After meeting the cute boy Ukko, Tavi snuck her way in to the Phoenix Maplewood pack where she befriended Saena and Reek Redtail. She developed a good friendship with Ukko until he abandoned his post as the Beta, at which point she was given the rank in his stead. The increase in responsibility was hard on Tavi. She found herself drawn to Reek, the alpha male at the time, and the two of them had an affair.

When Saena caught them she forced them both to leave, so Reek and Tavi went off to form the Larksong Grotto pack. Following some secret dealings with the wolves of the Sleeping Dragon, Tavi discovered she could not trust Reek, and despite being heavy with his children she abandoned the grotto. Her plans to return were inturrupted following the birth of her son, Tambourine, who at the time was being protected by her new friend and ally, Warbone. Warbone was the alpha male of a freshly created pack, a secretive place called Marauder's Keep, and he extended protection to the new mother and her babe. It was not long after this that the Teekon Wilds were hit by a swarm of locusts and a great famine followed, making life far too difficult for everyone. Tavi managed to keep her son alive through the worst of it, although she birthed two sons in the first place and the older of the two did not make it. In her desperation she ate the newborn, which is how she became afflicted with a prion disease.

During the famine Warbone vanished, presumably to follow the herds, and that left Tavi to the rank of Alpha. She did her best to keep the pack together, to uphold Warbone's ideals, and the pack survived the famine without much issue. It wasn't until the famine ended, the herds returned, and the green came flowing back to the world, that things started to take a turn. Tavi met with a group of wanderers in need of shelter, and they claimed to have been drawn to the Keep by Warbone, who promised them shelter for their small family. Despite the absence of Warbone, Tavi chose to honor this promise and welcomed Harlyn and the rest of her family in to the Keep, and together they ruled.

It was difficult. There was much unrest, either from those loyal to Warbone and unwilling to follow Octavia, or because the famine had left some wolves broken and suspicious. Accepting these new wolves took time. With Harlyn at the helm of the pack, Octavia began to slack on her own duties, and found she was drawn to one of the other new acquisitions - a man named Stark - and they began a relationship.

Over time Octavia's sickness took hold, and her behavior began to deteriorate. She was wildly protective of her son Tambourine from the start, and with the added effects of the prion disease, she became much worse. There was one pivotal incident which was the catalyst for a lot of changes: Harlyn's injury. While trekking through the territory she tripped and fell down a ridge, leaving her with a broken leg. The first to find her was Tambourine, Tavi's beloved son, and the next was Octavia herself — she saw Tambourine, smelled blood, and lost her mind. In an effort to defend her son (who she thought was in danger) she took up arms against her co-alpha. Harlyn's mate Mordecai arrived quickly to the scene to defend his wife, as did their son Pippin, who took the opportunity to attack Tambourine during the chaos. Octavia turned on Pippin, and the boy then took off to safety, and was not seen again. Under the impression that her own son had just been killed, Tavi was inconsolable until he roused, and from that point on she hid him away from the rest of the pack.

Octavia's withdrawal hinted at the end, and Stark identified this. He saw the changes in the woman he once looked up to and began to worry for the security of the pack, and the safety of Tambourine. After confronting Octavia about her behavior things spiraled out of control and, believing that Stark meant to steal the pack away from her and potentially steal her son too, Octavia got it in her mind that she needed to confront the origin of all her troubles: Reek. She then left the Keep to track him down, but by this time her disease had progressed beyond the point of no return.

She did confront Reek, but by that point Octavia did not know who she was talking to, or where she was. The meeting between them was brief and confusing, leaving Reek with many questions and a lot of concern about the safety of his son; and yet, Octavia's mind was slowly emptying of such thoughts. She could remember bits and pieces of her life (from the Maplewood, from the Grotto, the Keep, the various wolves she'd been close to), but everything became a melting pot inside her head. After fleeing from Reek she found herself in a strange place, believing that Reek was following her — although it turned out to be Ukko, her long-time friend, returned to her. Ukko does not find his best friend, but rather, a stranger wearing her face. He urges her to get help and eventually takes her home to his pack, Ryujin, where he is the Shogun, and seeks help for her condition from his mate, Asterr.

Somehow during her treatment, she slipped away from Ryujin and was found by Stark during her final moments.