Kade was only five years old when his father dragged him into the forest.
His legs were too short to keep up. Roots caught his rain boots. Rain drops drenching his black straggly curls. Cold mud soaked his dinosaur pajamas as he stumbled, crying quietly because he already knew crying made it worse. His father's hand was iron around his wrist, large, unforgiving.
"Stop slowing me down, this is for your own good. Your mom made you soft. You're supposed to be an Alpha Kid" his father growled low and meancing smirk started to creep around his face.
Kade tried. He always tried.
When they reached the fallen pine, his father shoved him down hard. The impact knocked the breath from his chest. Kade lay there, stunned, staring up at the branches blotting out the sky.
"You're not strong enough," his father said. "If you survive, maybe you will be." As he father slowly transitioned into his massive black wolf clawing at his son, leaving gashes in his skin, racking his clas against his little legs and back. No. Not enough to kill him. He couldn't kill his own heir, but just enough to teach him a lesson. To make him stronger.
Then he walked away
Five years old.
Alone.
Bleeding.
Inside him, something stirred for the first time.
Sombra did not howl.
The spirit wolf he carried showed and curled around him instead, huge, gray, silent as stone, shielding what the world had already decided did not deserve mercy.