The Lightest Dark (The Dark series Book 1) Read Free Page B

hates Ryan.”
    I raised an eyebrow at that. “You sound so confident. Then I guess you have nothing to worry about.” I almost laughed at how sure he seemed. Almost.
    To the untrained eye, Lead Guardian Alexander Kelly did hate my brother. The reality of it was he loved my brother, but more often than not, Ryan pissed him off like no one else, hence the misconception. In hindsight this seems to have worked out for Ryan, though I don’t think Alexander will find it as amusing as I do.
    It takes no more than ten minutes for Tristan to come back. Alexander is behind him, a frown on his face as he looks lost in thought, though I’m sure there would be more cursing involved if he knew why he was here. He took in the situation as I take a quick assessment of him.
    Alexander is broad and tall at 6”2. He has steel blue eyes, chestnut brown hair cropped close to his scalp, and a jagged scar above his lip that gives him an edge that otherwise wouldn’t be there. He seems more strung out than usual. I have to wonder if it has anything to do with what I told everyone at the council meeting earlier.
    If anyone there were to take my warning for what it was, it would be Alexander. His gaze keeps bouncing back and forth between Evan and myself. I decide to put him out of his misery and tell him why he was asked over. “I was informed about fifteen minutes ago by Tristan that my brother was taken into lockup and no one bothered to call me.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Understood. Tristan, go ahead and take Cali to get Ryan. I’m sure you know where the keys are kept.” He turned back to Evan, “Why was she not called?” His voice was calm, but I heard a slight intonation at the end of his statement. It was his only tell. I would definitely not want to be Evan right now.
    As Tristan and I make our way down to the cells, Alexander’s voice continued to rise, getting louder and louder. I couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped my lips. 
    “Yeah, when I told Evan a few months ago that anyone who crossed you would regret it, I don’t think he quite believed me.”
    I considered asking how that subject had even come up, but decided against it. Instead I shrugged. “He should have heeded the warning. Now he’s suffering the consequences.”
    We turned the corner and went into a room that had floor to ceiling steel bars going the length of the room to split it in half with two more separating them into three separate cells. I think this room used to be a safe room of some sort for confidential files and the like, but I can’t quite remember the particulars.
    My brother was laying on the cot in the cell farthest to the left, his arm across his eyes. He was covered in a brown sticky substance I could only assume was the chocolate pudding Evan had mentioned earlier. “RYAN!” He jumped up so fast he almost smacked into the bars face first.
    Both Tristan and I started to laugh. Ryan straighten himself up as Tristan got the keys to let him out. I guess he was getting ready for the talk we were going to have the second we got home. It was always the same and this time would be no different.
    Honestly, I understand why he does this kind of thing. If I hadn’t had him to look after, it would have been me in the pool of chocolate pudding… well, maybe not chocolate pudding. Probably butterscotch. I love butterscotch.
    Anyway, my point is that while I understand, as his caretaker I’m not allowed to condone it. It would say that I'm okay with that kind of behavior when I'm not. Not entirely anyway.
    My brother and I are a bit of an oddity in the community and I think that has a lot to do with why he acts out in strange ways, though that’s not the entirety of it. The truth is this incident is one of many over the course of the last year.
    He’s been acting out like this since we lost our mother in a supply run two years ago, but it’s been getting progressively worse the closer my first run gets. I’m hoping that he calms