Claribel was born the youngest daughter to Gomez and Anna Maria Cordula, both grey wolf shifters: Gomez, a tundra wolf shifter; Anna Maria, a Mexican wolf shifter. Claribel was the second-born of fraternal twin girls; her older siblings include triplet brothers two years older than herself and an eldest brother one year older than the triplets. As the youngest member of a family dominated by males, Claribel quickly learned to defend herself in a scrap or an argument. Arguments, however, were frequently turned into scraps if Claribel happened to be one of the participants. Despite being technically younger than her twin, Claribel was significantly the larger of the two, both in human and animal forms, and frequently defended Iris in the inevitable fights among the siblings. Of the family's youngsters, only Claribel and Marcus were tundra wolf shifters, and so were the two biggest, roughest members of the Cordula offspring. This led to many scraps and much posturing and bickering on both their parts, more so when they were both below the age of eleven. As the eldest sibling, Marcus took great initiative to boss his brothers and sisters around—and Claribel took great initiative to point out all the flaws in his ideas and reasoning. She was not merely about shooting Marcus down, however; nearly one-hundred percent of the time, she presented a viable alternative to all of his hare-brained schemes and endeavors. Though being three years older made Marcus physically more powerful than her for the majority of their younger lives, Claribel was much better-suited to the leader position. Constantly being picked on for her age also made her considerably more quick-tempered and violent. Still, as Marcus was literally the bigger threat, the triplets—Vernon, Angelo, and Hector—most often sided with him. This only served to fan the flames of Claribel's indignation and resultant ferocity.
As the Cordula children grew in size and age, the relative conflict among them began to calm, especially as they moved toward puberty. Petty squabbles were deemed largely to be behind them, though a certain rivalry remained ever-present between the eldest and youngest siblings. This made itself known mostly in small, everyday things, such as who might get the last bit of something at supper or which person occupied a favorite easy chair. For the most part, however, the siblings went mostly their separate ways in their personal lives once puberty began to slink into the house.
Puberty, however, was destined to lead to the greatest incident of discord seen in the Cordula family yet. At the age of fifteen, Marcus began courting a young woman—a coyote shifter—by the name of Terri Montgomery. Terri was just over a year his junior, and was therefore of an age to be easily liked by all members of the household. She was a semi-constant presence around the house, often soft-spoken and always polite. Though definitely not confrontational, her sureness in herself was obvious in her speech and in the way she carried herself. The triplets found her likeable, if a bit dull on occasion; Iris clung to her as the girly big sister she'd never had. Claribel's reaction to the older woman was best described as "intrigued." Anna Maria Cordula had never been very feminine company, more scrappy and snarky than sweet and maternal. Iris, on the other hand, was extremely timid and shy—making Terri's mix of calm and confidence a singular occurrence in Claribel's life.
As would be expected, Terri spent the majority of her time in the home with Marcus, though this majority dwindled closer and closer to the fifty-fifty mark as the weeks, months, and soon, years, drew on. The closer she became to the family, the more hours she passed at the Cordula home, equally as interested in being near to her boyfriend's siblings as with her boyfriend. All six siblings frequently spent time talking to Terri, often to seek advice the girl was ready and able to give out. Unlike most members of the Cordula family, Terri was willing to sit and listen to the other teens, a quality that allowed her to see things from an objective yet informed position.
Two years passed, bringing Terri deeper into home and bringing all parties a few steps closer to maturity. Now fourteen, Claribel had begun to wander farther from home, to insert herself in new and multiple niches, to make new acquaintances, and to grow more and more curious—as many teens do—about the subjects of sex and sexuality. Marcus and Terri were obviously sexually active together, both in and out of the Cordula home—something that intrigued the youngest member of the household. Far more from curiosity than any kind of romantic or sexual interest, Claribel too became very sexually active among her newly acquired friends. However, she never found any real enjoyment in the activity, never felt any real connection to those with whom she slept. She never had sex with any young man more than once, though she did the deed with many.
