The Cardigans (Criminal Intentions, Season One #1)

by Cole McCade

Pretty, but in a sort of vicious, foxlike way. No—not foxlike. He reminded Malcolm more of a feral cat that condescended to tolerate a human presence, but the moment that human came too close he’d be off with a hiss and a flick of his tail.

Malcolm eyed the grisly, chewed-up mess of the victim’s legs. Blood had crusted and coagulated in black, gelatinous clumps, clinging to muscle and fatty tissue so shredded it looked like pulled pork.

Well, shit got gory fast.

“Stop,” Khalaji said, leaning back on one hand. Seong-Jae lifted his head. “Stop what?” Khalaji snorted. “I’ve worked with the BPD for nearly fifteen years. Done a lot of inter-agency work. You’re analyzing me. I know that look.” “I was not—” “You were. You didn’t start off LAPD. What was it? CIA? FBI? NSA?”

He didn’t look the type, but then real people never did. Real people only looked like themselves, instead of their sexuality.

“Mizrahim,” he said. “Non-practicing. If you ask half the east coast, not even really Jewish since my mother isn’t. Only my father.” He shrugged. “But you get raised in certain habits. They’re hard to slip.”

“You like cupcakes?” “What?” Yoon stared at him. “That is…a very bizarre question. Why do you ask?”

Oh, this question holds more significance after finishing the book.

WITH HIS HEAD CLEARED BY a total of five cups of coffee laced with half a pound of sugar, Seong-Jae was crawling inside his own skull.

Were Seong-Jae a different man, he might well have bitten him.

“Well, Khalaji? Am I handsome?”

There was something so different about listening to someone, reading them only through the inflections in their voice without the influence of body language and eye contact and physical appearance to distract.

He shrugged, quirking his brows. “I might think about keeping you.” Seong-Jae immediately tensed, flicking Malcolm a slit-eyed look. “I am not a pet to be kept.”

Seong-Jae tilted his head in the other direction, then released Malcolm’s tie and straightened. “I felt nothing.”

Liar!

That man was going to drive Malcolm out of his fucking mind.