Free Enslaved (The Inbetween Novels) by R.C. Murphy Page B

have mentioned this courting business before.”
    Concern pinched Deryck’s brow. If he failed Shayla’s so-called tests, or dates, he’d be trapped as a slave until the gods determined it was his time to move on. No one knew what happened to an incubus who left the compound. One day they were there, eating oatmeal for breakfast with the rest of them. The next, the incubus was nowhere to be found in their little slice of the God’s Land. Did they simply cease to exist? The idea his existence could be so coldly ended sent white-hot anger through his veins. Deryck’s fingers clamped down around the handle of his knife and he took his frustrations out on a pile of vegetables.
    “What day did you set the date for?” Wolfrik propped his hip against the prep table and wiped the blade of his knife clean with a towel.
    “Two days from now.”
    “And you haven’t figured out where you’re taking her yet?” The other incubus shook his head. “You have research to do. Are you capable of transporting to the human realm at will now?”
    Deryck scooped up the vegetables and added them in on top of the fish and onion floating in the stock. “It hurts, but yes.”
    Wolfrik set the lid on the pot of soup. “Good. Go back and observe couples out on a date. It will save you from embarrassing yourself.”
    “Can’t you just tell me what to do, Wolfrik?” It’d be a lot easier if he could learn everything then and there, instead of playing stalker in another realm in hopes of figuring out how not to fail the human dating test.
    How hard could it be? He’d seen some downright internally ugly men walking hand in hand with gorgeous women during his last few trips.
    Wolfrik laughed and shook his head. “I have never been on a date. I’m in the same boat as you. Asking me for advice would be like asking a virgin to explain what it feels like to be inside a woman. In theory, he knows what it should feel like, but the gods know he is a long way off in his description.”
    Deryck groaned. He dreaded the prospect of educating himself in so short a time span. He didn’t want to learn how to woo Shayla. He wanted to skip to the end of their story for the happily ever after. And the sex. Gods, he wanted to lose himself in Shayla, but the risk was too great for her. Deryck didn’t want Shayla to be another conquest, another nameless bed partner who used him and went back to her life.
    For once in his life, Deryck wanted to lay with a female because he chose to.
    Wolfrik cleared his throat. “Why are you still here, Deryck? You have nearly three thousand years of dating experience to make up for in two days. That is, if you do not wish to embarrass yourself.”
    “You’d love to see that, old man.”
    “Then you know nothing about me. I live for the day when none of us are enslaved to the whims of the gods.” Wolfrik motioned toward the door. “Go. If you are needed in the Inbetween, you will be transported from the human realm, same as you would here. No one will know where you are.”
    Deryck nodded to his old friend and left the kitchen. He walked through the large dining hall. A handful of incubi sat clustered around a table sharing a large platter of fruit and cheese. His stomach grumbled, but he ignored it.
    Wolfrik’s parting words stuck with him. So long as he bore the tattoos on his wrist, he could never belong to Shayla alone. Unwittingly, she was forced to share him with a world of women. The idea of betraying her in any way made him sick.
    He left the dining hall and took a shortcut through the garden at the center of their compound to the koi pond. Luckily the bench beside the pond was clear. Deryck sat, glad the fruit trees at his back gave him some semblance of privacy.
    Closing his eyes, Deryck tapped into his power. Stinging pain radiated from his incubi tattoos. The pain expanded, ran up his arms and covered his entire body until he swore he’d been covered in fire ants. When he thought his powers to transport