Gothic Table Runner

At the ceremony where my father, Robert Clarke, is promoted to the position as the pack elder, my mate, Alpha Ethan Thornfield, raises the wine glass in his hand while smiling at him. "Elder Robert, there's this question which has been bothering me for the longest time. Does shamelessness run in the Clarke family's genetics? Otherwise, how are you able to raise a she-wolf as stubborn and defiant as Isabella who keeps pestering me the whole time?" Dad's wine glass is suspended in mid-air. All the wolves turn to look at us. I place the napkin on the table before meeting Ethan's gaze calmly. "Stop barking like a mad dog, Ethan. I agree to sever our mate bond. That way, you and that mistress of yours can finally get together." Ethan replies softly, "It's wonderful to see you making that decision with a sound mind." On the night the ceremony ends, a mate bond severance agreement, which is prepared in advance, is passed to me. Silently, I drop my signature on the last page of the document. Ethan and that Omega, Chloe Stonehart, have started their affair a year ago. He started forcing me to sever our mate bond six months ago. Since he craves freedom that much, I shall grant it to him. I just hope that he won't regret his decision at all when he loses everything he treasures.

"Sign the papers, Estella." Marco slid the divorce papers across the mahogany table, his eyes fixed on Claudia, who hovered by his side with a victorious smile. "Did you really think a nobody like you could keep me?" Estella's throat tightened as she forced herself to meet his gaze. The diamond on Claudia's finger caught the light—his best friend now wearing what should have been hers forever. "You should be grateful," Claudia murmured, resting a hand on her belly. "Letting you go is the kindest thing we've done for you." When Estella married into the powerful Valdez family, she believed in love conquering all. Instead, she found herself cast out, Helena Valdez herself showing her the door when Claudia announced her pregnancy. Then Alejandro De Luca appeared—Marco's sworn enemy offering an unexpected proposition. "A contract marriage," he said simply. "You get protection. I get revenge." Together, they plotted to dismantle the very family that had humiliated her. With each calculated move, Estella reclaimed pieces of herself she thought lost forever. But revenge is a dangerous game. As their plan unfolded and tragedy struck, Estella discovered that survival meant more than settling scores—it meant learning to wield her pain as power. The quietest heart, after all, often hides the most dangerous storm.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Ten years to the day we were mated, Eric came home wearing the scent of his first love. He wrapped me in his scorching heat, his voice a hoarse whisper against my ear. "I want you, Lyra." He hadn't marked me on a full moon in so long. But right now, the scent of another she-wolf on him was a bitter ache in my chest. The dinner I'd prepared for our full moon ritual was swept off the table by our cub, River. He looked at me with his father’s cold expression. "Mom, your cooking doesn’t even come close to Auntie Aurora’s." Aurora. The first love Eric could never forget. The one he'd brazenly appointed as CFO of our pack's corporation. They were the perfect pair, flaunting their connection for all to see. And I, his true mate, had become the pack's laughingstock. For ten years, I played the part of the perfect mate and mother, only to become a shadow in my own home. That night, I filed the request to the Elders. I would sever the mate bond。 Later, under the brilliant Alaskan aurora, I received Eric's frantic mind link. "Lyra, what about River if you leave?" I let out a small laugh. " River only needs you." "Your first love is back, isn't she? Let her be the mother. I'm free."

My dad is a fan of tough love parenting. When I was a kid, there was a time when I obtained full marks on two subjects. But he told me, "Your grades don't mean anything in life. If you were a true man, you'd leap down five floors without batting an eyelash." Some time later, I was awarded for my act of bravery. But Dad scoffed in my face. "Not even a hair is harmed on your head. Why should you be awarded anyway?" I thought Dad wanted me to go through more training in life. On Christmas Eve, he ditched me on a snowy mountain under the guise of wanting me to go through more training. He didn't give me a tent or a lighter. Later on, Dad even brags about his parenting method to his relatives and friends. "A real man should survive and thrive in a desperate situation! I told Julian that he can forget about being my son if he can't even make his way back to the summit!" But the red dot on the GPS tracker installed in his phone hasn't moved for the past three hours. The truth is, I've already frozen to death in the mountains. Trapped in my fist is a scrap of paper detailing the SOS number that Dad had torn apart earlier. Meanwhile, my soul is currently floating above the dining table while watching Dad brag about his tough love parenting.

“I don’t want you. I hate you.” Those words from her only son slice deeper than any blade. Sarah returns from the hospital expecting love, only to find her place at the family table stolen. Her husband, James, stands arm in arm with Tiana — his late brother’s widow, while her son clings to the other woman’s waist, rejecting his own mother. The betrayal does not end there. After a confrontation with Tiana, she woke up in an abandoned building, her hands tied, and mouth taped. Beside her was Tiana too. Tied. James stood, his confused gaze darting from Tiana to Sarah. And then came the baritone voice from one of the kidnappers: “One life. One choice. You can only save one. Choose!” Sarah turned, seeing how Tiana was communicating with the kidnappers with her eyes. She struggled to let James see the truth; that this was all a setup. But she couldn’t. Her mouth was tapped. But then, like a match striking steel, James’ voice came brittle and final. “Tiana.” He chose his ex over his own wife. Over the mother of his child. Sarah was abandoned in the warehouse. Immediately they left, the warehouse exploded, covered in flames. And Sarah’s screams and cries inside, filled the night. Did Sarah survive the fire outbreak? If she did, can they stand her revenge when she finally returns?

