Time to look at another character from my upcoming novel, Capturing the Wylde Wolf! I won’t be giving away any spoilers, so I can’t give too much away.
Olivia Chandler
Early years
Olivia was born to a middle-class family, but they were content with their status. Her parents considered themselves “flower children,” though they were a little late to the era. They bemoaned being “born in the wrong decade” but lived a casual life of simplicity. When Olivia was born, she and her parents were living in a tent commune in Oklahoma. A year and a half later, her parents became pregnant again. Two months after the baby was born, Olivia’s maternal grandfather passed away and left them his house and a large sum of money.
With a growing family, her parents finally decided to move into the 5-bedroom Michigan house, along with their friends from the commune—a pregnant couple expecting twins. Olivia and her sister, Beatrice, shared a room, and their parents had the master bedroom. The couple took a bedroom, their twin boys, Noel and Leon, bunked together, and the last bedroom was a play area for the kids. When the adults went into business together selling crafts, they turned the basement into an office.
Olivia, being the oldest, was often charged with helping care for the children, but they had few rules. Though homeschooled, they still took summers off, and the families would vacation together. While at home, the kids were generally left unsupervised as they played outside, though they were to remain together at all times, whether in pairs or as a group.
Ready to explore
Olivia graduated high school a year early. She wanted to see the world, but she wasn’t even a legal adult yet. In order to let her spread her wings, Olivia’s parents arranged for her to stay with her cousins in Wisconsin for the summer. During her time there, she met a girl named Daisy and, as often happens with 17-year-olds, she fell in love.
Daisy was a 20-year-old barista at a popular local coffee shop by day, but at night, she was a bartender at a private club who overlooked her age. The moment Olivia first walked into the coffee shop with her cousins, a warm electric tingle raced through her body, giving her goosebumps. She looked up to see a beautiful brunette staring at her from behind the counter. When their eyes met, Olivia gasped, and the intensified tingling stopped her in her tracks.
The two soon became inseparable, but Daisy was concerned about Olivia’s age. Both knew it was just a number that had little true significance when being within a month or two of the birthday—are you really more mature and responsible at 12:05 am than you were less than 10 minutes earlier?—but there was no point in taking risks. When Olivia turned 18 later that summer, they officially started dating.
On Olivia’s 18th birthday, Daisy finally took her to the club she worked for, a promise she’d made a month earlier. Olivia loved how kind-hearted Daisy was, but she wanted to experience the more “exciting” side of her life that Daisy had alluded to. She was hiding a big secret, and Olivia was dying of curiosity. But when she found out the truth, it would change everything she ever knew.
The truth will set you free
The private club turned out to be for shifters only or for humans vouched for by a friend or partner and approved after an extensive background check. Daisy mentioned none of this until they arrived in the parking lot. As expected, Olivia thought Daisy was pulling her leg. Soon after, she realized it was true when her beloved Daisy shifted into a mountain lion on the dance floor.
Instead of being frightened, Olivia was intrigued, and her love for Daisy would not be swayed. Olivia wanted to learn everything about shifters, and by the end of summer, she had decided she didn’t want to go back to Michigan and her quiet, uneventful life. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Daisy, nor could she conceive of trying to live as if she didn’t know this other darker world existed. The secrets, the animal instincts, the power . . . Olivia couldn’t get these things out of her mind.
Daisy at first refused Olivia’s plan, but the girl was stubborn as a mule, and Daisy knew Olivia would make it happen, with or without her. Olivia had already spoken with her parents, who were under the impression she was going to tour the country with friends for the next six months. So, Daisy agreed to turn Olivia into a shifter. Late one evening, after a cozy home-cooked meal at Daisy’s parents’ house, they sealed the deal with a single bite.
Olivia went through the change at Daisy’s house, where the family could take care of her throughout the process. When she was ready, they taught her how to control her abilities. Several months later, in a declaration of love, Olivia and Daisy bit each other to finalize their status as mates.
Good things come to an end
A little over a year later, Olivia and Daisy were taking a nighttime run while in mountain lion form when everything took a turn for the worst. A shot rang out, quickly followed by another. The first made the pair freeze, and the second struck Daisy in the neck, making her involuntarily return to human form. Olivia shifted immediately and fell by her mate’s side, cradling her limp body.
With blood coating her naked body and tears streaming down her face, she only stood when two drunk men holding guns approached. They whooped and whistled at Olivia’s nude form, not even noticing Daisy’s body. A scream erupted from Olivia’s throat before she shifted faster than ever before and attacked the men.
When she returned to Daisy’s home and told her parents what happened, Daisy’s father went to retrieve her body while her mother stayed with Olivia.
It took months for Olivia to functional almost normally again; most days, she fluctuated between agony and rage. Olivia decided she couldn’t stay at Daisy’s house any longer if she had any hope of healing. There were too many memories, and her scent filled every room. So she reached out to friends of Daisy’s who lived in a hodgepodge pack house, and they welcomed her into their pack with open arms.
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Well, that’s all I can share for now (besides a little bio below), but you can meet her again in the book!
Olivia Chandler
Age: 20
Height: 5’2”
Build: Petite
Weight: 114 lbs
Hair color: Medium blonde (short & wavy)
Eye color: Light brown
Personality: gentle, caring, generous, loyal, has a secret love for new adventures
I’ll see you tomorrow with P is for Paranormal!