Chapter 1

"No, I cannot give you this job. You're cursed." the woman spat shoving Lira away.

Lira kept her head down. The silver mark on her collarbone the mark of the Atoner was itching under her dress. To the rest of the Silver- Grip pack Lira was not a twenty-year- girl. She was a danger and a curse waiting to happen.

She stopped at a stall where an older woman was stacking crates of winter kale. Lira took a breath and tried to sound cheerful. "Mrs. Gable I heard you needed help with the harvest. I am fast. I do not ask for much just enough for a loaf of bread and a small jar of oil to keep my lamp lit."

The woman looked up. Her eyes got big when she saw the silver mark on Liras neck. She moved back as if Lira had pulled out a knife. "No I do not want you to work for me " Mrs. Gable said. "You are cursed. Go away Atoner."

Lira stepped back. Her boots got muddy from the market soil. She was used to people treating her badly. It hurt. She was used to it as she couldn't change the fact. "It is not like that Mrs. Gable " Lira said. "I am a girl looking for work inorder to eat."

Mrs. Gable did not want to listen. "You are a debt that the Moon Goddess has not called in yet " she said. "Do not bring your bad luck to my doorstep. Don’t bring your misfortune to my doorstep. Go back to the shadows where you belong. Every day you breathe, a pup in this pack grows weaker, our warrior either weak, ill or dying. Go away you cursed child. I don't want my crops to die, Go away."

"I just want to work and feed myself" Lira said as she sighed, turning on her heels to walk away, feeling the familiar sting that came with rejection. She did not argue because it would not do any good. It wasn't new neither would it end since this was her life as an Atoner wolf. She walked toward the outskirts of the village where she stays, where the trees grew thick and the shadows felt more like friends than the people did.

In the Silver-Grip Pack, the Atoners were the ones who had to pay for something that happened a time ago that had displeased the moon goddess .When the pack had problems the Elders looked at the Atoners as a sacrificial lamb. They thought that if they sacrificed one Atoner the problems would go away. It was a thing to do and Lira was the last one left. The life of an Atoner is equal to not living at all, just surviving waiting for even you're going to be sacrificed.

Lisa always fear of waking up one day and finds herself being killed to appease the moon goddess. So Lira learned to live quietly in the shadows of her own pack, waiting for the day her fate would finally claim her.

By afternoon Lira was really hungry and felt weak as she thinks of how to put something in her tummy .She had to do something so she went to the Alphas estate to look for work. She had heard that they needed cleaners. The staff was scared of the rumors of a curse and a good number of them has quit working out of fear.

Lira climbed the stairs to the Pack House, a building made of wood and stone. Her heart was beating fast. Most Atoners did not come near the Alphas home because they were not considered pure.

She found the service entrance where a stern woman with gray hair and a clipboard was barking orders at a group of trembling omegas. The woman is Martha , Head of Staff of the pack house. Martha was in charge of the cleaners. "I am here for the cleaning job " Lira said as she waited for the rejection, for the shove, for the insult. She wasn't hoping to get accepted but she had to try luck.

The woman, Martha stopped what she was doing. She looked at Lira really looked at her taking in everything from her head to her toes. Her eyes stayed on the mark on Lira for a moment. Lira got ready for Martha to say something mean or push her away.. Martha just let out a big sigh. Martha sighed like she was very tired. Lira saw that Martha was looking at her with a lot of concern. The woman, Martha seemed to be thinking about what to do, with Lira.

“The curse is making everyone jumpy. Half my girls quit this morning because they heard a wolf howled out of tune in the middle of the night. If you can scrub a floor without dying on it, you’ve got the job. Two silver coins a day. No meals included. Take it or leave it.”

​“I’ll take it,” Lira said, a rare spark of hope flickering in her chest.

Martha gave her a bucket and a brush. "Go to the floor and clean the meeting wing " she said. "The Alpha is not here so stay out of his rooms and do not talk to anyone unless they talk to you. If I see any dust you will be fired."

Lira. Took the bucket. The inside of the Pack House was beautiful with portraits and thick rugs. It smelled like wax and old paper. It felt powerful.

She worked for hours cleaning the floors and ignoring the mean looks from the warriors. They thought she was a tool that could be used and thrown away.

As the sun started to set Lira got to the Alphas study.

The door was a bit open, breeze blew from the open window at the end of the hall, carrying with it a scent, the moment she stepped inside, a sharp unfamiliar scent hit her. Her heart skipped a beat.