Mating Rights Read Online Free PDF Page A

knees buckled, threatening to send
her careening backward outside. She caught herself on the framework, gripping
the post tight as she held her footing.
    A dozen lovely youthful
faces met her gaze as she righted herself and stepped further in. Cushion
covered benches ran the distance on either side filled to the brim with women’s
bottoms taking every available seat. Beneath the benches were tapestry bags she
presumed belonged to the women.They’d been
allowed to bring belongings. The fact that she’d been uprooted from her home
and allowed to retrieve nothing, not even her shoes, sent a fresh outrage
shooting through her.
    “Can I have a seat?”
she asked the crowd in general.
    She received no
response to her question.
    Mali looked them over,
but no one seemed willing to scoot over enough to give her a place to sit, and
she didn’t feel like instigating a fight. Shrugging, she sat on the floorboards
amongst their feet.
    Someone snickered.
    Mali trained her eyes
on the source, finding a brunette with startling green eyes staring down her
pointed nose at her.Mali glanced side to side
and decided the girl’s snobbish attitude was definitely directed towards her.
Mali frowned, hugging her knees to her chest as the wagon rocked and swayed
down the road. “What?”
    “You look like a little
dog begging at my feet,” the brunette said, spurring the others into laughter.
    Mali’s jaw dropped
before she remembered to shut her mouth. “Excuse me? What’s your problem?”
    The girl flipped her
long silky hair off her chest to rest behind her back then pointed down at her.
“You. Look at you. Is this the best you have to offer a mate? Your hair is a
tangled rat’s nest. You have no shoes, and your clothes are…” She wrinkled her
nose. “…dirty and old. You smell like a wet dog. Have you been rolling in the—”
    The girl didn’t get to
finish her sentence.
    Red filled Mali’s
vision. Her heart pounded with viciousness. She launched herself from the
floor, grabbing two handfuls of the bitch’s hair as she yanked her head down to
the floor and kicked the air out of her gut. The girl gasped for breath then
screeched. She clawed at Mali’s hands, but Mali had a death grip. She wasn’t
letting go unless hair turned loose from the bitch’s scalp.
    “Stop!” she screamed.
“My hair! Somebody get this bitch off me!”
    Mali couldn’t talk.
Words eluded her. She knew if she was going to survive the group, they had to
either fear or respect her. She’d take fear any day.
    Half-hearted blows
landed on her back. Another woman yanked her hair, but Mali had a tough scalp
and bloodlust giving her the strength to ignore the nuisances.
    “Adolpho! Jaxon!” the
brunette shrieked, clawing into Mali’s hands.
    “Get off her!” someone
else yelled.
    “Someone stop the
wagon!”
    As if realizing they
weren’t having a simple disagreement, the wagon rocked violently to a halt. Mali
and the brunette pitched forward, landing on the floor in a tangle of arms and
legs. Mali rolled on top, slamming the girl’s head into the floor.
    “Bitch,” she hissed,
gouging Mali’s arms until blood dripped from her skin in little rivers. The
crescent shaped holes healed slowly, leaving dried stains on her skin.
    Fine slippers stomped
the floor boards as the other women scattered and jumped out of the way of
their rolling bodies. Dust rose, choking Mali. She coughed, releasing a hank of
hair to punch the girl repeatedly in the face. She thought if she flattened
that pert little nose maybe she wouldn’t be so quick to look down it at her
again.
    “What the hell?” A
masculine voice ripped through the dust storm clouding Mali.
    Strong hands encircled
her waist, hurtling her through the air and out the back of the wagon. The mob
of women piled out, surrounding Mali, Jaxon, Adolpho, and the brunette. The
other guards wisely remained seated atop their horses, watching the fray with
smiles on their faces.
    The brunette lunged to
slap