Last week we talked about Alpha Tom and Alpha Dale, so I thought we’d continue the theme and talk about three wolves from the Northern Lakes Pack: Aeric, Wyatt, and Shania! All three of whom are loosely modeled after real friends of mine! (And yes, Aeric and Shania are a couple, and Aeric and Wyatt are best buds!)
Loyal, happy go lucky, and remarkably open and friendly, Aeric is one of Pip’s long time friends, who proves his loyalty and trust in Pip again and again throughout the PoDaD trilogy. He is best friends with Wyatt, and is dating Shania–Pip’s friend and coworker, and is responsible with Wyatt for coining the phrase “Pomeranian Puppy Powerup!”
Aeric is from Canada and is a timber wolf–though I did ease slightly away from traditional timber wolf coloring a little to make his wolf have more red hair to match his human form. He is one of the few werewolves in the Pack who was born a werewolf, which meant he was born with the strength, endurance, and abilities of a werewolf–including shifting into a wolf.
I created Aeric and Wyatt to be Pip’s remaining ties to the Pack after her adoptive parents die, and Lynn and Hudson leave. And in the first book they seem to be exactly that–friends who hang out, but aren’t ride-or-die kinds of people. As the trilogy progresses, however, you see that the pair all along have considered themselves to be much closer to Pip, but they’re smart enough to refrain from pushing their relationship with her, and as a result keep things more casual. (Basically, Pip was picked to be a close friend by this pair all along, and she had no idea as they hid it between all the aggressive snuggling and light-hearted jokes.)
Aeric is a wonderful friend for Pip and a rare type of werewolf thanks to his cheerful and open personality. He’s excellent at lulling people into his orbit–as displayed by Pip–but his good natured personality would never take advantage of this, even though he has enough power of his own to be an Alpha if he wanted. (Which, he doesn’t. He’d never be able to leave Wyatt. Or the Pack. But mostly Wyatt.)
Shania is Pip’s work friend, and Aeric’s girlfriend who is turned into a werewolf in book 2, United. Her wolf form is a Red Wolf–which is an endangered sub-species of wolf–there’s only about 300 left in the world. It’s typically a smaller wolf, coming in-between a gray wolf and a coyote size wise, and it lives in the Southeastern region of the USA.
When I first designed Shania before writing the books, she existed to round out the duo of Aeric and Wyatt, and to serve as a gut punch for the werewolf-turning plotline of United. But when I started writing her out, she fast became so much more. As a human, she’s able to give Pip a safe venting space and still understand some of the finer points of life with werewolves since she was dating one, and as a wolf she–more than anyone else–has an easier time of inspiring Pip’s Wolf Kiss powers because of that friendship between them.
She’s very funny and chill, but while her wolf form would normally mark her as someone regulated to the back of the pack due to a smaller size, Shania’s fierce and loyal heart has her staying with Pip to watch her back, leaving Pip free to use her powers knowing nothing will get past her friend.
Smart and possessing emotional intelligence by the boatloads, Wyatt is the other half of Pip’s long-time friend duo with Aeric, and is also great friends with Shania. Though he bemoans his lack of a girlfriend, Wyatt is a trusted and respected member of the Pack, as seen by his frequent interactions with humans for his work, and that he is frequently chosen to guide new werewolves after the transformation process.
Wyatt is a gray wolf, though he is what’s called a melanistic wolf because of his dark fur. Like Aeric, Wyatt is capable of being an Alpha–and he would be a more traditional alpha given his larger size and that he is so trusted by all. However, like Aeric, Wyatt has no desire to leave the Pack (or his friends) and is content with his Pack life and many friendships.
Wyatt’s emotional intelligence makes him more aware of Pip’s struggles than Aeric, but that intelligence is how he knows that goofy Aeric and their friendship shenanigans are the best thing for Pip–who is wary of deep emotional ties with werewolves at the beginning of the trilogy. Wyatt was also the reason why Pip and Greyson were forced to tell Wyatt, Aeric, and Shania about the mate bond before anyone else, because he was likely only a day behind Pip in puzzling it out.
And that’s all for Aeric, Shania, and Wyatt! I hope you liked their characters–I had so much fun with them. I probably most enjoyed writing them–besides Tom, Dale, and Mayor Pearl, that is!
Curious about the wolf forms of the rest of the Pack? I don’t have specific types picked out for everyone, but I did design a few! Rio and Hector are both Mexican Lobo – Gray Wolf hybrids (which is historically and biologically possible!). Their coloring comes from the Mexican Lobo, but their size is from the Gray wolf part of their wolf forms. Moira is a tundra wolf–as mentioned in the books–while Ember is a Eurasian Wolf! Greyson is also a specific subspecies of Gray Wolf…but you’ll learn more about that in his post!
And that’s all for today! Thanks for reading, Champions, and have a wonderful day!
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