The Alpha's Daughter by Jacqueline Rhoades Read Free Book Online

the women to discover the new female's place in the pack. Her
mate's standing would offer some protection, but the rest she would
have to earn.
    She scanned the crowd. Most of these women
were more wary than hostile. They'd come to watch the show. Jazz
smiled and no one would mistake it for friendly. If they wanted a
show, she'd give them one, because she'd be damned if she'd bow her
head to anyone.
     

Chapter 5
    The
woman on the porch was the one to watch. She was tall, square
shouldered and a firm, no-nonsense face. She wasn't fat, but her
body and jeans clad legs were thick with muscle and Jazz would bet
the arms, hidden beneath an old canvas jacket, were just as
muscular. Her hands, lightly balled into fists, were broad palmed
and short fingered. Her position on the porch, away from the rest,
declared her status. Among the females, this woman was top wolf in
this pack and yet she hadn't declared herself to be the Alpha's
Mate.
    There were two more women in the crowd who
bore watching; one who'd positioned herself at the bottom of the
steps and one over to the right on the edge of the crowd. The one
by the stairs was a match for the woman on the porch; a little
older, on the far side of middle age, and powerfully built. Her
shoulders were broad enough to give form to the faded man's coat
she wore.
    The third, much younger than the others and
more fashionably dressed, stood watching from the edge of the
crowd, her bright red umbrella standing out from the faded browns
and grays. She watched with pretended disinterest, hip cocked, bust
prominently displayed, innocently glancing over the crowd. It was
her big brown eyes that betrayed her. They were bright, glistening
with excitement. She wouldn't participate, but she was eagerly
anticipating the outcome.
    Right before the woman on the porch separated
herself from her companions and took a step forward, Jazz spotted
the twins. They were both smiling and nodding and gave her little
finger waves as if they hadn't a clue about what was about to
happen. Jazz lifted her chin another inch and widened her smile in
acknowledgement.
    The woman's flattened hand shot out in a
challenging shove and if Jazz was smart, she would have accepted
the shove, cowed her head and waited. This woman was obviously
someone powerful within the pack and would make a better ally than
enemy, but Jazz was an Alpha's daughter and she'd never played
second to anyone, not even her father's second Mate. She
sidestepped and avoided the push and then used her turned body to
put more force into the roundhouse punch she let fly as she turned
back. Her closed fist made contact with the woman's cheek in a blow
that should have taken her attacker off her feet. Jazz felt the
shock of it all the way up into her shoulder. The woman only
staggered back to be replaced by the one coming up the steps.
    Jazz pivoted on her firmly planted foot and
dove for the woman whose outstretched arms provided the perfect
target of her exposed abdomen. There was an 'Oooph' as Jazz's
shoulder slammed into the woman's gut and the two of them went
sailing over the steps and down into the mud.
    There were shouts and vague noises from the
surrounding onlookers, but Jazz didn't stop to listen or try to
figure out what they had to say.
    They rolled in the mud. The other woman was
sturdier, heavier, but Jazz was more agile and quickly gained the
position on top, straddling the woman's hips. The woman scrabbled
beneath her, freed her arm and reached for Jazz's head. Jazz's hair
was too short to offer much of a purchase and she snarled in
derision. A hair puller! A girly fighter!
    "You lose, bitch," Jazz growled at her
opponent.
    Uncle Moose, whose name wasn't Moose and who
wasn't her uncle, had taught her how to fight and it didn't include
hair pulling or scratching. By the time she was twelve, the other
cubs in the pack, male and female, left her alone in their
mini-battles for dominance. Moose taught her that when she fought,
she should fight