"Let's do the presents first," said Summer Vogel. "Kaylee and I brought something from Morgana's shop that should spice up the orgy."
"So did Hannah, Jenna, and I," Lily Nichols added. "That store's a pretty cool place for last-minute gift shopping... so long as the birthday girl's in the know about magic, anyway."
"Ha!" Skyler laughed boastfully. "Just wait until you see the magic sex toy that I bought there! Believe me, it was mega-expensive."
"Wow, sounds like I should be getting pretty excited for MY birthday," Hailey Wallerstedt said, winking at Katelynn Andersen. "It's pretty sweet to have a Bentley bank account in our pack!" She gestured to the non-binary trust fund kid that was Skyler.
"But would shi buy you a birthday present?" Katelynn chuckled. "After all, shi's friends with Chloe."
"Yeah, but Skyler's the pack beta," Hailey shrugged. "It's her job to be everybody's friend, same as Selena. Besides, shi doesn't seem like the snooty bitch she used to be back when she was called Stella. Coming out as non-binary and turning into a werehyena appear to have done wonders for her attitude. Yeah, shi's still a little cocky, but shi's also almost... friendly."
"Presents it is!" Chloe trumpeted excitedly, reveling in the joy of the moment. "Follow me, girls!"
Kibibi idly followed the rest of the pack, her face thoughtful as she pulled off her clothes. She glanced around her new pack again. Yes, there was indeed a grotesque excess of palefaces. The African girl took stock of the exceptions. There were two full-blooded black girls present (not counting the new additions from Fort Hyde): Jazmyn Washington and Kaylee Lewis. Kibibi also recalled that Selena had said there was a third African-American girl, Brianna Dixon, who was in Japan at the moment. Then there were the half-black girls: Naomi Miller and Chloe Stewart. Both of them had African blood on their mothers' sides, and that was good enough for Kibibi. Kibibi had also spotted an Indian girl in the pack: Pradha Chaudhari. This was also culturally fitting; India was home to numerous werehyena packs.
There were also a pair of Latina girls (Sofia Rivera-Lopez and Julia Juarez-Cruz), but Kibibi didn't really consider them much more legitimate werehyenas than the palefaces, for their homeland was the Americas. Surely they would be better off as werecoyotes, werejaguars, werepumas, werebison, werebears, weresnakes, werebats, or werewolves! Oh well, at least they weren't palefaces.
"Yo, whutchu thinkin' 'bout, homegirl?" asked a voice which Kibibi recognized as inner-city.
"Yeah, you don't seem to be entirely present," said another voice.
Kibibi turned and looked at the speakers. The girl with the inner-city accent was Jazmyn Washington, a black girl with hair buzzed nearly as short as Kibibi's own, and the second girl was Abbie Peterson, a tall, buff girl with tan skin, hazel eyes, and pale blonde hair. Jazmyn was wearing nothing but a thong bikini, and Abbie was entirely nude. Both were giving Kibibi a good view of their rippling muscles and therianthropic body hair.
"Oh, sorry," Kibibi said. "I was just checking out the pack. I'm hoping it'll be a pack I can be proud of."
"Is it?" asked Abbie.
Kibibi stroked her chin thoughtfully. "It's... complicated. I like how Selena's so willing and eager to learn, and I think it's great that she doesn't tolerate bullying lower-ranked pack members... but there's all kinds of little things that bother me. Take this stupid mansion, for example. Chloe Stewart is a werehyena, but she lives in a fucking mansion loaded with high-tech gadgets!"
"Yeah, dis place be pimped out!" Jazmyn grinned.
"And that's the problem," said Kibibi. "Can you really call this authentic werehyena living? I mean, I own a cellphone and shit, but this more than a bit much! This kind of life will make a pack soft, you know."
"Ain't no permanent deal, sista," Jazmyn chuckled. "Selena gonna set up a homestead in da woods once we outta high school. We gonna be roughin' it then."
"Good to hear," Kibibi nodded. "I still have issues with an ex-wolfborn human cobbling together an alleged werehyena pack out of a bunch of mostly white humans."
"Hey, we ain't ALL a crew of pasty-ass bitches," Jazmyn huffed.
"And I'm grateful for that," said Kibibi. "I'm still not too happy with just how white the pack skews."
"Hey, this is a small town in Washington state," Abbie shrugged, scratching her thick bush of curly blonde pubes. "More people around here are white than not."
"True dat," Jazmyn nodded. "Dis ain't mah old hood in Los Angeles."
"Fair enough, I guess," Kibibi sighed. "Well, assuming Selena bothers doing something about it, anyway. She said something about considering changing her race."
Abbie looked concerned. "I hope she isn't dumb enough to actually go through with it. She lives with a werewolf pack that doesn't know she's started this herehyena pack, and she'd be in a ton of trouble if she changed race." A peculiar look came over Abbie's eyes. "I might be interested in a change, though."
"You would?" asked Kibibi, raising an eyebrow.
"Sure," said Abbie. "I'm a foster kid, and my foster family, the Kriegers, are neglectful at best and abusive at worst. I'm thinking about running away, and changing my race would make it a lot harder for Mr. and Mrs, Krieger to find me."
"My people would be honored to have you," Kibibi smiled. "It's a shame about your family situation, though. What happened to the Petersons?"
"Wish I knew," Abbie sighed. "Maybe they died, maybe they were too poor to keep me, they just didn't want me. Whatever the reason, all I've known is bouncing from shitty foster home to shitty foster home. My only escape's been basketball. Oh well, it beats getting your left nut ripped off, I guess."
Jazmyn put a comforting hand on Abbie's shoulder. "No worries, homegirl. You gonna grow it back."
"I think I heard about you," Kibibi said to Abbie. "Sparring match gone wrong, right?"
"Yeah," Abbie sighed. "Riley got too fancy and sliced my sack open by accident. Morgana's gonna help me regrow the missing nut."
"It's a relief she can do that," said Kibibi. "I castrated my packmate Enzi in a fit of battle frenzy and I feel awful about it."
"Well, Morgana will help you make it right," said Abbie. "Now we'd better get moving. We're missing Chloe opening her presents."
Chloe had already begun opening her presents, which ranged from Kibibi and Asanti's last-minute basket of chocolates to a high-end wristwatch to a new bicycle. Only three presents remained: one from Skyler Bentley, one from Summer Vogel and Kaylee Lewis, and one from Jenna McSweeney, Lily Nichols, and Hannah Dershowitz.
"I hope you like ours," said Jenna. "It's a little magical novelty from Morgana. Its effect is pretty cool... and kinda hot."
"Well, mine's a magical sex toy from her shop!" Skyler declared with a sinful glint in hir eye.
"I think the entire pack will like what she gave me and Kaylee," said Summer. "Two people can use it at once, and it should make sex TWICE as fun!"
"What a haul!" laughed Selena.
"Ooh, these all sound like they'll be the stand-out gifts of the party!" Chloe said happily. "Now, which of them should I open first?"