little dog had joined the fray. Not that the attacker seemed to notice the little teeth that were sunk into his boot. Afraid of H.D. getting hurt, Ildaria backed up, trying to think of what to do. She’d never had to worry about anyone else while she was fighting, and it took her brain a second to change strategy. She had to hit higher, and in a way that wouldn’t have the big behemoth falling on the tiny dog, Ildaria decided, and struck out with her still shod foot, aiming for the man’s groin. That, she thought, should bring him to his knees as it had Juan, and give her the chance to scoop up H.D. and run inside.
Her aim was again good and she put enough force into the strike that her heel was buried in the front of the man’s black jeans. As she’d hoped, it brought him to his knees, and as he screeched in agony, she ran around behind him, snatched up H.D., pulling him off the man’s ankle, and then turned to head to the door, only to slam into Tybo.
“Whoa,” the dark-haired Enforcer said as he caught her arms to keep her from stumbling back. Glancing down at H.D., he frowned. “Is the gremlin okay?”
Ildaria glanced down with concern, but relaxed when H.D. immediately began to bark at Tybo.
“Yeah, I would say so,” Valerian said dryly, drawing her attention to the second man. Once he had her attention, he explained, “We saw them follow you outside, and came to see if you needed assistance.” His gaze slid to the two men, the first still trying to remove her shoe from his face, and the second now rolling on the ground, clutching himself around her shoe. “I guess you did not need our help though.”
Ildaria shifted slightly, her gaze sliding between the two sets of men, and then muttered, “No. I handled it.”
“Yeah. Good job,” Tybo said. “Ever consider becoming an Enforcer? We could use you.”
Ildaria started to shake her head, but then paused. “Would becoming an Enforcer mean they couldn’t drag me back to the Dominican?”
“You do not need to be an Enforcer for that,” Valerian assured her firmly. “Lucian already told them they were not allowed to force you out of the country.”
“Lucian knew they were here and didn’t tell me?” Ildaria squawked with a combination of shock and anger.
“He called to warn you, but you didn’t answer the phone so he left a message and then had us follow these guys to make sure they didn’t cause trouble,” Tybo explained patiently.
Ildaria scowled at this news. She hadn’t answered her phone because it was presently up in her apartment in a Ziploc bag full of rice. She’d stuck it in her back pocket while she and G.G. were bowling, and forgot about it . . . until she went to use the public washroom and it had tumbled out of her pocket into the toilet. She’d been having such a good time on her date that she’d laughed at it at the time. She wasn’t laughing now, and made a mental note to herself to keep her phone safe and on her person at all times. It was an important lifeline now that her past had caught up to her.
“Sadly, it appears they decided to ignore Lucian and come after you anyway,” Valerian commented, drawing her attention back to the men as the one with the shoe in his mouth tried to talk. The shoe made his speech too garbled to understand.
“Can you read him?” Tybo asked Valerian, obviously curious about what the South American was trying to say.
The blond shook his head. “With the pain he is in I am not even going to try.”
Tybo grunted, looking disappointed, but then shrugged. “Well, I guess we’ll find out once we get him back to the Enforcer house and heal him up.”
Nodding, Valerian glanced at Ildaria. “Are you all right?”
“Si,” she murmured, but didn’t mention that the two men hadn’t got the chance to lay a hand on her.
Valerian hesitated and then asked, “Are you done out here?” When she nodded, he suggested, “Then perhaps you should take H.D. inside. We do not know how many of them are in the city and will not be here to watch you until we deliver these two to Mortimer.”
Ildaria stiffened at that. She hadn’t even considered that there might be others. Now her arms tightened around H.D. and her wary gaze slid over the dark parking