Free Blake, Abby - Hot Inspiration [A Bride for Eight Brothers 5] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) by Abby Blake

again.
    “Do you know why she was made an outcast?”
    Zedahla shook her head but whispered, “Only that she didn’t do what her husband told her to do. I don’t know what that was.”
    Once the formal complaint was taped and filed and the recorders finally turned off, Officer Haloden rolled his chair a little closer and said in a deep, quiet voice, “You are a very brave girl, Zedahla. Please know that your father does not represent our religion. He is part of a fanatical group who have twisted the teachings of the First Potentate to suit themselves. We will do everything we can to stop this sort of thing from happening again.”
    He seemed to want to say more, but he glanced at Brock and Lachlan, nodded slightly, and left the interview room. Lachlan followed him out of the room, but Mikayla had no time to wonder why because Zedahla started to shake as reaction set in and tears flowed down her face.

    * * * *

    Lachlan took a minute to size up the man. It was obvious to him and Brock that Officer Haloden was a trained Dominant. Whether that was part of his religion or simply a kink they had in common, Lachlan didn’t know.
    “Thank you, Mr. Davidson, for bringing Zedahla in to report this,” he said as he held his hand out for Lachlan to shake.
    “What happens now?” Lachlan asked as he shook the man’s hand.
    “Now we pass the information to the police force on planet M652wd and hope they can make arrests without causing a civil war.”
    “Seriously?” He hadn’t even considered civil war. Lachlan knew that most of the people inhabiting the small colony shared the same religion, but he hadn’t thought for a moment that Zedahla’s testimony could very literally put many innocent people in danger.
    His brothers included.
    Hell, his brothers especially since Lachlan had started this course of action.
    Suddenly, getting justice for Zedahla’s cousin seemed a whole lot less important than keeping his family safe, Zedahla included.
    “Zedahla’s grandfather is the Potentate for her community. After he made Zedahla an outcast, he begged me to protect her. I don’t know if he’ll be able to help settle this peacefully, but it’s worth a try.”
    “I will definitely try to contact him first,” Officer Haloden said with a tense smile. “Thank you for rescuing Zedahla. Now that her testimony is on record, it would be a good idea for her to never return to our religion. Even on Earth we have a few fanatics in our ranks.”
    Enough said. Zedahla needed to disappear before the wheels of justice were set in motion.
    “How long do we have?” Brock asked as his thoughts turned to his brothers still on the proposed mining colony.
    “Less than a month,” Officer Haloden said with an uncertain shake of his head. “It will take time for the investigation to be completed, and we will want to try to locate more evidence to confirm Zedahla’s account of events. Unfortunately, from what she said, her sister is likely to refute Zedahla’s testimony, so we won’t get a conviction without some sort of physical evidence as well. We’ll try to find it without alerting any of the suspects to our actions, but they will likely learn of our investigation before we can lay formal charges.”
    “So you’ll be traveling to planet M652wd personally.”
    Officer Haloden nodded. “I’m hoping to go in undercover for a while before I alert the local authorities, but that could be hard to do with all the expense reports I’ll need to fill in.”
    Lachlan usually trusted his instincts when it came to people. Officer Haloden seemed genuinely willing to risk his own safety to get justice for a woman he’d never known. Lachlan had already decided to return to M652wd to help finalize the contract quickly and get the station packed up, so he made the offer and hoped he was reading the man correctly.
    “I’m traveling back to M652wd in two days. I’ve got room for a passenger.”
    Officer Haloden nodded slowly, obviously working