By fifteen, Claribel's curiosity had most definitely not diminished, nor had she found herself truly happy (or in many cases, even so much as satisfied) with any of her experiences. Her curiosity had, in fact, grown into a confusion and frustration. Unlike with so many other things, though, she did not go to Terri for advice on this subject, mostly due to the fact that she didn't want to come across as a stupid little uneducated teenager. There soon came an event to change this, however: Marcus and Terri, now eighteen and seventeen, announced their engagement. To her surprise, Clari felt not joy at the news of acquiring the elder girl as a sister, but a deep and shockingly painful jealousy. The couple also planned to find a place of their own after their wedding, something that in Claribel's mind meant that Terri would be spending less time in the family home—less time with Clari. Claribel did not like this idea at all, but knew better than to say as much to Marcus's face. She wanted a private conversation, uninterrupted, with Terri, and soon enough, such an opportunity presented itself.
In a rare occurrence, both Gomez and Anna Maria Cordula were gone from the house at the same time, and their children, as usual, were also off doing their own things with their own friends—even Iris had finally found a few close, quiet friends with whom to spend her days. Claribel, unlike the rest, remained at home, and let Terri into the house when the coyote came to call at her usual time. Clari all but dragged the other girl to the privacy of her bedroom, and as though a wine bottle had become uncorked inside her, the young Tundra wolf's questions and concerns came pouring out of her: her confusion in detail about her own sexual encounters, her complaints at Terri's imminent departure from her usual time spent at the household, her anger at Marcus for being so selfish to keep Terri to himself. The ranting soon escalated into frustrated screaming, then crumbed into just as frustrated crying—something Claribel had not done since the age of five. Terri spent the entire time, silent and listening, seated on the edge of the girl's bed. Once the crying began, the elder pulled the younger down into a hug, stroking the sobbing teen's hair while explaining calmly that she wasn't going anywhere, and that moving in with Marcus would not lead to less time in the Cordula house. As her crying slowed and she turned to face Terri directly, Clari suddenly found herself kissing the coyote—and being kissed back. Almost before the younger girl could properly process all that was happening, the two were making love.
Afterward, as the two lay together, Clari began to panic. Marcus would surely kill her for this—she may have had no fear of him when they both were younger, but in a true fight, her elder brother was almost sure to be superior. And given the situation, Claribel wasn't too certain she wouldn't deserve it. But on that subject, what of Terri? Why had she done such a horrible thing as to cheat upon the one who would be her mate? When asked, however, Terri only laughed at the implications. In her eyes, sex and mating were not necessarily overlapping concepts. She and Claribel were both perfectly aware that they were not mates, merely sexual partners; love had no involvement, and so, there was no cheating. This concept was nothing short of shocking to Claribel, though she would spend the next several weeks turning it over and over in her mind in her desire to understand it.
It took barely a month for Claribel's shame at what she had done to fade into a slowly dawning realization: her time with Terri had, obviously, been markedly different than any of her previous sexual encounters—and not in any negative way. She had found it more passionate, more meaningful—more enjoyable—than the sex she had had with any male. For lack of any other way to gain explanation, Claribel went to Terri (whom she had been carefully avoiding) to talk about their intimate encounter. The coyote explained that, while she herself was comfortably bisexual, the youngest Cordula was very likely discovering herself to be homosexual. The Cordulas, however, had always been an extremely conservative family, and the idea of being gay terrified Claribel. Defiant, she spent more than a fortnight bedding every male she could find to take her—of which there was no small amount—even those with whom she had already slept, desperate to prove to herself that she was straight. Not one met her new, if subconscious, standard: Terri.
Furious and confused, Clari once again pulled the older teen aside, demanding that the other woman figure out some way to "fix" Claribel's sexual orientation. Terri merely smiled and explained that such a thing was impossible. A long argument ensued, Claribel rage-driven, Terri calm and matter-of-fact. The tundra wolf shifter was soon beside herself with fear and anger. Clearly, being gay meant something was wrong with her, and if there was something wrong, it could be fixed. This sentiment finally woke a quiet, defensive anger in the other woman. Claribel's words, she explained, implied that something was also wrong with Terri. This stunned the younger shifter into a brief, if contemplative, silence. Once she found her voice again, Clari immediately apologized. Terri accepted—and another, slightly more awkward, silence followed. On Clari's part, this silence was filled with more thinking on her own orientation. Haltingly, red with embarrassment, still in the mindset to be ashamed of her preference, the girl made an awkward advance toward the coyote shifter. Terri was glad at the fact that Claribel, even barely, was willing to accept her own preferences. The two soon moved into a repeat of their previous sexual union, despite both Cordula parents being home at the time. Luckily, they were not discovered, and Terri was able to help Claribel to feel more comfortable with her newfound sexuality.
