Malia was raised by Peter, growing up in the Hale house alongside her cousins Laura, Derek, and Cora. Malia and Cora, being the youngest in the pack, were the closest, and were often running off together. The night of the fire, they ran into the woods together. Some of the Argents chased after them, though, and the girls got separated. Cora wound up in Mexico, while Malia ended up being found by a cop and brought into the station. By the time help arrived at the house, it was too late to save most of them. Her father survived, but was in a coma.

Malia became a ward of the state and was given to the care of the Tates. They were a nice enough couple with another little girl younger than Malia by a couple of years, and they did their best to make her feel welcomed. When it became clear that Peter likely would never come out of the coma, the Tates adopted Malia (though she wasn't all that happy about it). Malia got angry and turned for the first time when she was 9 years old. She accidentally killed her adopted mom and sister, and then ended up running off into the woods (again). Malia had fully turned into a coyote, and couldn't figure out how to turn back. The longer she stayed a coyote, the harder it became to remember what being a little girl was like, and eventually she stopped trying.

When the alpha forced her to turn back, Malia had mixed feelings. It was nice not to be running for her life all the time, but having to face all of the complicated, human emotions she'd safely hidden from as an animal hit her like a ton of bricks. There was a whole lot of adjusting and catching up she had to do, but she'd found her way into a pack who was willing to help her figure it all out.