Gothic Table Runner

My best friend Ada felt sorry for my eight-year crush on Theo. So when our wolves recognize each other as mate, Ada simply gave me a pheromone-enhancing herb and sent me to Theo’s bed. Intoxicated by my scent, Theo claimed me like crazy. When I woke up, he coldly agreed to hold the marking ceremony. But shortly after the marking, Theo frequently visited European packs, and stayed away for five years. I raised our son Alex alone, waiting for him at the pack. But he never came come and just told me he didn’t like puppies. Until Alex's birthday party, I saw a video where someone asked him: "Theo, what's your happiest moment?" He replied carelessly: "Last week in Europe, after putting Marcus to sleep, I took Claire to the dining table in the living room." Amidst the whistles and cheers, my hands and feet turned ice cold. Claire was his ex-girlfriend, Marcus was his ex-girlfriend's son. They say he'd been living with them these five years in Europe, so it was all true. I was completely heartbroken, submitted the mate bond dissolution to the Alpha Council, and left North America with my son, erasing our pack registration.

Before Christmas Eve, all of Nowevik was betting. Not on money. On me. Would I finally pull the winning lot? Would Leon Fabian finally take me to his family estate for Christmas? The Fabians had a rule. A new bride had to attend the Christmas Eve dinner with the whole family before she counted as one of them. I'd been married five years. Five years. The lot never landed on me. I'd become Nowevik's favorite joke. This year, the winning ticket went to a nightclub hostess. She lounged on Leon's lap and flicked it onto the table in front of me, smiling like she'd already won. The room went silent. Everyone waited— for me to lunge at her like I had the last four years. Claws out. A scene. But I didn't move. "Congratulations." Leon leaned in, breath warm at my ear, smiling like he'd just proved something. "Wynne, you're finally learning how to behave. Keep this up and you might actually become a proper lady of my house." I lowered my eyes and tore the ticket in half. My face stayed blank. Leon had no idea the five-year deal between my brother and me was already over. Soon, he'd come take me home.

My sister ate the half plate of mango I had left on the table and broke out in hives from her allergy. My brother stormed over, pried my mouth open, and poured the mango juice straight down my throat. "You love mangoes so much, don't you? Today you'll get your fill." The juice flooded my lungs. I choked, fighting for air as my throat swelled in agony, begging him to save me. Instead, he turned and locked me in the basement. "Betty suffered because of you, so don't expect any comfort. Stay down here and reflect on what you've done. Growing up without any real guidance. No wonder you're so vicious." Two days later, my mom remembered me. "Ralph, that's enough. Let Catherine out. If she stays there much longer, she might start resenting Betty." My dad chimed in casually, "What's the big deal? Just buy her something nice to make up for it." My spirit clung to his back, floating along with them toward the basement. I'd like to see how they were going to compensate a dead girl.

After Celine Anderson let her newly-promoted assistant take credit for my billion-dollar project for the ninth time, I handed in my resignation letter. I also refused to show up in the same place as her. Whenever she was interviewed by talk shows as a public figure, I would switch off all the screens in the building. I also got the security guard to stop her from entering even if she brought me a cup of coffee in the middle of a tornado. To see me, she purposely rescheduled three virtual meetings with foreign companies. So, I immediately bought air tickets to leave the country. I blocked her everywhere and formatted the hard disk that contained all of our memories from the past decade. When I was twenty, I studied with her in the university library. When I was twenty-five, I ate the cheapest bread with her when she first started her company. When I was thirty, I finally knew how to let go of things that no longer serve me. On the ninth time I was accused of sleeping my way up, I came across a photo of her and her assistant kissing. Meanwhile, I was sitting at our dining table with food that had turned cold. It turned out that our decade-long relationship had been a joke. However, it was fine. It was not too late to come to my senses.

As the youngest daughter of the powerful mafia family, the Blythes, I was spoiled the moment I was born. I had three older brothers who adored me. When I turned eighteen, our father was killed in a turf fight. The shock sent our mother into a rapid decline, and she passed away less than a week later. To avenge our father, my three brothers waged war against our enemies for three days. Though they emerged victorious, all three were critically wounded. My eldest brother, Damon Blythe, suffered a ruptured liver and was on the brink of death. Matt Blythe, my second brother, had severe kidney damage. Chris Blythe had lost too much blood and went into heart failure. I spent a fortune hiring the world’s top surgeons. They transplanted half of my liver to Damon, a kidney to Matt, and even gave my heart to Chris, replacing mine with a mechanical one. Thanks to the doctors’ skill, all three survived and went on to take over the Blythes’ empire. Five years later, they became infatuated with Sophia Foster, a poor but strong-willed intern. They even forced me to give up my last kidney to her. It was only after I had died on the operating table that they regretted what they had done.

