NaNoWriMo- Brave Season- Wynter's Character sketch

Why do I need to do this? I know the League wants detailed biographies of every shifter, but I’m not dying. I know accidents happen that’s what made you check the Archives for my file in the first place. Whatever. Ask your questions.

I was born Wynter Jillian Rogers on May 22, 1976. I’m 29 years old. I live in Southern California, Santa Barbara to be exact. I’m the Alpha of the Western Pack, and a member of the League of Packs.

I have light blonde hair that most people think comes from a box. It doesn’t. My blue eyes are mine although; I do wear contacts to make them darker. Pale blue washes out under my light hair. It’s my one vanity, the contacts. I’m slim as all shifters seem to be. I don’t follow the genetic stuff like some of the breeds do, but I do know I can eat a 16 inch loaded pizza without having to worry about gaining weight. I’m tall too and I love it. Wouldn’t give up an inch of height.

I don’t have to work, but I do. I own a charter company called Any Season. I can fly anything that goes into the air. I even dated a Navy pilot and got him to teach me to fly F14’s. I’m a one-woman operation and I work when I want. I love flying. I secretly wished to be an Eagle shifter. Sad that the shifting breed died, some say they never existed.

I come from a long line of wealthy people. I get a monthly allowance that more than meets my needs. I’m not frivolous with my money but not a tight wad either. I did spend a huge amount for my mansion in the hills. I wanted a place big enough for my pack sisters and their daughters to live together as a pack should.

My mother? You want to know about my mother? She was efficient. She groomed me to be strong and meticulous, smart and self-sufficient. She was the same with my sisters. I have six older sisters and three younger ones. None of us know our fathers. There were several different men, but none of them stayed long. Mom made sure of that. She didn’t have much use for men. If she didn’t need them to father her daughters, she wouldn’t speak to them at all. We think that Spring and Summer have the same father, but we can’t be sure since we all favor our mother’s side of the family.

I never knew my father. Mom always said he was an adequate lover she chose because of his hair color. He never knew she was pregnant. None of the fathers were told of the children born. Like I said, Mom didn’t have much use for men.

I have brothers too I guess. Nathan claims to be one. He showed up last year. I don’t know if I actually believe him, but Spring says she remembers Mom being pregnant and going to the hospital in labor, but being told the baby died. Summer says she had a lot of “miscarriages” after Roe V. Wade passed the Supreme Court. I remember a few. I don’t know. Mom never had much use for males, so I guess it’s possible.

My first flight on an airplane is my favorite memory of my childhood. Mom chartered a jet to fly us all the Disney World for Christmas. We’d been to Disneyland too many times to count, but this was flying. I ran away from home a lot when I was little. Mom never worried about it much. She knew she could give me an hour and I would be at the fence of LAX watching the planes. I don’t remember when flying didn’t fascinate me. I dated the pilot, even with his controlling attitude to learn how to fly the military stuff. He asked me to marry him. That’s when I sent him packing. I’m not marrying anyone. Ever.

My first sexual experience? What does that matter? Isn’t that a private thing? Why do you need to know that? I don’t think it matters other than it was my most significant adolescent experience as well. Why so hostile? You’re asking about private stuff. I’m allowed to keep things private. This is America after all.

I never went to college, didn’t need too. All I needed was flight school. Worked up from private planes to a pilot for California Airlines. I was certified for all commercial airplanes up to the 757’s. I quit to open Any Season. I’m doing fine. I get to fly and write it all off on my taxes.

I think I’m honest, loyal and unafraid to call things like I see them. Sometimes that comes back to bite me because sometimes I’m wrong, but most of the time, I call things dead on. I’m laid back and easy going, but tend to be a neat freak. I have large numbers of people living in my house. Everything has to go in its place or we’d be wallowing in crap sooner rather than later.

I don’t believe in God, Buddha, Mohammad, Allah, UFO’s, the God & Goddess or any other form of religion you can think of. No such leader in their right mind would allow the crap that goes on in their names to continue.

Political thoughts? I try not too. The League of Packs is enough political crap for me. The League is a microcosm of the feds or any state. All the wheeling and dealing, ‘I’ll do this for you if you do this for me.’ Yuck. Whatever happened to doing something because it was the right thing to do?

I guess that’s why I told Trace about the baby. I didn’t have to. Probably would have been wiser not to. The wolves have some insane ideas about mates and permanency. I see how the wolves stay with their mates forever and have a few dozen kids. They seem happy enough, but man. I mean why wake up next to the same person everyday?

Trace did well. He didn’t go on and on about how children needed both their parents to be normal healthy children like wolves tend to do. He didn’t balk at my suggestion that he raise it if it’s a boy while I raise it if it’s a girl. I kind of thought he would. I do know, that for whatever reason, Trace is linked to me. I’m his only means of continuing his bloodlines. I’ve seen the research. I know that wolves, and even the non-shifting siblings are sterile until they meet their mates. Never crossed my mind that I’d be one of them.

I have no intentions of becoming any man’s wife or housekeeper or nursemaid. Not me, not ever. I will, of course, help Trace have his sons. Their upbringing will be up to him.

Haven’t we been through this already? I won’t talk about my sexual experiences. They are none of your business. Am I opposed to sexual relations? Hummm, no, I am pregnant. I’m kind of looking forward to it. Having a little one to take care of warms my heart. I hope it’s a she.

