Characters

Malaya Dysangco Walters

Age: 25

Status: Werewolf, bitten at age 5

Malaya has spent most of her life just trying not to cause trouble for her family or anyone else. Having no other werewolves available for help, she largely has tried to suppress her werewolf side for fear of hurting her family or anyone else, especially after harming her brother when they were kids. Her parents have been very supportive of Malaya, and have tried their best to keep her safe and happy, given the circumstances. They often spend full moons together as a family, which has helped Malaya stay grounded despite her overall lack of control over her transformations. Too afraid of being overwhelmed at the prospect of new people and classwork, Malaya has chosen to run her family’s coffee shop in lieu of going to the local university like her brother. Her dad gifted her partial ownership of the shop when she turned 20, and she considers the shop one of her safe places, despite frequently running into issues with rude customers. Malaya doesn’t have much in the way of hobbies or friends, since her world mostly revolves around being home or working at the cafe, but she does enjoy knitting and has logged countless hours on Netflix.

Elias Ross

Age: 22

Status: Werewolf, born that way

Elias is first and foremost, a nice person. His willingness to help others sometimes blinds him to larger consequences, but for him, the good outweighs the bad. He wants to help Malaya and her family because having been a werewolf his whole life, he doesn’t want her to have to keep living in fear of who she really is. Also, he has a bit of a crush on her brother, Vincent. Elias comes from a big, established werewolf pack, and lives about an hour away from Malaya’s hometown. His older sister is married and raising a family, only tenuously still connected to her home pack but intent on starting her own, and his younger sister is human and at college studying to become a doctor. He has one older brother who travels as an ambassador of sorts for their pack. Due to how thin and spread out their pack has become, Elias is by default kept fairly close to home by his mother, who usually uses him to investigate small things nearby and help take care of day-to-day pack operations. He has struggled finding his place in the world, feeling rather restless being kept under his mother’s thumb, and this may contribute to how quickly he’s been willing to throw himself into helping Malaya.

Vincent Dysangco Walters

Age: 20

Status: Human

Vincent spends most of his time at the local university pursuing a double major in Biology and Chemistry, deciding to follow in his mother’s footsteps. He has a small group of college friends, but overall is only really close to his family and especially his sister. Despite the fact that Malaya is way stronger than him, Vincent has always been extra protective of her, possibly fearing what will happen to her if she does manage to hurt someone. He largely doesn’t remember much about her scratching him as a child, though he’s quick to remind Malaya that he doesn’t care and he forgives her whenever she tries to bring it up. Vincent has a very stern demeanor for the most part, but in actuality this is a cover for being horribly awkward all the time. He’s got a very dry sense of humor, and attempts to slip werewolf-related puns into casual conversation for his own amusement. Malaya hates this and tends to smack him when she notices. Vincent’s only real hobby is that he’s gotten to an insanely high level in Candy Crush. His only friends on Facebook are other power players, who are otherwise strangers to him, but they trade lives so they can all keep playing.

Marin Grundy

Age: 31

Status: Werewolf, bitten at 25

Marin is a lawyer who lives on the outskirts of Lake Crescent with her long term romantic partner Marisa, and works in town as well as surrounding areas for cases. She put herself through law school, but unforeseen circumstances led to her petitioning for the bite from Elias’s mother after graduation. She’s tall and strong, though not as fast as Elias, but puts her brute strength to work with a very scrappy fighting style. She owes her alpha/Elias’s mother her life, and is thus extremely loyal to her and the pack.

Marisa Salcedo

Age: 32

Status: Human, witch

Marisa works as a registered nurse at the local hospital, doing four long shifts a week with three days off. She’s a bit brusque, and can come off really confrontational, but underneath, she’s a big softy. Her magic primarily manifests itself by giving her the ability to do minor healing spells and fixing broken things, thus why she chose to go into nursing. Her main focus in life is her relationship with Marin, who is often the only person who can get through to her when she’s being pigheaded about something.

Aubrey Greensmith

Age: 24

Status: Werewolf, bitten??

Aubrey reports back to her “mama,” Connie, a mysterious figure who seems to have an unnecessarily strong hold over her. Aubrey is headstrong, and unlike Malaya, very proud to be a werewolf. She loves her strength and revels in it, and despite having no werewolf mentors either, has figured out all she knows about being a werewolf largely by herself. There are still quite a few things about werewolves that she’s totally clueless about, despite being one for most of her life. Aubrey has a tendency to rush into situations with too much confidence and not enough attention to the larger consequences. Aubrey tries to be intimidating, and has no qualms with violence, but sometimes is able to make up her lack of skill with an overabundance of enthusiasm.

Charlene Masters

Age: 27

Status: Human (???)

Charlene largely remains a mystery. She moved to Lake Crescent, Michigan from New Orleans only months before winter began for what she claims is just a change of pace. She works alongside Malaya at the coffee shop as a full-time employee. Charlene is cool-headed and a little sarcastic, often teasing Malaya about the terrible customers they have to deal with. Her father works in New Orleans as a jazz musician and teaches music lessons, while her mother is an English teacher.