Jessie Stewart spent twelve years as an orphan before she was finally brought home to the Stewart family. For the first time in her life, she had parents and brothers. But the very people who promised to love and protect her turned against her. Bruce Stewart, her father, who once vowed she'd be his cherished daughter, told her that if she had any conscience at all, she wouldn't fight Mia Stewart, her adoptive sister, for a man. Her brothers, who swore they'd spoil her rotten, dragged her onto an operating table just to draw blood for Mia. As for her fiancé, Henry Lawson, every time things got dangerous, he chose to protect Mia instead of her. Three years later, Jessie's parents were on their knees in tears. Her once arrogant brothers slapped themselves in shame. Even her arrogant ex-fiancé knelt at her feet. They all begged her to come back. Little did they know, Jessie's heart had long since been closed off during those countless nights of pain and betrayal. She had already met the love of her life. In the years to come, she would never again be alone. He tended to her every need. To him, Jessie was everything and more.

Eri Sunville, an intelligent and hardworking female who needs to earn enough for her sister's surgery. She needs any job she can get at any moment and so when she gets the job as a secretary to famous and arrogant multi billionaire, Don Jones, she finds herself having to keep up with his behavior to earn for the surgery. Don Jones, an arrogant yet strikingly handsome CEO who cares about nothing else but the success of his company and will be getting married to his fiancee who has been kept anonymous to stir up the media. --- "Why are you late?" A deep and cold voice called. I had not even noticed the man sitting on the chair in front of the table that lay close to the wall. I stared at him and my goodness, was this how handsome Don Jones was. Nobody told me he was this hot. He had well defined jawlines, a prominent nose and high cheekbones that made me wonder how on earth a man could been so damn gorgeous. He had smooth and straight black hair that fell on his forehead. I only realized I had been staring at his full and perfectly shaped black eyebrows when they furrowed to form a frown. I stared at his eyes and he held my gaze with those devilish dark blue eyes.

Abductors bind me in a basement, subjecting me to the torment of dozens. Meanwhile, my husband, Evan Foster, dines by candlelight with his lover, Carmen Locke. My abductors grant me one chance to call for help, and I dial Evan's number. I'm certain he will come for me. I believe Evan would give his life for me, as he once vowed that his future held no meaning without me. Clinging to hope, I call the number etched in my heart. However, Evan scolds me for interrupting their date. "You think I'll come get you? Dream on. Maybe I'll bother to collect your body if you die out there." His words crush me, and I do die. Five days later, Evan stands before the autopsy table, grimacing at the mangled remains before him. Even as the police department's finest forensic expert, having dissected thousands of bodies, he condemns the killer's brutality. Yet, despite his cold dismissal of my desperate plea over the phone, he now wears a look of pity. Evan, if you knew these fragments belonged to me, would you still find me worthy of your compassion?

Astrid's world shattered at six months pregnant when she found out that her mate's love was a lie, orchestrated by her own parents. He'd seduced her for one purpose: to harvest her unborn child's cord blood for her dying sister. Every moment of their relationship had been a betrayal wrapped in false promises. They’d forced her onto an operating table, taking what they needed and leaving her to die. And in those final moments, Astrid realises that she was all alone with no one on her side. She was supposed to die that day, forgotten and used. Instead, she vanished into the shadows and forged herself into something new. Now Astrid has returned with a different name, a different face, and a singular obsession. The family who orchestrated her destruction thinks she's dead and buried. They're about to learn that betrayal cuts both ways and Astrid has been sharpening her blade ever since they left her for dead. But when the moment comes to destroy them all, will Astrid choose vengeance or mercy? And when her former mate realizes who she really is, will the truth be enough to bring them all down or will Astrid's heart betray her one last time?

Nora’s tarot readings were never meant to matter. They were simple moments. A card flip. A quiet truth. Nothing that could ever disturb fate itself. Until the night the cards tremble in her hands. Until the air in the café sharpens and chills. Until something impossible steps out of the shadows. He does not belong to the world around him. His presence presses against it, ancient and heavy, unseen by everyone else. People walk past him without noticing a thing. But Nora sees him. And he is not pleased. He came to investigate the force that dared to bend fate. He expected danger. He expected power. He did not expect the girl sitting at the table with trembling cards. Every instinct tells Nora she should fear him. He is not human. Not mortal. He was never created to feel. Yet something in her pulls at him with a gravity he cannot escape. The more he watches her, the more impossible she becomes. And the more he realizes that whatever awakens inside him will not fade quietly. She may have changed someone’s fate. Now she has his attention. A forbidden attraction. A girl with a gift she barely understands. An immortal who was never meant to want. Until her. Once their paths cross, fate doesn’t just unravel. It begins to fight back.