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

like her life depended on it.
    Of course, as an adult, the men were heavier
and stronger. They could beat her down, but men rarely struck a
woman who wasn't their mate and that would never happen to Jazz. A
mate would have to beat her to death before she bowed down to any
man which was exactly why she had never found one to her
liking.
    Moose taught her to be fast, hard, and
brutal. Don't give your opponent time to think or reorganize and
don't stop until they can no longer stand.
    To that end, Jazz drew back her fist and let
it fly. The woman beneath her yelped, but Jazz didn't have time to
enjoy the sound. The woman from the porch was back, hands on Jazz's
shoulders, dragging her back. Jazz wrenched her shoulder away at
the same time swinging her curled leg out and over her downed
opponents head, missing her face by an inch. She planted her foot
by the woman's ear, rose up as she turned and let go with her left
fist. This time, she only grazed the woman's cheek, but she
followed through with her sock covered foot and connected with the
woman's soft midriff. Jazz regretted not wearing her boots. The
kick knocked the wind from the woman, but did no real damage.
    She danced around the woman on the ground,
who was struggling to her feet, and launched an attack on the one
still standing. Her next blow never landed. She was swung off her
feet and pressed up against a familiar granite chest. She'd been
there before. Unless there was another man in the pack as big as
the grizzly, he'd once again interfered with a fight she could
handle herself.
    "Let me go, you hairy bastard!" she shouted
and kicked backward at his legs. She thrashed and twisted, back and
forth in an angry frenzy, to jab her elbows into his arms. "Let me
go, damnit!"
    "Stop!" he roared. The buzzing of voices was
suddenly cut off. The shouts were silenced. Even the birds in the
trees responded to the command and stopped their twitters and
squawks… except for the two little black birds at the edge of the
crowd.
    "Oh, oh," Edna tittered.
    "Now that didn't turn out as expected," Edith
giggled.
    "Tom. Help Ellie around to the office," Doc
ordered as he moved backward up the steps with Jazz dangling from
his arms. "Harvey. See to Donna. The rest of you go on home. Go!
There's nothing more to see." This was said as he kicked the door
shut.
    Jazz was still kicking her feet and flailing
her arms and snarling every foul name she could think of. Once they
got inside, he dropped her without warning and she had to scramble
to get her feet under her before she landed hard on the ground.
    She spun on shaky legs and raised her fist.
"I didn't want your help. I was doing fine! I don't need some big
old bear coming to my rescue."
    He brought his chest to within inches of hers
and stared down at her. "That's good, because I wasn't rescuing
you. I was rescuing them. I've known you for less than twenty-four
hours and I've had to break up two of your brawls. What the hell's
the matter with you?"
    Jazz stretched up on her toes to bring her
face closer to his which only made her more aware of the wet and
muddy socks clinging to her feet and did nothing to increase
intimidation. Shit. Did he have to be so damned big?
    "The matter with me? In case you hadn't
noticed, Griz, I was attacked!"
    "Having known you for a day," he growled into
her face, "I'm not surprised, but Ellie Dawson's never attacked
anyone in her goddamned life."
    "It wasn't me," she argued. "I was
defending…"
    "Stop," he said as he stepped back and held
up his hand. "I don't have time for this. Ellie's got a broken nose
and Lord only knows what you've done to poor Donna."
    "Stop," he said again when she would have
spoken and looked down at his mud streaked chest. "Shit. This was
my last clean coat." He took the silver pen from the breast pocket
and shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans, then removed the
stethoscope from one of the side pockets and put it around his
neck. He dropped the coat to the floor and raised