Below is the second short excerpt from Ralph Stone’s point of view.  The Ralph Stone POV Series will be a continuous one until the third and final Morganna Cork novel is released.

The minute Callupo scents something with his hyper-olfactory glands he becomes ruthless in its pursuit.  How the heck he scented her on me, when I’d never been closer than thirty feet to her, is beyond me.  He’s always been like that.  Eerie predator senses, even better than mine.  They say when you lose a sense the others compensate for it by improving.  Callupo’s other senses – like emotional awareness – may be lacking because of his more primordial capabilities.

I lied through my teeth, treated him like he was nuts.  Dude – I said – you’ve really got it bad if you’re imagining that I smell like her. If you’d like I can take this T-shirt off and let you sleep with it.

I got punched right in the gut for that one.  Wasn’t surprised. I suppose I had it coming.

What did surprise me was that Ilana kept her mouth shut.  Pretended to not even notice my absence.  Even had Niko running circles to keep her happy when I returned.  For just a fraction of a second, I caught her eye.  The blush that tinged her pale neck and throat didn’t hurt the ego.

I digress.  That’s why I waited a week to come back down to the City.  Every random check-in Callupo sprung on me was a wasted effort.  I know him much better than he thinks.

I’ve been following her for a half mile now.  I have no idea what she’s doing.  We’ve been up Grant, through Union Square and she kept on with that brisk little trot of hers.  Like someone might stop her.  She’s wearing a navy pea coat and her hair looks like flames licking across the wool.

I smack my forehead.  Chinatown. Of all the places to try and keep tabs on her.  The smattering of shops, boutiques, carts and tourists ambling around make it a very difficult not to get too close in order to stay with her.  The aromas wafting in the area makes me salivate and lose focus. I home in on the shock of color that is her hair.

I watch her pop in and out of shops, haggle with some women over a pair of jade bracelets and then slide into a restaurant.  I’m so engrossed in what she’s doing I lose track of where I’m at, my surroundings.  That’s why I nearly shift on the spot when a mason-like fist grabs me by the throat and begins to crush my windpipe.

No idea where she’s at – Callupo says to me – I must be paranoid, you said.  The irises of his eyes have changed to wolf, but his body remains human.

Crap.

Permalink

| Leave a comment  »