Alpha Grant: Book 3 of The Alpha Series

19. China

Otto

~

We left Mongolia and flew to China right after the New Year. Grant drove us through the forests after he texted Madison and his family that we had arrived safely. After seeing what Madison looked like, there was no doubt why he was attached and for his Lycan to be attached to her says a lot. Though Skoll is attached to me too, mainly because of my stories, that's alright.

It wasn’t long and we stopped in front of a small village in the middle of the Daxing'anling Larch Forest. The village was tucked away nicely in the white birch and bamboo trees. It had a high stone wall around it with no gate. There were two guards on duty that approached the vehicle and Grant rolled his window down.

“What can we do for you?” one of the guards asked.

“I’m Alpha Grant. I’m here to see Alpha Feng.”

The guard nodded his head then said, “He’ll meet you here. Park your vehicle off to the side.”

Grant nodded his head then parked the Chinese SUV we were in off to the side. All four of us got out and walked toward the warriors. They all looked at me carefully. I wonder if they thought I was Asian for a second.

“What is your native tongue?” one of the warriors asked.

“Navajo. Yah-aat-eh, it means hello,” I told them.

“Yah-aat-eh,” they said back, and I smiled.

It had been a while since I had spoken in my native tongue and I missed it. I longed to find someone that was a wolf like me that was Native American so we could share our culture together.

Soon, a man about my size came walking towards us. He might be my size, but you could feel the Alpha energy rolling off of him. He didn’t have a Lycan though. I have learned how to feel that energy too. All the Lycan warriors gave off this high energy but Grant’s was overpowering because of Skoll.

I knew why we were here. Grant’s uncle thought that the former Alpha or even the current Alpha could help him with Skoll. I honestly don’t think there is going to be any help with that Lycan’s behavior. On more than one occasion, I have seen just how much of a d**k he could be, not only to Grant but to others.

The Alpha of the pack here in China approached and shook Grant’s hand while saying, “Alpha Grant. It’s good to meet you. I’m Alpha Feng. You and your pack members should grab your things so I can show you to your rooms.”

“Sounds good,” Grant told him.

We all grabbed our belongings and followed Alpha Feng into the village. As we walked around, I marveled at the buildings. The path was made of white cobblestone and so were the two-story buildings. There was a nice contrast of red and white on the buildings. It looked like a typical Chinese village but it was magnificent to be able to stand in one.

We followed Feng into the largest building in the village, after we took our shoes off at the door, and I figured it was the packhouse. He showed us to our rooms and we set our bags down before following him to a sitting area where we were served warm tea.

“For today, the four of you are free to roam the pack village. Tomorrow each of you will be training with my father, former Alpha Yau and myself,” Feng told us.

We all nodded our heads before sipping our tea. The tea wasn’t very sweet, but it was pleasant and warm. It is currently a little cold outside, so this was very welcome.

“Do you think your father can help me with an angel and demon living in my head?” Grant asked.

“He’s the best person to try here. My only question is, why didn’t your Navajo friend try to help you?” Feng asked while looking at me.

I grimaced and said, “I don’t know how to help him.”

Feng chuckled at me before asking, “so you weren’t taught your ancient customs?”

“Not many of them. A lot of that died before I was born.”

“Shame.”

I nodded my head in agreement. It was a shame to lose one's culture and my family had. Maybe I could find it somewhere in the US once more and learn it. Then maybe one day I could pass it down to my pups and they could keep it alive.

We finished speaking with Feng before he had business to attend to. The four of us got up and left the packhouse. We walked around the village streets looking at everything and meeting the locals. The weather started to turn and light rain began to fall, making it colder outside.

We headed back to the packhouse to relax in our rooms and talk with one another. I wonder how often it rains here, since it is so green. I just hope it doesn’t rain too much. I didn’t want to be kept inside all month again. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Rome but being stuck in that house all the time gave me cabin fever. It was time to be outside!

~

Grant

I went to bed last night not saying a word to anyone back home. I was tired as hell and felt a little disconnected from everything and everyone. This morning I woke up and grabbed my phone while breathing out heavily. I had messages from everyone asking if I was ok. I sent everyone messages letting them know I was fine, then got ready to go eat breakfast and go train with Feng and Yau.

We all sat together in the dining hall this morning for our meal and met Beta Lixin. He and Feng were my age and had just taken over the pack. As we talked, we were served breakfast. We got something called Jian bing. It was an egg-filled breakfast crepe. The crepe was made of flour and was topped with egg, scallions, cilantro, sweet soybean paste, and chili sauce.

