Alpha Grant: Book 3 of The Alpha Series

22. Brazil

Grant

~

Traveling from Perth to Itaituba took us two days. But it was all worth it. I was now two hours ahead of the people back home and I could spend my nights talking with Madison again. I was so happy to be back on this side of the world.

When we landed, it was almost eight in the evening so I needed to get us hotel rooms for the night after getting a rental vehicle. I got us a Jeep Renegade and we loaded up our belongings. We found food, then a hotel to stay at for the night. We all went to our rooms and relaxed after so much traveling and terrible airports. We were almost done with all of this.

I messaged everyone at home and let Madison know that I planned to stargaze with her once again. She was excited about that and it put a smile on my face. I texted her for a long time tonight and fell asleep with my phone in my hand. Talking with her made me the happiest.

~

We all woke up early and got breakfast before checking out of the hotel and getting in the vehicle. I drove the two hours to the pack through the streets of Itaituba, which turned into a highway, then I turned onto a jungle path. Soon, it was the end of the road and I had to park the vehicle.

We got out and I told everyone, “Grab a bag of your things. I will lock the vehicle. We will be walking from here to the pack territory.”

We all grabbed our things and I took my phone out of my pocket. I brought up uncle Sean’s phone number and called him.

“Hey. Where are y’all at?” he asked me as I heard him turn a page in a book.

“We just parked the car in the jungle headed for the Brazil pack.”

“Ok. I will send Amari to you. He will have to come home each night but he will show up each day for you. Too bad none of us learn Portuguese and just know Spanish.”

I laughed and said, “I agree and thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Grant.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Alright, bye.”

We hung up and suddenly a portal opened not far from where I was standing and Amari walked through. He had to be our translator here and he was happy to help. He had a bracelet on his wrist that helped him travel all over the world. He did it with his classes that he taught at the pack school and I was jealous of the pups that were in his history classes. I wanted to experience that but we didn’t have that back at Hunter’s Moon.

“Grant!” Amrai said as he walked up to me and hugged me.

“It’s good to see you, Amari. Thank you for helping me,” I told him.

“Not a problem. Let’s get moving.”

We followed Amari toward the pack territory through the dense jungle.

As we walked, I listened to Amari say, “I called Alpha Rodrigo last night and told him to expect us today.”

“Ok.”

We walked for a while before we saw a village in the dense jungle. It reminded me of the jungle book movie here. The village streets were made of cobblestone. The buildings were made of rock and red stones. Most of them were painted white with bright accent colors of blue, orange, red or green. There were a few that were a mint green color with white accents. This place was beautiful and bright.

As we began to approach, a man my height with copper-colored skin, black mid-length hair, dark brown eyes and a short black and gray beard stepped forward. He was thinner than me but I could tell he was Alpha Rodrigo.

Amari greeted him, then introduced us in Portuguese. I knew English and Spanish, whereas Otto knew Navajo, Mona knew Arabic and Aksel knew Norwegian and German. We were a useless lot here.

“Venha. Vou mostrar-lhe os seus quartos,” Rodrigo said.

“Come. I will show you to your rooms,” Amari said.

We followed him into a mint-colored building and were shown to rooms. We placed our things down and turned to follow him out. Alpha Rodrigo led us to the living room of the house we were in and stopped to face us.

“This will be your home while you are here. We eat in the large red brick building at each meal, but you can cook if you like,” Alpha Rodrigo said in a thick accent.

I smiled, then looked at Amari. His facial expression showed that he was irritated.

“Since when do you know English?” Amari asked as he folded his arms over his chest.

“I learned after Sean showed up. I’m the only one that knows it so far. I am teaching the pups of our village though.”

Amari nodded his head and I smiled.

Amari turned to me and said, “well, it looks like you don’t need me.”

“I might. I’ll call you if I do.”

“That works for me,” he said, then hugged me and portaled back to Midnight Forest.

I turned to Rodrigo and he said, “I’ll show you the village.”

We left the house and walked around the village. We asked Rodrigo questions as we met the pack members. This was a beautiful spot and they really let nature live in the village. You didn’t see that much anywhere else. I wanted to do that with our pack village. Nestle each building into the nature that is already there.

