Shade

Shade was a villain in the series and an Alpha female of Darkwood. She was described as having mottled dark brown fur which allowed her to blend with her surroundings, and dark orange eyes that were similar (according to Snowflake's thoughts) to the color of a dying sun.

Pre-series
Shade is a direct descendant to the first Darkwood Alpha. Growing up, she knew nothing but what she was taught, which was, in a very basic sense, evil. Shade picked this up from an unusually young age, and was soon a fully accepted member of Darkwood. She had one brother, and soon a competition grew between them as to who would end up taking the leadership position in Darkwood. When both were eight months old, Shade approached him while he was drinking from a river, pushed him in, and held him under.

She was content to wait for her parents to die of their own accord, presumably because they were not a threat to her. When she was approximately two years old, both died in a particularly brutal battle against a rival pack. Shade took command and began to run things differently - mainly in that she began drawing in more and more rogues and vicious outsiders. When the pack had nearly doubled in size, Shade returned to the pack which had previously defeated them and destroyed them. She did the same to the small remainder of packs in the forest area. Once Darkwood had become the true dominant pack, she took a mate from within her own pack and bore a single litter of pups, who, just like her, were taught about the ways of Darkwood leadership from a young age.

A new pack began to form in Darkwood territory - what would later become the Northwood pack. Shade waited until winter struck the forest; then she sent several of her most intelligent planners to the location where she knew them to be. She instructed them to kill whatever wolves left the den. They soon returned and told her that three wolves had been killed. Shade knew that there was a fourth - Sky - but decided not to pursue her. She didn't know about the pups.

Book One
Shade was the prominent villain in this book. She first appeared in the first chapter, in which she appeared to Snowflake, Willow, and Sea, who were alone in the forest. When Sky came to protect them, Shade seemed amused. She proceeded to taunt the adult, telling her about how her pack had killed her mate and the Alphas. She then gave Sky once chance to take her pups and run, saying that it would make a fun game.

She appeared in various nightmares of Snowflake's, usually made to be something much stronger than the average wolf; a monster, even.