I won’t be calling you dad

Sometimes, Akito wondered if he was getting too big for his britches. His eyes soaked in the possibility of being great someday. He was the largest of his litter, didn’t have a disability, and already was growing accustomed to fighting predators. The eagerness that gnawed at his belly forced him out into the oaks that day. The pup wanted to bring home another pelt for his mother or if she didn’t want it, he would use it for his own bed. It wasn’t the thrill of the kill that got him. No, it was the ability to use his skills to help protect the pack that made him so fervently excited to seek out predators.

Thankfully, he was far from being an imbecile. He knew to keep away from the large ones for now. Any scent of tiger or grizzly and he would head the other way. Today though, as a winter storm drizzled water through the canopy, he caught a muddied scent of something just about the right size. Up until now, he had not yet seen the sleek coated creature, but today would be the day. Picking up his pace, he kept his nose low to the ground so that the wind and water would not allow the scent to escape him. Hurrying as fast as his too large puppy paws would let him, he leaped over a fallen tree and skirted around a bunch of bushes to spot the fossa lingering at the edge of a pond.

“You’re mine now,” Akito growled under his breath as he raced forward. Before the fossa could have time to react, the monochrome pup was lunging forward. Tilting his head down and tucking his chin to his chest, he rammed the fossa in the rib cage with his budding horns. Successfully knocking it down into the mud, he watched it skid a foot or so before hopping up and retaliating appropriately. Teeth shown, lips curled, a mighty hiss leaving its body as it lunged back and aimed to grab on to his shoulder.