When it was dinner time, we went with Rodrigo to the dining hall and sat with him. Others joined him and he introduced us to his family, his Beta and his family. Luna Ana was small like my mom. Her and Rodrigo's pups were Carlos, who looked to be about sixteen, and Leticia, who was possibly around ten. Beta Luiz was a tall thin man and his mate, Maria, was the same size as Luna Ana. They had a daughter named Patricia and I wondered if she would end up being a Beta female like Akila and Logan. It was amazing to see how things were changing with beta females and Alpha females like my mom and cousin Fallon.

We listened to everyone talk while we waited for dinner. Soon we were handed plates of several different types of BBQ meat and corn on the cob. I smiled when I saw it and began to eat. Everyone enjoyed the food, which made me smile.

Once dinner was over, we went back to the house we would call ours while we were here. Everyone showered and started to go to their rooms for the night. Once I was comfortable, I went to the roof of the building and lay on a lounge chair before calling Madison.

“Hey! How is the pack in Brazil?” she asked.

“Good. We can only speak with Alpha Rodrigo. He’s the only one here that can speak English.”

“Oh wow.”

“Yeah. Are you at our spot?”

“Yep, I just laid down on the grass.”

“Goddess, I've missed this.”

“Me too,” she said happily.

We lay outside and talked on the phone until it was late and she needed to head home. At least we would get this again. I would get access back to my best friend and the things we shared. I kind of took for granted the things we shared until I couldn’t have them anymore.

~

I woke up early and enjoyed my morning routine of meditation and got dressed before going to the pack dining hall a few buildings down. I settled on a bench with Rodrigo and Luiz while they waited for breakfast. A kitchen Omega brought us plates of fruit, bread and sliced ham along with cups of coffee.

“Obrigada,” (thank you) I said to her before she left.

Rodrigo smiled at me and said, “You catch on quick.”

“I grew up with English and Spanish. Picking up other languages shouldn’t be too hard.”

He nodded his head and said, “English is hard.”

“Yeah, it is.”

We started to eat and drink our coffee as the rest of my pack came walking in and sat with us. They were brought breakfast and started eating. Once all of us were done, we left the dining room and followed Rodrigo to a spot that had just grass in the center but was surrounded by trees. It was a large field on a hill that they trained on.

Luiz paired up with Otto, while Krew and Aksel paired up as usual. I would be sparring with Rodrigo and I wasn’t going to go easy on the old man. I was going to show him what I was made of. I did this with most of the Alpha’s because I could and they wanted to see it.

We all started our training sessions and as soon as I made difficult moves look easy, I saw Luiz stop sparring with Otto to watch us. I was able to grapple with Rodrigo and make him tap out quickly. We then moved to other combatives and, for the first time, I didn’t wait for someone else to make the move and I attacked first. The sparring match was over in seconds because of that. What a bummer.

I stood there face-to-face with Rodrigo as he said, “I see what Sean was talking about but I had to see for myself before I take you to see Renata.”

“Who’s Renata?” I asked.

“The witch we have close ties with.”

“How far away is she?”

“Only an hour,” he told me with a smile.

I nodded my head and asked, “Will we go see her when we are done here?”

“Yes. First, I want to see if the five of us can take you to the ground,” Rodrigo said in a challenging tone.

Everyone did this and I was getting tired of it, so I said, “good luck.”

All five of the guys attacked at once and I moved swiftly to dodge fists and grab arms. I made sure not to really hurt anyone as I moved to attack and block in defense. My movements were fast and I was able to throw several of them to the ground without issues.

At the end of the match, the three Betas were breathing hard on the ground along with Krew. I had Rodrigo pinned and he was tapping out once more.

I let him up and he nodded his head before saying, “let’s go clean up, then I’ll meet you at the guest house.”

I nodded my head and all of us left the training field to get cleaned up. Once I was clean and dressed in nice blue jeans and a t-shirt, I met everyone in the living room of the house we were staying in.

“You may take your members with us or leave them here,” Rodrigo said as he looked at me.

I looked at everyone and they all shook their heads telling me they wanted to stay here this time. I left the guest house with Rodrigo and followed him through the village to a small car that was parked near his house. We climbed in and he drove to a small village an hour away. The houses here looked the same as they did back in the pack village.

