Free Choices: Alpha City, Book 3 by Bryce Evans

before the funeral, and Rose’s cooking is excellent.”
    “Spoken like a man who loves to eat,” Maggie teased as they walked outside to his car.

Chapter Nine
    Z oey placed the platter on the table. She was looking over every place setting, making sure they had enough, when the doorbell rang. She looked out the peephole and nearly fell over. Kayden had told her that Thorn’s brother was his twin, so Zoey knew they would have a few similarities, but this was beyond identical. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Nothing was said as Knox glanced back toward the stranger with him. Zoey shook her head and smiled. “Hello.”
    “Hello,” both the men echoed.
    “I’m Knox; Thorn was my brother.”
    “I’m sorry for staring, but Kayden only said you were twins; I wasn’t expecting this. I bet you switched all the time.”
    Knox smiled. “Yes ma’am, we did. Got us in a lot of trouble too. But we could never fool our mama.”
    Zoey looked down as tears formed in her eyes. “Your brother meant a lot to me.” When she glanced up, Knox was staring at something behind her. She looked to find Kayden was looking over her shoulder.
    She moved out of the way, and Kayden went up to Knox and hugged him. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Kayden pulled back. “Come in, and I can fill you in.”
    Before he walked inside, he turned and introduced his friend. “This is Ransom Spencer.”
    “Welcome, Ransom. I’m sorry we have to meet under these circumstances.” Kayden pulled Zoey next to him. She needed to feel the comfort from her mate. She’d lost a friend too, and this was weird for her. Even his voice sounded like Thorn. At first she thought she was dreaming, but that wasn’t the case. Thorn was dead, and now his twin was here for answers.

Chapter Ten
    K nox Russell sat on the couch, waiting for the Alpha and his mate to explain to him what happened. He glanced at a photo of his brother teaching the cubs how to shift for the first time. Thorn was always good with the cubs, and they loved him. He could see the smiles the young ones gave his brother when the picture was taken. Thorn was always a special person. He had a way of putting you at ease.
    Ransom Spencer was standing to the side, looking at the many pictures on the wall. The man didn’t talk much, unless you wanted the truth. He was a good man and told Knox on the plane that he’d stick around until he wasn’t needed anymore. Knox had no clue what was going on, but he was getting anxious as the Alpha and his mate walked in the room.
    The pair sat across from him, troubled. “Knox, I loved your brother.”
    “Alpha, I know that, and he loved you as well, but I need to know what happened.”
    Kayden glanced over at Ransom, then back at him.
    “Whatever you say here will be kept between us. Thorn trusted Ransom with our lives, and so do I,” Knox told him.
    Kayden nodded, “There is a witch named Claudia Blackwood who wants to take over Alpha City. She wants to get into Valceria.” That got Ransom’s attention. “Claudia is very powerful and practices the dark arts of magic. Somehow she got Jamal, the king of dragons, out of Hell. We still don’t know how she did it or how it’s even possible, but she did.”
    Knox tilted his head. “A dragon. I thought all the dragons were extinct?”
    “We did too, but come to find out that Jamal, who was sent to Hell by the Order, was somehow brought back to earth. What we know so far is that the Order cast Jamal from the earth. The Order is made up of a group of special shifters and others who were brought together to rid the Earth of Jamal and his people. Jamal’s father was Riffa, a dragon who believed in only flying at night and leaving the humans alone. Jamal disagreed and killed his father.
    “The Order was formed with one Elf, one bear, one wolf, one panther, one tiger, one jaguar, one dragon, and two witches. Each of them was given a special gift to help them on their quest. When Jamal