It was a cold winter morning the day Shadow was born. His mother was a beautiful black wolf, and his father... was grey and white. Shadow, along with his four other brothers and one sister, were all born before Shadow was.
As the mother observed the small wolf pups that were squirming around and whimpering, she noticed one of them were... smaller. She wasn't too happy about that. "What's wrong with that one?" she asked her mate, the alpha.
The alpha gazed down upon his pups and studied the darkest one carefully. "Maybe he's simply a late bloomer. I'm sure he'll get bigger, we're a large family."
The mother let the pups size slide, and she cared for him just like she did for the rest of the pups. Although this young pup was small, skinny, and looked almost anorexic, she treated him like a worrier. Because that's what he would become one day... just like his father.
~
By 9 months, Shadow hadn't gotten any bigger. I mean, sure, he'd grown a little... but he was still this meek little scrawny pile of bones. His mother and father seemed to notice that he wasn't going to get any... wolfier... and decided that, he was a mere runt, and didn't belong in a family of soldiers.
Shadow became the outcast, and was never allowed on hunts, he always ate last - which meant that sometimes, he'd have to wait almost a week and a half for his next meal - and was treated like a slave by his own family.
His brothers and sister would tease him, and they would 'play' too rough and hurt him. They would laugh when he got injured, telling him that if he was a 'real wolf', he wouldn't get hurt so easily. They nicknamed him 'Deer', or 'Mouse', and they would purposely push him into lakes and puddles of water because they knew he couldn't swim.
~
One afternoon, he'd gone to ask his father if he could start training with the other wolves. "Father, can you please make me one of your hunters? Please?"
The alpha looked up at the disappointment he'd created and laughed. "Not a chance, Runt. You wouldn't last a day out in the field. You'd be picked up by an eagle or a crow, then eaten and... well, what do I care? Sure. Let's see if you're any worse then last time we let you come along."
Of course, Shadow did not succeed in impressing his father. He couldn't catch the rabbit, he couldn't catch a dying fish, and he couldn't even steal a birds egg without almost getting his eye plucked out.
His father and brothers scolded him, quite brutally too. It's the reason he has a large scar just above his left shoulder blade. After his father warned him NOT to return to the den, he fled.