Rodrigo parked out front of a large house that looked like the one he had me staying in. We got out and I followed him up to a large wooden door. He knocked three times and we stood there waiting on the front step.

The door opened and in the opening there stood a lady with midnight black skin and thick curly black hair that was pulled back out of her face. Her eyes weren’t brown as you would expect, instead, they were crystal blue. She was beautiful and exotic looking. I couldn’t quit staring at her.

“Come in,” she said after looking at us.

We stepped into the house and we were led to a dark sitting room. She sat in a large wooden chair and motioned for me to sit on the one opposite of her. There was a small table in between us that had a decorated cloth on it with a tray, tarot cards and tea cups.

Rodrigo stood behind me and watched what was about to happen. I didn’t speak yet because I had no idea what to do, say or ask. The feeling here was calm yet chaotic and it smelled of magic. It tingled across my skin before the smell of alfalfa burning invaded my nose.

“I am Renata. You came to me for answers about why you are the strongest, why your eyes are gray and about your prophecy being altered,” the woman said in a thick and beautiful voice.

“Yes,” I answered while watching her.

Her pupils dilated and her iris almost disappeared before her eyes went back to normal and she blinked a few times.

“All mysteries are linked to one another because you have been touched by two Lycans, Alpha Grant,” she said.

“What?” I asked in confusion.

She didn’t answer me and I sat there thinking about it while holding onto the arm rests of the chair I was sitting on. My dad is a Lycan but my mom is a Goddess. If that was true, we would all be stronger, not just me.

“But my mom is always around other Lycan bearers. Everyone is always hugging her, touching her or holding her hand. If that were the case, then something would be different about all of us pups, not just me,” I said.

“That’s not what I'm talking about,” she said, shaking her head with a sour look on her face.

I sat there looking at her, wondering what the f**k she was talking about. Then a thought crept into my mind. Would my mother have cheated on my dad? That’s impossible. I look just like him.

“I can't give details because I can’t see them. They haven’t been brought to light yet, but it’s as if you were the product of two Lycan-bearing warriors,” Reneta said.

“That's impossible. My father is one and my mother is the Forest Wolf, but my older brother isn’t as strong as me. I’m the only one that’s different,” I almost yelled, because this was getting me nowhere.

“Maybe there’s more going on than you think,” she said, and I was left speechless.

I got up from my chair and left the house quickly. Rodrigo chased after me and we got into the car once more. He didn’t say anything but we sat there for a few minutes before he started the car and started to drive us back to the pack.

As he drove back to the pack I thought quietly to myself. How in the world should I go about asking my mother what the hell this witch meant? She was cryptic like a witchs and it drove all of us nuts. How in the world could I ask my mom if she had cheated on my father while she was trying to get pregnant with me or while she was pregnant with me? How could dad have stayed with her after that? I was getting sick to my stomach just thinking about it. My mother wasn’t that type of person.

By the time I had gotten back to the pack village with Rodrigo, I had made up my mind about one thing, I wouldn’t tell my parents about this or my uncle Sean. I needed to talk to Madison though. She might be the only one I tell.

I thanked Rodrigo for taking me to Renata, then walked back to the guest house. I avoided everyone as I walked up to the roof to privately talk with Madison on the phone. She answered on the second ring.

“Hey what’s up?” she asked.

“I need to talk.”

“Ok. I’m here for you,” she told me.

I told her everything. Everything that the witch had said and what I was thinking.

“That’s crazy, but that’s not how biology works, Grant. Besides the fact that you were told your prophecy was altered by magic. No Lycan can wield magic,” she said.

“And this is why I called you. I was shutting down thinking about all of it.”

“That’s understandable. They are giving you the run around instead of a straight answer. All this is telling you is that the only way to get an answer is from the person that altered your prophecy, who made you this strong and changed your eye color. It’s crazy that all of it is linked.”

“Yeah.”

I talked to her until I was calm and felt better. She was always good at making me feel better and I hope I did that for her too.

~

It was after lunch and I was walking around the pack village with Otto. I never told any of my pack members what I had learned when I went to see Renata. They never asked or pressed the issue. I was thankful for that, but I felt like I needed to at least tell Otto. He was my Beta and my closest friend in this pack I was creating.