Work? I own Any Season, you know the charter company that let’s me fly and still write it off on my taxes? I understand that you guys do a through job with these interviews so there is a record of every shifter, but damn I didn’t think you would be this nosey or repetitive. You’re driving me up the wall.

Hobbies? No, well flying, but we’ve covered and recovered that.

Inhibited? Me? No I’m not inhibited. If I want to do something, I do it. I figure out the consequences later. Yes, before you ask that has gotten me into trouble many times. I’ve always managed to get out without a scratch. Well, most of the time. I’ve learned from everything that’s happened to me. I’ve made sure I don’t repeat mistakes. I make lots of new ones, but never repeat.

I don’t have any phobias really. I guess I’m uneasy of men. A natural twist to my upbringing, no man has ever been anything in my life other than a sex toy. I don’t understand how they think. I don’t understand why they do what they do. They’re supposed to be so logic minded; yet their actions don’t make sense. Why go after a gawky teenager when you can have a wonderful vibrant woman who obviously loves you enough to marry? Autumn didn’t see the drudge of tying yourself down to one man. She loved him. She married him anyway even after… Well anyway, I guess the closest thing to a phobia I have is not understanding males.

My greatest disappointment? I don’t know. I suppose losing my sister to that asshole. He married her and immediately moved her to Michigan, away from us, away from everything she ever knew. I haven’t heard from her, wouldn’t know how to get in touch with her if I wanted to, and I do. I miss her horribly.

I still can’t believe she married him. She said I lied, that I wanted him for myself. She accused me of sleeping with him to lure him away. How could she think that? I’m her sister for crying out loud. I was fourteen and the last thing I wanted was that man touching me, that man stealing from me what was mine to give. That isn’t to go in the public record. It’s no ones business but mine. Happy? You got some dirt on me now.

You have my deepest fear. I’m a control freak because I will never be put in a situation I’m not prepared for ever again. I will be the master of my world. I will control all that goes on around me. If fate wants to throw me another curve, I’ll be ready.

Glimpse in Present Time:
I smelled Trace before I heard him. His strong earthy scent filled the ER before the low controlled voice demanded to know where I was. Relief flooded through me, allowed me to close my eyes against the stark florescent lights that were supposed to be softer than regular lights.

My head throbbed where it slammed against the side window as the SUV smashed into me using its size to move my rented Accord off the edge of the highway toward the guardrail and the ocean.

“Hey.” Came a soft low male voice. The smooth timbre of Trace’s voice washed over me easing the pain. “The doctor says you’re okay.”

“Told me that too.” I don’t open my eyes. “Sorry to call you. If I’d thought, I could have called one of my sisters. I was scared about the baby, you know? I haven’t told them yet.”

“No I’m glad you called me.” He sat in a chair beside the bed. It squeaked in protest. “Everything’s fine.”

I opened my eyes then. The firmness in his voice, the tightness, called to me. I saw the rich brown of his eyes. Worry, anger, and something else I couldn’t place floated around in them. “Sorry to scare you.”

“Me?” He chuckled. “You don’t worry about me. The doctor says I can take you home but that you need to be woken up every half hour or so to make sure your okay. You have a walloping concussion.”

“That explains the headache I guess.”

“I suppose it does.”

The awkwardness of the moment engrossed the both of us. My body ached from the crash, but not as much as I ached for the man by my bed. Memories of fast hard sex surged through the pain temporarily acting as a balm. You’re horrible to be thinking of sex right now. Blame it on the extra hormones.

He grabbed my hand in his the warmth a welcomed relief to the chilly hospital air. “What happened?”

“I was driving to the airport after I left you. I never saw it coming. A black SUV slammed into me. The next thing I remember is being upside down strapped to the car. I was sinking. I broke the window with that metal thing. I keep one in the center console for such emergencies. After the car filled with water, I undid the seatbelt and swam free. Three other people were already in the water trying to get to me. Here I am.”

Trace frowned. His eyes washed over me as if surveying for damage again himself. “Are you always so prepared?”

“I make it my mission in life to be prepared for anything.”

“You didn’t have any condoms.” He teased gently raising his eyebrows up and down comically to make sure I knew he was kidding.

“You’re wolf. You didn’t need them, remember?” I smiled. Pain shot through my head to skewer my eyes. I grimaced.

“That’s it no more laughing for you.” He kissed my hand. “I’m glad you’re okay. Hunter’s gone down to the police station to find out about the accident. Did you see anything else?”

“No.”

“You said that someone tried to kill you.”

“According to the other drivers around, it was deliberate.” Anger surged up like a snake ready to strike.

He nodded. “We never caught Mia’s accomplice.”

I tamped down the anger. Trace wasn’t calling me a liar. “She wasn’t smart enough to pull everything off herself.”

Trace kissed my hand again.

“Why didn’t you tell your sisters?”

“You’re the father. You had the right to know before them.”

“We’ll figure this out. I’m not going anywhere.”

Trace meant to reassure her. She knew the quirky smile on his face, the gentleness of his hands around hers. Figured that when I told you about the baby. The thought belied the disquiet in her heart. I don't need a nursemaid.

“I have a plan for that too.” I closed my eyes to the pain.