Free The Alpha's Daughter by Jacqueline Rhoades

house. The sun was finally peeking
out from behind the clouds to give them a few moments of sparkling
light before it set behind the trees.
    "It's a party they hold four times a year to
celebrate the full moon." He was growling again and she didn't know
why.
    "Shit," she said as she started thinking
about that disaster of a house and the holes and soft spots on the
porch and food. It was obvious he wasn't happy about this and
since, in a way, it was her fault he was stuck with it, she ought
to do what she could to help. "What kind of food do you have to
provide? I mean, is it a meal or just snacks?"
    He looked down at her.
    "Oh yeah, stupid question." Wolvers never
snacked. They ate. A lot. "How many people are we talking
here?"
    "I don't know."
    "What do you mean you don't know? How many
wolvers are in this pack?" If it was to celebrate the full moon, it
meant the men would be going over the moon, turning wolf. "What
about the women? Do they hang around after the men go over the
moon? What about cubs?"
    "There are two hundred and fifty seven
wolvers in this pack. I can't answer the rest of your questions
because I don't know."
    Jazz rolled her eyes. The grizzly was just
like all the other wolver men she'd ever known. Eat, drink, fuck,
and leave the rest to the women to take care of. Jazz stopped in
the middle of the road, put her hands on her hips and waited until
he realized she was no longer at his side. Then she spoke.
    "I understand you're not happy about this and
that you probably blame me for it and I'm willing to do whatever I
can to make it easier on you, but you've got to give me some help
here. I've never been to one of these things. You have."
    "No. I haven't. I've only gone over the moon
up here a half dozen times and I've never been to a full moon
frolic."
    "A half dozen times? Hell, I've gone over the
moon more than that and I only get to go once a year. What are you,
forty five? Fifty?" Jazz stopped, looked at the sky and wiggled her
fingers in a calculating gesture "Damn, you should have gone over
at least four hundred and twenty times and that's not counting the
number of times your Alpha might have taken you over outside the
full moon."
    All Alpha's had the power to do that. Her
father used it as a reward for the highest earner. He could take
women, too, but he never did, not even his Mate.
    "Shit, Griz, what's wrong with you?"
    They'd reached the front porch and Doc turned
with his hand on the door knob. "Nothing's wrong with me and I am
not forty five or fifty," he said, clearly offended, "I'm thirty
seven. I said up here, not all together and where'd you come up
with four hundred and twenty? And," he drew the word out to prove
he wasn't finished, "Do you think you can say one complete sentence
without cussing?"
    She removed his hand from the knob and let
herself in. "Hell, Griz," she laughed as she squeezed by him, "I
say plenty of sentences without fucking cuss words. You just don't
listen for shit." She laughed again as he groaned and followed her
in, shaking his head. She leaned down and looked up into his face,
showing him her thumb and finger spread about an inch apart. "Aw,
come on, Griz, it was a little funny. You can laugh."
    He snorted instead and continued to shake his
head. "Are you sure your pack didn't throw you out?"
    "Hel… heck no," she laughed, "Those fu… uh,
idiots wanted me to stay so bad, they were willing to fight over
me. Trouble was nobody asked me if I wanted to mate, which I
didn't."
    "I gather your father tried to arrange a
mating for you. Did you appeal to your Alpha?"
    Jazz laughed harder at that. "You could say
so, but the fu… fool wasn't listening. Couldn't figure out why I
wasn't delighted, his word, delighted to obey. One thing you have
to understand about me, Griz. I won't bow down and lick any man's
boots."
    He snorted again. "I'll try to remember that,
Hellcat. Now, why do you keep calling me Griz when everyone else
calls me Doc?"
    "Oh, I don't know." She removed