Harvey

Age: 22

Status: Werewolf, bitten


Harvey often vies for Aubrey’s place as leader of their odd pack, and has no problem calling Aubrey out on her bullshit. She’s not a fan of Connie in the least, but keeps an aloof distance out of fear. She’s not the most cuddly person, and can come off as rather abrasive, but she does have a deep love for her pack mates, and is very protective of all of them. Harvey is smarter than she realizes.

Marcus

Age: 22

Status: Werewolf, bitten


Marcus generally follows whatever mood Harvey is in, often siding with her against Aubrey. He’s keenly observant, but doesn’t like to the rock the boat, so he usually keeps to himself. He’s fiercely protective of Ginger, and often opens up to her and her alone, and regards her as his little sister. He’s afraid of Connie, but politely respectful to her face. He mostly avoids her. Marcus spends a lot of time reading, but his access to books is limited to whatever is boxed away in the attic of the old house the pack lives in.

Ginger

Age: 19

Status: Werewolf, bitten


Ginger barely qualifies as a werewolf, and resents being taken away from a normal life that she can’t remember. She can barely begin to transform, feels largely useless in fights, and has a hard time relating to the other werewolves in her pack. As Connie’s favorite, she was coddled often as a child, and to date, Connie still dictates most of what Ginger wears. (Connie has a lot of time to shop online from her creepy office, after all.) Ginger isn’t particularly scared of Connie, but isn’t willing to stand up to her either. Ginger subtly rebels with her multiple ear piercings, courtesy of Harvey and some not-entirely-sanitary conditions. Ginger is obsessed with the idea of living a normal life one day, and spends a lot of her time begging new books off of Connie in order to gain a basic education.

TIM

Age: 19

Status: Werewolf, bitten


Tim is…Tim. Tim is the last werewolf to have been successfully bitten (by whom???) into the pack, but he didn’t come out quite right. Tim exists as pure id, acts wholly on instinct, and isn’t interested in following orders. If he can understand orders? Tim doesn’t talk, but he growls and makes noises when he feels like it. He’s usually glued to Harvey, and seems to only listen to her if he listens to anyone. Tim enjoys biting…anything.

Sara Ross

Age: 63

Status: Werewolf, born that way, alpha of the Ross pack


Sara Ross is Elias’s mother and leads his family’s pack. The Ross pack is fairly large, consisting of about fifty families. Sara runs a landscaping company and often feels overwhelmed by her position as pack leader, but understands her duty to maintain order above all else. Sara is a fairly strong and capable werewolf, but above all else, she’s a capable leader, very organized, and very straightforward. She’s struggling with her pack’s recent thinning ranks as her children have grown and gone off to start their own families/packs, leaving her to rely more heavily on Elias for day-to-day pack minutiae.

Sara has four children: Margaret, Ezra, Elias, and Patricia. Ross is Sara’s maiden name, and she has never been married. Where’s Elias’s dad?

Connie Greensmith

Age: Late 50s? Possibly way older?

Status: Witch, human???


Connie is a mysterious figure. Her little pack of odd werewolves were obviously not obtained through legal means, but she’s not overly concerned with that. A very, very powerful witch (at least at some point!), Connie surrounds herself with plants in her near pitch-black office where she tolls away making money through various online endeavors. Despite the dilapidated house she and the pack live in, Connie often wastes her magic to maintain a perfect illusion around her. What does she need all these young werewolves for? Who is she hiding from? What’s with the mysterious eyes in the corner of her office?

Maria Dysangco Walters and Elliot Walters

Age: late 50s

Status: Humans, generally confused


Maria came to the United States from the Philippines for her graduate degree in Biology, with an emphasis in the study of evolution. She met her husband Elliot at his coffee shop near campus, and was impressed by his bad ass brewing skills. Maria is currently a professor at the nearby Crescent Lake University, while Elliot is still running the coffee shop with the help of Malaya and Charlene (and other employees who we haven’t met yet). They’ve both coddled and protected Malaya throughout her life, leading her to be very loved and accepted, but also very sheltered and afraid of taking chances. While the Walters are happy their daughter is branching out, finally, they still fear that unleashing her werewolf side will put Malaya and others in danger.

Grandma Ross (Ziva Ross)

Age: Crazy old.

Status: Werewolf, born that way, lives in the woods?


Elias never got a chance to meet his grandmother, as by the time he was born, she had fully given into her werewolf side and left the family to live life in full wolf form. Ziva is Sara’s mother and was married to a human man named Micah who died when Sara was a teenager. Ziva formed the Ross pack originally, having helped organize one of the first stable werewolf packs in central Michigan post-WWII, and also helped founded the local werewolf council. Ziva is a very no-nonsense person, but ultimately has quite a bit of compassion as well.