~ CASIMIR ~
Mind still open to Rake and Jesse so they'd hear every word, I stepped forward to put myself right in front of Khush. The male was larger than me by at least fifty pounds. If we'd been men, I would have needed to use skill rather than brute strength to defeat him.
But we were not men. And he did not stand a chance.
Snapping a thread of compulsion at him like a whiplash, I smiled as Khush's eyes glazed, then he blinked and focused on me again.
"Tell me the things you're holding back-the things you think I wouldn't approve of, or that protect someone else's interests," I said casually. I kept the others in the room ignorant to the conversation, their ears stopped so they wouldn't hear it, or move from their places.
Khush nodded quickly. "I'm concerned that these
