"No." I shake my head slowly. "You respect my fire. You respect my strength when it's directed at you. But the second a real threat appears, you revert to some primal Orc instinct that says you need to eliminate it before I even know it exists. That's not respect, Lanek. That's control."
His expression hardens. "I'm protecting you."
"I didn't ask you to!"
"You shouldn't have to ask!" His voice finally rises to match mine. "That's what a mate does! That's what love means in my culture! I provide, I defend, I ensure you never have to face a threat alone!"
"Well, I'm not Orc!" I'm crying now, hot tears tracking down my frozen cheeks. "I'm human! And in my culture, love means trusting your partner to make their own choices! It means supporting them, not steamrolling them! It means being a team, not a warlord and his protected territory!"
Silence crashes down around us.
Lanek peers at me, something breaking behind his eyes. "So what are you saying?"
I take a shaky breath. "I'm saying I can't do this. Not if you're going to keep making decisions for me. Not if you're going to solve every problem with intimidation and violence. Not if you can't see me as an equal partner instead of something fragile that needs constant defending."
"Quinn." My name is a plea. "Don't do this."
"You did this." I swipe at my tears angrily. "You made this choice when you dragged a man into your freezer instead of talking to me. When you decided your way was more important than my agency."
He reaches for me, and I step back, shaking my head.
"I need you to stay on your side of the alley," I say quietly. "I need you to leave me alone. I need you to let me handle my own life without interference."
"You don't mean that." But his hand drops, uncertainty flickering across his face for the first time.
"I do." The words taste like ash. "I love you, Lanek. But I can't be with someone who doesn't respect me enough to let me fight my own battles. I can't be with someone who thinks love means control."
I turn and walk out of the freezer before I lose my nerve, before the devastation on his face breaks me completely.
He doesn't follow me.
I make it through his shop, past the abandoned counter, out the front door, and exactly three steps down the sidewalk beforeI double over, pressing my hand to my mouth to muffle the sob clawing its way out of my chest.
This is the right choice. I know it's the right choice.
So why does it feel like I just carved my own heart out with one of his cleavers?
CHAPTER 14
LANEK
Istand in the freezer long after Quinn leaves, the cold seeping into my bones in a way it never has before. My breath clouds the air in front of me, each exhale a visible reminder that I'm still breathing even though it feels like my chest has caved in.
The cleaver sits on the counter where I set it down, polished and sharp and utterly useless.
I thought I was protecting her. I thought I was doing what a good mate does—eliminating threats, ensuring her safety, proving my worth as a provider and defender. In Orc culture, allowing your mate to face danger alone is unthinkable. It's a fundamental failure of the bond.
But Quinn isn't Orc.
And I just treated her like she was too fragile, too small, too human to handle her own problems.
I sink onto the metal stool by the butchering block, dropping my head into my hands. The freezer's industrial hum fills the silence, a monotonous drone that matches the hollow ache spreading through my chest.
I love you, Lanek. But I can't be with someone who doesn't respect me enough to let me fight my own battles.
Her words loop through my mind, each repetition cutting deeper than the last.
I do respect her. I respect her fire, her determination, the way she refuses to back down even when she's facing something twice her size. I respect the hell out of her.
