Free Book of Love by Julia Talbot

“We let it out, and I think we’ve been feeding it.”
    “How do we get rid of it?” Shiloh actually looked scared.
    “Shh.” Liam stroked her pretty blonde hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “We can do this. We just gotta stop getting distracted. Anything summoned can be banished.”
    The problem was it didn’t want to be banished. Not even a little bit.
    Liam held his new lovers and pondered just what they were going to do. He guessed they ought to start with Bella at the Minotaur.
    “I think first, supper. Something where we can eat, plan.”
    “Be dressed.” Shiloh nodded. “This isn’t like me. At all.”
    “Me either,” Elijah said.
    They looked at him expectantly and Liam shrugged. “I’m kind of a slut.”
    They stared at him as one, then cracked up, laughing hard. There. That was exactly what they needed.
    “There’s nowhere to eat but the tavern and the lodge. You want to come to my house?”
    “That’d be great, Shiloh.” Liam wanted to know more about her. Oh, what he knew he appreciated, from her thick hair to lush breasts to soft thighs… But he wanted to know about her life, her mind, her needs.
    “Cool. I— Well, I should wash up.”
    He nodded and let her up, let her go.
    Shiloh scampered to the bathroom, and Liam grunted. “You think it’s after her?”
    “I don’t know. It seems to be centered on her, but…it feels bigger.”
    “Yeah. So, how do we shut this thing down, man?” Liam had some ideas, but he knew Elijah was an expert on banishing.
    “From a place? Sage and salt, but from a mountain?”
    “Yeah. I mean, maybe it has to do with binding back to the book.”
    Elijah nodded. “That would be the easiest place to start, I bet.”
    “Cool.” He slapped Elijah’s still-bare ass. “We ought to get dressed so we don’t freak her out.”
    “Yeah. She’s a little embarrassed, I think. Just a touch.”
    “I can tell. We’ll make it right.” Shiloh was sweet as honey, and he didn’t want to fuck things up before they even began.
    There was something about her—something that was bigger than the whole bound-by-a-spell thing. Something that said “I’m a girl worth putting down roots for”.
    Which, okay. Unnerving as fuck.
    Elijah grinned at him. “Pants, Obi-Wan.”
    “Oh. Right. Obi-Wan? Really? I’m not that old.”
    “I mean the young, hot one as played by Ewan McGregor, doofus.” Elijah pulled on his pants.
    “Oh. Oh, in that case…” He grinned. He could totally go with young and hot. And Ewan McGregor was a ginger in the movies.
    “Uh-huh.” His jeans hit him right in the face.
    “Dude! You could break a tooth doing that!”
    Elijah arched an eyebrow. “Cannot.”
    “True story. I knew a guy online…”
    “Uh, guys? I think we have a problem.” Shiloh’s voice came from the bathroom, muffled a bit by the door. “Does someone have a pair of sweats? My jeans are, uh, ripped to shreds.”
    “What?” They both hit the door as one, needing to get to her.
    “Look.” She opened the door a crack and passed out ripped fabric.
    “Okay, that’s intense. Come on out, honey. Please,” Liam said.
    “I think someone was mad.” She sniffed, and Liam went to get her a T-shirt and some sweats.
    “Did you get undressed in the bathroom?” Elijah asked the question as if he knew the answer.
    “No.” She shook her head. “I left them on the floor.”
    “I didn’t hear anything.” Liam lifted his cargos, but they were whole.
    “Me either.”
    “Okay, I’m really scared, guys.” She crossed her arms over her breasts, her eyes on the shredded cloth. “This thing has it in for me.”
    “We need to go to the bookstore tomorrow. For now, I definitely say we go back to your place, Shiloh, with salt and sage,” Liam said, and began to dress.
    Elijah nodded. “Yeah. And we all stay together.”
    “Yes.” When she glanced at them nervously, Liam gave her a stern look. “No embarrassment.”
    “No. We’re all