Page 27 of My Ogre Husband
I get up and stalk over to Egorr. He turns to me, smiling, but it quickly fades when he sees my murderous expression.
“You,” I say, glaring at the ogress. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but it’s fucking rude.” Her mouth falls open in surprise as I turn my gaze on Egorr. “And you? I thought…” The tears are coming now, and I can’t stop them. “I thought we had something. I really did.”
“What?” His eyes are wide. “Maddie? What do you mean?”
My temper flares even bigger. Is he really that clueless? Despite what he said when we first met, I think he’s attracted to this ogress and doesn’t even realize it.
I don’t care if I’m not supposed to be alone. I can’t stand looking at Egorr’s face a moment longer, and my temper has unfurled into something big and terrible. The last thing I want is to say something even worse than I already have, so I spin around and stomp out of the pub.
“Maddie!”
Tears rushing down my cheeks, the door falls closed behind me with aslam!
Out in the sunshine, I jog down the street, wanting to get as far away as possible from that scene. I have no idea where I’m going, but I want to be anywhere else.
“Maddie!” I hear Egorr call after me. I speed up, running around a right corner, where I keep going, too full of rage and hurt to stop. “Maddie, wait!”
I turn my head to see him chasing after me. But while I’m looking away, I collide with something rather hard.
Stonehard.
Wincing with pain, I glance up, only to find myself standing hip-level with a huge, towering rock giant. It stares down at me.
“A human?” A smile spreads across its face. “Wow. I haven’t seen a human in a long time.” It reaches down, and even as I try to back away, its arms are much too long for me to escape. It seizes me around the middle and lifts me up into the air.
I scream. The rock giant smiles wider.
“So small,” it says, bringing me close to its face to study me. “How cute.”
I’m going to die. This is how I die. Eaten by a rock giant because I was stupid and ran off on my own.
“Hey!” It’s Egorr below me, shouting angrily. “Put her down!”
The giant tilts its head. Egorr looks ready to throw himself into the huge creature’s leg like a linebacker.
“What?” my captor says with an annoyed grunt. “Is this yours?”
I want him to sayyes.Yes, she’s mine.
Instead Egorr says, “You’re going to hurt her. Let her go.” He readies his fists, and even though he’s big, I’m not sure how well he would fare against a twelve-foot monster made of solid stone.
“Jeez,” the rock giant says, lowering me to the ground again. “Sorry.”
With a huff, it drops me onto the sidewalk. Then it strides on past us, grumbling as it goes by.
I sit there on the cement on my ass, tears of anger and fear rushing down my cheeks. Egorr kneels beside me, his expression panicked.
“Are you okay?” he asks, putting a hand on my shoulder. I shove him away, and he looks even more surprised.
“Leave me alone!” I crawl back to my feet and dust off my knees, trying to pretend I’m not terrified out of my skin. I might have almost just died.
“What happened?” Egorr asks, keeping his distance this time, but his expression is worried. “Why did you run?”
I round on him, all my fear turning into frustration.
“Because you don’t want me!” I feverishly wipe my face with my arm as more tears drip down my cheeks. “We’re all wrong for each other!”
“What?” His mouth falls open. “What do you mean?”