The four of us were a little apprehensive about trying it but as soon as I took my first bite, I was in heaven. Breakfast was good and it had a way better flavor than anything I had back home. Not to mention it was very filling.

When we were done eating breakfast, we went out to the courtyard right in front of the packhouse with Lixin, Feng and Yau.

“No shoes, no socks and no shirts,” Yau instructed.

It was cold but not freezing outside, so I would live without all my clothing on. All of us shed our shirts, shoes and socks, leaving us in just our sweat pants and turned to Yau. He began the session with slow fluid movements that were calming and would warm our bodies. Once we were done, I learned that it was their warm up before we matched up to begin sparring. I showed Yau and Feng exactly what they were working with when it came to me before we all sat on the grass of the courtyard. Yau sat in front of me and Feng was beside him.

“Grant, can I speak with Skoll directly?” Yau asked.

I nodded my head and pushed Skoll forward. He didn’t protest and I knew he was about to show everyone what his personality was like. Skoll looked at Yau but said nothing in greeting.

“Why do you push Grant to start fights?” Yau asked.

“Because we are warriors,” Skoll answered in his deep voice.

“A warrior that should fight when he is needed, not because he wants to.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Skoll asked.

Yau groaned and asked, “Do you know why the Moon Goddess created the Lycan warriors?”

“To protect the wolves that were being hunted.”

“Yes. You are here to protect those around you, not fight them,” Yau said.

“That's still boring,” Skoll protested.

Fucking Skoll. Damn he was stubborn. How in the world was anyone going to get through to him that he needed to fight when he was needed, not when he wanted?

“Let’s try meditating,” Yau began.

Skoll relaxed while he was still in control of my body and closed his eyes while listening. I was actually surprised that he hadn’t shoved me to the front and settled to the back to relax and grumble about what was going on. All was quiet in my head and all three of us listened to Yau as he taught us how to meditate. I felt calm and like I was sleeping, yet I wasn’t sleeping. We focused on our breath and listened as Yau kept talking gently.

By the end of the session, Yau told us to open our eyes and I slowly opened mine and looked at him.

“How do you feel?” he asked me.

Skoll dropped to the back and pushed me forward. I was now in control again and Skoll no longer wanted to talk to Yau.

“I feel great. Skoll clearly doesn't want to talk anymore but I can tell you that he relaxed,” I told him.

Yau smiled and nodded his head before saying, “we will keep at this then.”

We all slowly got up and went into the packhouse to have lunch. We had meatballs covered in a type of red gravy over rice. We dug into our food and I hummed in happiness. We were getting fed really well here. Otto and Aksel ended up splitting a second helping of our meal and I smiled at how close they were getting. I wanted them to be close friends. They didn’t need to see each other as rivals because they weren’t.

By the end of the day, I was in a better mood than I had been in a long time. After a hot shower, I sat on my bed and messaged everyone back home. I saved my texts with Madison for last because those were the ones I was going to enjoy the most. It sucked that we were thirteen hours ahead of them, but it wouldn’t be like this for much longer.

“Sorry, I’ve been so quiet,” I messaged Madison.

“It’s ok. How is China?”

“It’s pretty amazing,” I told her and sent her pictures of everything to look at.

Minutes later, she messaged me back and said, “that place is so amazing!”

“I told you.”

“Lol, what have you gotten to do other than walk around and take pictures?”

“I trained this morning and learned how to meditate. Skoll was a jackass but he’s learning.”

“Good. I hope the former Alpha there can help you.”

“Same.”

We texted until I fell asleep on her. I had dreams of Madison that night. They were of past memories where we were in the meadow looking at the stars and talking. That was time with her that I desperately missed. I couldn’t wait to be back on that side of the world to share those things with her again.

~

My month here proved to be extremely helpful. Skoll was less inclined to have me beat the s**t out of people and he actually enjoyed meditation. He felt more relaxed and I knew I would need to keep up with my meditation to stay sane.

I talked with my uncle Sean about it and he told me that he meditates every morning still after coming here. It helps him and it helps Charlie, his wolf. After learning about that, I wondered just how many people would benefit from this. I had noticed it helped the guys, not just me.

I exchanged contact information with Yau and Feng as we were getting ready to leave for Egypt. I think I might have to come back here one day. I might know a few others that might need Yau and Feng’s meditative help.