Selena Lyall was between classes when she heard her phone ring. She whipped it out of her jean pocket and answered, ducking into a broom closet just in case this was pack business. One glance at the phone number conformed that the call was coming from Morgana's Services for the Strange. "Hello? This is Selena Lyall. It'll have to be quick; I'm still at school, and I'm still showing the Japanese exchange students the ropes."
"This is Vivienne Faye," said the voice on the other end. "You know, Vivi. Morgana's daughter. I'm calling from the shop to let you know that Kibibi and her party just arrived."
"Seriously?" Selena sighed. "They weren't due to arrive until school let out."
Selena heard the muffled sound of talking as Vivi asked Kibibi something. "Kibibi says that traffic was surprisingly good this morning," the witch apprentice said at last. "Don't panic, they don't have to meet you right away. They're sticking around the shop for a bit to meet with Mom, and then they'll meet you after school on the grounds of Karnstein Manor."
"That's good," said Selena. "That will give us a nice open space to let her group meet my entire pack. Can you give me a quick run-down of who's with her?"
"There's Kibibi Mwangi herself, obviously," Vivi began, "and then there's her mate Asanti Kombe. They're being accompanied by the al-Dabu family, the last remnant of an Arabian werehyena pack that was decimated by Saudi 'monster' hunters. Along the way, they were joined by a werecat exile named Kathy Gibson. She was kicked out of her pride for not knowing her place, and now she wants to start one of her own in this general area. Werecats are an urban breed of werebeast, so they shouldn't end up challenging you or your parents for territory."
"Sounds good," said Selena. "I don't mind a werecat presence in Stokerville, and I'd be really grateful to have the al-Dabu family in my pack. We need as many established werehyenas as possible to teach us how to properly BE werehyenas. How large is the family?"
"It's made up of two mated pairs," said Vivi. "There's the leader Isra al-Dabu, hir mate Basma, Isra's sister Najma, and Najma's mate Qamar."
"Awesome," Selena smiled. "The pack could really use some adult mated pairs to get our breeding started right away." Selena suddenly remembered something. "Wait, you haven't mentioned Asanti's niece. Alpha Zuri wrote to tell us that she probably stowed away with Kibibi. Is she there? I'm planning on making her my pack's trickster if she is. You'll know her if you see her; she was described as a nine-year-old black girl with an unruly mop of flaming red hair who's usually nude. I think her name's Asha."
"Crap, I almost forgot!" Vivi gasped. "Asha's here alright, but she isn't nine years old anymore!"
"Anymore?" Selena repeated nervously.
"The little brat got into Mom's potions and aged herself into an eighteen-year-old," Vivi groaned. "She's had her first shift and everything."
"How'd you handle it?" Selena asked.
"Everyone agreed to let Asha stay eighteen, but only if I place her under a no-sex geis," Vivi explained. "I did, and I actually think the geis is holding... for now."
"For now?" Selena repeated, a questioning edge in her voice.
"A geis is a delicate thing," said Vivi. "Sometimes a trigger can snap a person out of it, and strong wills can power through them over time. I can't help but worry that Asha might be stubborn enough to eventually break free from her geis."
"You did all you could, Vivi," Selena said reassuringly. "At least she'll be keeping it in her pants for now."
"Thanks," said Vivi. "I... wait, Kibibi wants the phone for a sec."
"Uhh... sure..." Selena said warily. She'd been dreading talking to Kibibi, but their first conversation had to happen sooner or later.
"Look," Kibibi began, a hard edge to her voice, "I made a promise to my sire to give you a chance for a year, but that doesn't mean I'm going to like it! I've heard a bit about you, Selena Lyall, and most of it's pretty fucking bad. For one thing, you keep on sending yourself to school. Now, my sire sent me and the other cubs of the pack to school with the humans in Fort Hyde, Oklahoma, but I would never have decided that for myself. It goes against our ancient traditions! My sire was taught at home by my grandsire, who was taught at home by hir sire, and so on. We don't need a bunch of human teachers 'civilizing' us!"
"Most packs send their cubs to school in the nearby human communities, Kibibi," Selena responded. "My parents' werewolf pack does. The wilderness is shrinking, and it's getting harder and harder to be completely self-sufficient. The humans are basically just another pack for us to trade and ally with."
"I'd expect that kind of talk from a wolfborn human who got lucky!" Kibibi spat. "Yeah, that's another problem I have. You aren't even a real werehyena! You're a werewolf pack's resident human dud who got a witch to jazz her up with fur and a dick to play with. You may have the powers of a werehyena, but you don't know are ways... especially considering that you're white. You're people have no history of werehyena packs! Werehyenas live among the African, Berber, Arab, Iranian, Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Afghan, and Indian peoples. You're what? English? Scottish?"
"Basically," Selena said. "My parents' werewolf pack descends from the merger of a Norse werewolf pack with local Pictish werewolves in the Orkney Islands over a thousand years ago."
"I thought so," Kibibi scoffed. "Well, guess what? Hyenas don't live in the Orkney Islands and never have! It's not right for you to turn yourself into one of us."
"Look," Selena sighed, "I'm thinking about changing my race to black or something Middle Eastern if it makes you feel more comfortable, Kibibi. It's just a big step, okay? But I am considering it for your sake."
"That's... something," Kibibi said at last. "It's certainly more than I expected from you after all I've heard. I... I'll do my best to give you a fair trial for a year. No challenges until that's up. I promised my sire that much. Try to earn my loyalty by then, okay?"
"I'll certainly do my best," Selena said, relieved that things were smoothing over a bit.
"One last thing," Kibibi said, her voice tinged with shame. "You've probably heard things about why I'm leaving my old pack. Well, I'd like you to know that my sire was planning to send me to you anyway to broaden my horizons and keep my from getting restless, but more importantly... I want you to know that I'm not proud of castrating Enzi Njenga. I lost my head in a sparring match and got too violent; it wasn't premeditated or anything. I've always been prone to battle frenzy, but that was the worst it's even been. I mean, taking a packmate's fucking BALLS... I can't think of anything more horrible. It... it was a wake-up call. If you're worried that I'll do anything like that to anybody in your pack, I promise that it's not gonna happen. If it does, I give you the right to kill me as punishment. I don't EVER want to take another packmate's potency."
"Don't sweat it," Selena said. "You're not the only werehyena to make a mistake like that. My packmate Riley accidentally took off one of hir rival Abbie's nuts with a badly timed kick during a status sparring match. There's actually a cure that Morgana can make. Now that she has access to a steady supply of tanuki semen, she can make it whenever she likes. I bet she'll even bring this Enzi over for some!"
"Wow... thanks..." Kibibi said awkwardly, clearly unsure of how she felt thanking the infamous Selena Lyall for anything. "I... I guess I'll let Vivi have the phone back now."
"I hope that wasn't too awkward," Vivi said as soon as she had the phone back. "I get the impression that Kibibi's respect is a tough thing to earn."
"Well, I intend to try," Selena said. "I think this talk was a start, at least. Thanks for everything. Remind the newcomers that I'll meet them in the gardens of Karnstein Manor as soon as I finish transforming the cheerleaders. It'll have to be a short meeting, though. I've been invited to Chloe Stewart's birthday party this afternoon, and the whole pack's coming."
"I'll be sure to tell them," said Vivi. "Bye!"
Selena sighed as soon as Vivi hung up. Kibibi would be quite a challenge, but it might be worth it to have such a powerful and fierce werehyena as her Lady of War... especially with werefoxes in town and her parents' pack on the prowl for interloping werehyenas. Life was certainly getting interesting for the young alpha. Now to find those exchange students...