Claribel's second sexual encounter with another member of her own sex managed to calm her nervousness a bit. She began denying the advances of teen boys almost immediately, something which gained more than a little surprise from those males wanting to add themselves to the list of Clari's conquests and conquerors. It didn't take long for Claribel to begin placing her advances on other women, and, to her delight and surprise, most whom she asked were willing. She quickly realized that Terri was not a fluke nor a singular occurrence; her preference was, undeniably, homosexual. While not vocally open about this, the girl soon gained a reputation among those her own age, in all of the circles she frequented. A significant portion of this reputation was a rumor train started and perpetuated by jealous males, many of whom still wanted to bed her despite her denial of their advances. Significant but small this portion remained; Claribel's old reputation as a fighter, a scrapper—a ferocious beast, no matter what form in which she chose to fight—remained, and kept her in respect among both genders. Only one male ever attempted to force himself on her. When he came away missing parts of his face and a large portion of his lower anatomy, her proudly-maintained moniker of "bitch" was cemented.
Even as she continued her sexual escapades with those outside her home, Claribel kept up her affair with Terri. In addition to the simple fact that Terri was the one who helped her realize her sexuality, Claribel's internal reasoning for their 'relationship' also included a deep-seated respect for Terri. …Not to mention, of course, that the thrill of doing something so deviant right under the family's noses was absolutely intoxicating—and that it was the perfect way, in her mind, to secretly proclaim her equality to (if not surpassing of) her eldest brother.
It was only a few months before the much-anticipated wedding that the inevitable happened. While Claribel and Terri were tangled together in the young wolf's room, the door was suddenly thrown open to reveal a shocked and infuriated Marcus.
The ensuing argument was long and loud. Though Claribel somehow managed to slip back into some clothes while Marcus was distracted, Terri spent the entire ordeal shamelessly wrapped in no more than a bedsheet. Most of the argument included what Clari had expected: accusations of cheating, defenses that sex and cheating were separate activities, indignation at the girls' audacity, two sets of retorts and placations, and the like. Upon Anna Maria's and Gomez's returns home, however, things got more than ugly. Anna Maria was torn between horror at the girls' sexual relationship and the desire to placate and reconcile all three of "her" children. Gomez, who returned home later than his wife, was almost more enraged than his son. All the girls' defenses were stamped down as blasphemies and indefensible crimes: mateship encompassed all things intimate in any way, including sex, and what was more, a homosexual relationship was blatantly despicable and wrong. While Terri claimed to have no preference, Claribel stubbornly and furiously kept to the fact that she her status as a lesbian was absolute. Exasperated, disgusted, disappointed and confused, Gomez demanded that Claribel leave the house immediately. This demand completely shifted the subject of the argument, as half the family begged Gomez to change his mind, while the other (specifically, Gomez, Marcus, and the very conservative triplet Angelo) stood firm on the defense that such deviance was intolerable. While the family argued, however, Claribel was already packing a few of her things into a small handbag and backpack. As the screaming match in the hall reached new volumes, Clari, in her room, gave her lover and tearful twin final hugs. Stepping into the hall, she shrieked above the din that she wanted no place in a home that didn't want her. This, combined with the sight of the packed bags, stunned the family into silence. If her father could restrain himself from burning them, she said, she'd return for a few more things once she found her own place. She was gone before he could answer.