Amelia's leg tapped against the table as she asked, "What are your thoughts on love?" Her hands were clasped together on her lap, but her eyes sparkled with curiosity. Lucas met her gaze, a smirk playing on his lips. "Love is a waste of time," he replied. "It's a tool designed to weigh people down. Without it, we could achieve so much more." Amelia's eyes lit up with interest; he had just ticked almost all her boxes green. "I agree," she said, her smirk matching his. "Love is nothing but bullshit. We could save a lot of time by keeping our relationship minimal." With a proactive glint in her eye, she added, "What do you say? We should get married to fulfill our filial duties." _____________ Their marriage was a facade, a contract between two individuals who didn't believe in love but were forced to get married to fulfill their obligations. Everything was going as planned, until suddenly... "Have you eaten, dear?" "How is my baby?" "Is he doing well?" Lucas's words, once empty and mechanical, now held a tender tone. Amelia found him falling for her, and she seemed to be falling too. Why were they succumbing to the very thing they once scorned? Love, once a distant possibility, was now becoming an option. But would they choose it?

After losing her mother to royal games and securing her revenge, Alba Crane leaves Ketria after her eighteenth birthday, carrying two dangerous secrets. Eight years pass, and a coincidental meeting with her stepbrother, the new Lycan king, has her back where she lost everything, chained and bound for his revenge as he unravels all her hidden secrets. Marko Ivanov desires to be the greatest ruler of Ketria. He would do anything for his dream to come to fruition; right the wrongs of his father, marry the perfect queen that would strengthen his Kingdom, and live a repressive scandal-free life. However, all his efforts shatter at the realisation that the person he hated most in the world, his irresponsible 'runaway' stepsister, is his mate. Blinded by his desire for revenge for the havoc she wreaked before her departure, Marko keeps Alba bound to Ketria using everything he can, including their mate bond. When using the lust between them as revenge spirals beyond their control, blurring the lines between love and hate, their inevitability dawns. Will the two enemies in heat reconcile their differences to find a way for the existence of their scandalous happy-ever-after, or will they settle for dragging each other to ruin at the cost of everything? ** "Which part of him aroused you? Or was it that you played naughty games under the table?” "Is that something you should ask your sister?” "Step.” The Lycan King growls in correction.

Aiah Villegas is your typical social butterfly. Sunod sa luho, hindi alintana ng beinte ocho anyos na dalaga ang kahit anong negative notion patungkol sa kanya. Party. Men. She loved them all specifically the attention. Not until her grandfather meddle her affairs and wedded her to a certain Rodrigo Dela Costa. Just like the name, literal na lahat dito mula pananalita at kilos ay pangmatanda. And unlike all men circling around her, he doesn't give a damn about her mere existence. Isang pabor na di niya kayang tanggihan. That's how Rodrigo viewed the existence of the pampered princess of the Villegas on his private space. Nothing more. Nothing less. But why does her cheap antics get inside his nerves? At tila ba hinahamon nito ang katatagan niya bilang lalaki... "I guarantee, you'll fall for me, My dear husband." Aiah leaned over his table, deliberately showing the generous view of her cleavage. There's a playful smirk etched on her lips. "Wala pang lalaking tumanggi sa akin." "Then I'll be the first," tugon ni Rodrigo, unbothered, drift his focus back on the piles of papers. "Try harder, My Aiah, then maybe there's a slim chance that I'll fall for you."

Imagine being born into a wealthy family that thinks you don't deserve a place at the table because you're different. Imagine being told you'll never be loved for who you are. Imagine believing this is true until you meet that one person who doesn't care what the world thinks of you. At 26, Dana Travis had resigned to a life of art and listening to her voice on her small recorder. But when she meets the unusually handsome Alex Logan, a billionaire CEO, who asks her to sign a contract marriage for two years with him, Dana says, “why not?” Imagine your hands stuck in the cookie jar, imagine owning the cookie jar. Like all agreements with an expiry date, Dana and Alex's contract of a delicious marriage ends . . . but not Dana’s feelings. But Alex is a billionaire, while she's . . . nothing, just a pretty girl with a big imagination. Or is she just that? Could Dana somehow get Alex to believe her feelings are true, or is she in this alone? “It was just a contract,” Dana tells herself. “Nothing more.” But it is clear there is more. Dana caught feelings, hard. What woman wouldn't after being deliriously loved by Alex Logan. It was supposed to be a contract, no strings attached. But now there's a whole pregnancy attached, and a heart that beats only for Alex. But Alex seems to have moved on with a new catch, the undefeated beauty, Jodie . . .

I died the day my husband forced the doctors to take our baby from my womb. I thought I’d never love again after losing my ex-boyfriend to a heart attack. But fate gave me a second chance. I married the man I adored, a billionaire named Maxwell. Just when I was about to share the joyful news of my pregnancy, I caught him getting cozy with my best friend, Morgana. Worse, he believed her lies: I was a drug addict. The truth? I was battling a severe mental illness triggered by my ex’s death. I needed medication to cope, but Maxwell never cared to understand. He refused to believe a word I said. They locked me away in a private rehab clinic. But that place wasn’t for healing, it was a trap. Morgana used it to cut me off from Maxwell and torment me without consequence. And just when I thought things couldn’t get worse… Maxwell signed off on a surgery to take my baby. I lay on that cold operating table, tears streaming down my face, and died in the fire that followed—broken, betrayed, and alone. But I never expected to wake up again. This time, I have a new life. A new family. And even one of my children survived. Maxwell, Morgana—this time, I’m coming back. And you’re both going to pay.