Free The Men of Otherworld: Collection One by Yasmine Galenorn Page A

AM, Shade woke up. Something was wrong. Delilah wasn’t in bed—in either form—and he had the sense that something was amiss. Slipping out from beneath the covers, he put on his slippers, then slid on his robe and tied it shut. As he reached for the light, wary and trying to listen for whatever might be setting off his internal alarm, a yowl split the silence, followed by another.  
    Delilah! And she sounded in pain.
    Shade turned on the light, whirling to see where the cries were coming from. But then, he realized, they were echoing from downstairs. He headed toward the door on the run, trying to pinpoint where her hisses and screams were coming from.  
    “Delilah! Where are you? Delilah!”
    Thudding down the steps, he realized that she was in the kitchen. Fuck, what had happened? Had she hurt herself? He raced into the room, slamming his hand against the light switch. As the lights flared, he saw Delilah facing what looked like a mottled gray gremlin. It had wings, very bat-like, and looked a little like Maggie, except for the tiny horns on its head, and the jutting horn on its snout.  
    “Delilah! Get away from there—those creatures can—” Before he could catch her, she gave one final swipe at the gremlin and it swiped back at her, its claws raking her side. She let out another ear piercing shriek as faint lines of red began to dapple her fur.
    “Oh no you don’t!” Shade leapt forward, grappling the creature. The gremlin tried to bite him but he squeezed its throat—hard—and cleanly snapped its neck. As he dropped it, Delilah huddled down, hissing and yowling. The cuts were bleeding—not swiftly, but they looked painful. Shade knew that gremlins didn’t carry any venom or toxin, but he also knew that the claws were extremely sharp and he had to get Delilah to a doctor right away.
    Not sure what to do first, he finally settled for grabbing her cell phone out of her pack where she’d left it, and he punched in the number for the FH-CSI. Within moments, Yugi—the second in command—came on line.  
    “Give me the medic unit, quick. This is Shade.”
    Yugi transferred him and and Mallen came on line.  
    “I need your help. Delilah’s been hurt.”
    “What happened?”
    “A gremlin injured her.” Shade was frantic now, trying to keep his attention on Delilah while he talked to the healer.
    The elf cleared his throat. “That shouldn’t be too bad—bring her in.”
    “She’s in cat form and it looks very painful.”
    “Cat form?” Another beat, and then Mallen let out a sigh. “Can you catch her? I’m dealing with several emergencies tonight, and can’t get away. Or you can take her to a vet. There has to be an all night clinic nearby.”
    “A vet. You want me to take Delilah to the vet ?” Shade frowned.  
    Delilah perked up at the word. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced around, as if ready to bolt.
    “Yes, I just looked one up on line. There’s an all night emergency clinic just half a mile from you—you can make it there faster than you can get here. The wait probably won’t be as long. We’re fending with the aftermath of a car wreck tonight and we have four wounded Fae, two critically injured Weres and one very pissed off vampire.” Mallen sounded overwhelmed. “If she’s not in life-threatening danger, it would be very helpful if you could just…take her to the vet. He’s Fae, it says on the web site.”
    Shade mumbled an “Okay,” and punched the End Talk button. There was a cat carrier in the laundry room. Iris had used it often enough to corral Delilah when she was causing havoc, but Shade had his doubts whether Delilah had ever been to a veterinarian’s office. Be that as it may, it was obvious she knew what the word meant.
    “Delilah, honey, you’re hurt. I need to get you to a doctor.” He slowly moved toward her. She hissed and pulled away, baring her teeth. This wasn’t going to be easy. “Come on, baby. Just hold still.”  
    As he lunged forward, she