Kodiak was only a couple months of age when his pack was overthrown by the Tartok, and he would have been slain along side his siblings and father by the conquering Alpha were it not for a brazen display of aggression. He attacked his would-be killer, and thus won his life, for he showed the promise of a Tartok warrior. The new king adopted him as his own, for his mate had not birthed him a litter, and raised him to be as staunch a Tartok wolf as any.

Nearing his second year, Kodiak was summoned to fight with another branch of Tartok, which was seeking to expand its claim by skirmishing with a nearby pack. It was here that he met Tonravik, and upon her declaration after the battle that she intended to found another Tartok branch to the south, he was spurred to not return from whence he came. Instead, he would seek her out, in a bid for better status than was accessible to him in his natal pack.