, she wasn't skinny, but she was wasn't fat. She was perfectly curvy in all of the right places.

Amaryllis blushed as she looked up to see Ulric still staring at her. He had been staring for at least ten minutes by that point.

"Ulric?" Amaryllis asked, pulling Ulric's gaze away from her chest.

He stared into her eyes, waiting for her to proceed. "Do you have a mate?" She asked innocently.

Ulric's face stayed emotionless as he thought about what she asked, though he panicked slightly. Did she know they were mates? Who told her? Was it Thierry?

"How do you know about mates?" Ulric questioned.

"Well my friend Travis, he's a human dating a vampire girl named Addison, he told me some about them. And Thierry told me about his mate. I feel horrible for him and his mate. What they're going thorough must be horrible," Amaryllis said as she got a little choked up. Thinking about Thierry and his mate just made her little heart so melancholy.

"Yes, I have one," Ulric stated. Amaryllis felt her heart break and she didn't know why. She had an awful feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. She should be happy for him and his mate, but she wasn't. Instead, she wanted to go back to her cell and cry.

"Oh." Amaryllis said with fake enthusiasm. Ulric could see that she was extremely upset about the news. She thought that his mate was some girl, and not actually her. The good thing was though, that she didn't know they were mates. He wasn't ready to tell her yet.

Their meals came and talk of mates ceased while they ate. However, a few minutes into dinner, Amaryllis brought the question up. She had to know more about his mate.

"Is she nice?" She asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes. I would say too nice."

"How old is she?"

"She's 18."

"Is she pretty?"

"Yes. The most beautiful girl I have ever seen," he replied. Amaryllis thought her heart might just explode from her chest. She was torturing herself by hearing him say these things about his mate, but she just wanted to know more about her. She wanted to know more about the girl that captivated Ulric when she herself was developing feelings toward him.

"What's her name?" Amaryllis asked. It was probably Kayla. Tears pricked her eyes at the thought. She didn't want Ulric and Kayla to be mates. She wanted her and Ulric to be mates. Kayla didn't deserve someone like Ulric.

Ulric stared at the girl, not sure how to answer her question. He could lie about the name, or he could tell her the truth. He sighed as he ran a hand though his hair. He may as well tell her the truth, he was in too deep at this point anyway to back out then.

"Amaryllis," Ulric answered.

A tear escaped from her eye. His mate even had the same name as her. It was going to be very hard trying to get over her developing feelings for the man. While she was heartbroken for some odd reason and jealous, she wouldn't try to steal another girl's man, or mate nonetheless.

"I didn't know there was another girl named Amaryllis who lived here," she said miserably as she wiped the tear off of her face. She didn't want Ulric to see her crying, but he did. He felt like a total ass seeing how miserable he was making his poor little mate. Normally he was an ass toward women, and he didn't care, but thinking about his mate feeling terrible because of things he said to her didn't sit too well with him.

Feeling guilty for making his mate depressed was another sign of how strong their connection was, Ulric noticed. As they grew closer during the little time she was in the castle, his feelings for her developed. And the feelings he felt due to her own feelings developed as well. At that point, Ulric realized there was no possible way to avoid the mate bond any longer, but at that point, he didn't exactly want to avoid the mate bond.

"There isn't," he said, waiting for everything to connect in her cute little head. A confused look appeared on her face as her eyebrows crinkled together.

"Wait... What?" She asked.

Was Ulric actually my mate?