“I want to talk to you about something,” I said to Otto.

“What’s up?”

“I appreciate that none of you pressed to find out what that witch told me when we first got here, but I want to share it with you. I talked to Madison about it because I couldn’t make sense of it. I would like to see what you think.”

“Ok. I'm all ears.”

“Here’s all the information put together. My prophecy was altered and set in stone. I have incredible strength because of it and that’s also why my eyes are gray instead of blue like the rest of the men in my family. Renata said that I had been touched by two Lycans, like I was the product of two of them, which is impossible.”

Otto stopped in the street and looked at me for a second.

“It makes sense with your strength and eyes, but now it’s figuring out how it’s possible.”

“Yeah. Madison suggested that I needed to find the person responsible, but who the hell would alter my life and why?” I asked.

“She has a point, but how the hell are we going to figure that out? Lycans can’t do magic, so it had to be a witch.”

“Now the question is what witch it was?” I asked.

He nodded his head and said, “that’s going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

I grimaced before we kept walking through the village, waving at members that waved at us. These people were friendly even if we couldn’t talk to them without Rodrigo’s help.

We turned a corner of the village and I stopped dead in my tracks. I reached out for the building to steady myself as I struggled to breathe all of a sudden. There was pain rippling through my chest as I groaned and I felt Skoll howl in pain. What the hell was going on?

Otto had his hand on my back and I looked up at him. There was worry all over his face as to what was going on with me.

“What’s going on?” I asked Skoll.

“A Lycan has died. Kratos is dead.”

“Who was the man attached to him?” I asked, not knowing if he could tell.

“Alpha Alexis of the Greek pack.”

“Oh f**k. James is there!”

I instantly worried for my cousin and what was going on. I took a breath to settle the ache in my chest and my racing mind.

“How do you know all of this?” I asked Skoll.

“I just do.”

“How in the world did he die? He wasn't old.”

“He died in a battle helping to protect James and Gillian.”

“What else do you know?” I asked.

“Nothing. I’m sorry.”

I stood up straight and took a breath. I looked at Otto and explained what was going on and expressed my concern for my cousin and his mate. I also expressed my concern that Skoll knew so much. From my knowledge of Lycan’s, we were connected and could feel one another die, but we wouldn’t know which Lycan died.

~

I woke up early and sat on my bed. Over the course of the past couple of days, I learned what had happened in Greece and felt horrible for my family members. The loss of Freddie and Willow was felt throughout the family since we all knew them so well. I was happy mom and dad went to their memorial, but I was pissed at Eric for working and not going.

I started to move around my room and go about my day. I was skipping training today to relax and be lazy for a change. It was my present to me on my nineteenth birthday. As I relaxed and enjoyed some down time, I got texts and phone calls from all of my family members. It put a smile on my face but I was waiting for that one special phone call. Suddenly, I was getting a call from Madison and I answered quickly.

“Hey!” I said.

“Happy Birthday!”

I chuckled and said, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome. What will you be doing today?”

“I’m going to be lazy.”

“That seems nice but boring as hell.”

I laughed at her and said, “I have nothing else to do.”

“I guess that’s fair. I’m headed to school so I will call you again later today before bed.”

“Alright sounds good. Have a good day at school.”

“I will. Have a lazy birthday.”

I laughed again, then said, “Oh I will.”

She laughed and said, “talk to you later.”

“Later.”

I sat around the guest house all day and enjoyed my time. I went for a walk and ate in the dining hall but mostly just relaxed. I spent time with my members and did research on places to settle and business to create. We were getting closer to settling the pack, so I needed to look for places.

After dinner, and a couple of hours after sun down, I got a facetime call from Madison. I answered it and saw that she was in the meadow back home. I headed up to the roof to look at the stars with her and talk. Getting to see her face and talk with her while lying on my back looking at the night sky was the best birthday present she could have given me. Even though she kept apologizing for not being able to get me anything. I told her it was fine and that this was perfect. We talked until late in the night, then I told her goodnight as always.

I headed to my bed and lay down on my back while staring at the ceiling. It wouldn’t be long and we would be heading to our last location on this journey, Canada. I wonder what I will find there.