Only once outside the house, alone, and hidden in an alley did Clari allow her fear and panic to show. She'd never been truly, physically and financially on her own, and the prospect of failure—more than that of independence—terrified her. For nearly two years, she moved from place to place, spending nights at the homes of friends and lovers and spending days doing whatever odd job she could come across. Varying skills were added to her repertoire, as she never turned down any job—whether or not she began it with the knowledge and skills she claimed to have in the first place. In spaces of time between jobs, which were many, she taught herself to steal as an avenue for being able to pay for food to put in her belly. Most often she stole money directly, though she found snatching of little things like watches and jewelry to be a fairly simple task when the need called for it. Her longest-running hired job was that of a stripper, from which she was fired for breaking the jaw of an older man who attempted to grope her. A friend she made while at this job made the suggestion that, should she ever reenter the business, she would do well to be "kind" to such people—distasteful though it may be, one would usually find that the uglier clients were often the most well-paying. Though the stripping bit was not her cup of tea, it didn't take long for the shifter to graduate to intermittent self employment, in the avenue of making herself available as purchased company.
Eventually, in her stint of home-hopping, job-hopping and wandering, Claribel found herself camping one late night in Bridgelight Station. Stretched on a bench with her pack beneath her head, she was sleeping deeply when, for no discernable reason except the feeling that she was being watched, she woke in time to find herself pounced upon by an unknown canine shifter. Instantly she shifted, snarling, to fight back against her attacker. Her opponent was half wolf, half German shepherd, large and vicious. She fought him, however, fang and claw, using both animal instinct and human intelligence to outwit and overpower the other beast. Once Claribel had him pinned, the male shifted to human, grinning, and congratulated the female on beating him. Immediately he invited her to meet his pack. Wary and unwilling to trust an attacker, she claimed to have no interest in the pack of "one whose ass she'd kicked." In response she received a laugh, and repeated invitation. Still untrusting, she reluctantly agreed to follow.
The "pack," as it turned out, was a loose-knit group of half-starved and highly territorial canines, mostly wolves, who were attempting to make a name for themselves as a band of fierce Hunter-hunters on Bleaker's Lower Level. Upon hearing that Clari had bested the wolf-dog Kay Abendroth, one of the pack's better fighters, the leader Adam Black enthusiastically requested that she join their numbers. One look around at the twitchy group told Claribel all she needed to know about their efficacy as a unit. She agreed to join, endeared herself to Adam, and soon made herself closely acquainted with most of the group's members. Only Kay seemed aloof, or indeed, anything less than open, with her. Within a few short months she had learned all the ins and outs of The Dark Moons, as they called themselves. The name was enough to make Clari roll her eyes at the group's mention, and it wasn't long before she made her move. In possession of the knowledge of all members' hunting patterns, Claribel systematically killed or ran off under pain of death every Moon member who did not happen to be a grey wolf or subspecies thereof. During the running-off of one of the last, Claribel was blindsided by another member who, wary of the pack's dwindling numbers, had taken to altering his hunting route. Her death would have been inevitable—if it weren't for the intervention of Kay, who promptly killed the wolf's attacker. All Kay earned as reward for this was a fresh attack from Claribel, who did not trust the half-breed not to rat her out to Adam. Kay staved her off long enough to explain to her in no uncertain terms that he was on her side—The Dark Moons were as pathetic as their name, and if they ever wanted to be a true pack, there was some thinning of the ranks to be had.
Now armed with backup, all non-wolves removed from play, Claribel approached Adam before a meet of the broken clan and declared and official challenge to his leadership role. Adam was a large man, and additionally a rather large wolf, and Claribel's challenge was met with mockery and skepticism. His decision not to take her seriously would be his downfall. Claribel attacked the moment Adam gave his sarcastic acceptance. Adam, not expecting a real fight, was caught off-guard and stunned at the lack of backup he received. Though a few tried to interfere, there were a few others who welcomed the idea of a change in leadership, and those attempting to go to Adam's aid were quickly put down or run away. The fight was quick and brutal; Claribel fought in true feral wolf style, attacking and then dodging away, while Adam fought more like a man, diving for the attack and then keeping the assault going as long as he could. Within moments Claribel had broken one of Adam's forelegs, and when another leg followed, the fallen leader stood no chance. His death was immediate but painful, and what few members of the Moons remained descended on the corpse. As the new leader, Claribel's first act was to remind her pack that shifters were granted animal grace and instinct for a reason, and that to ignore that fact in favor of being human was to ignore both heritage and strength. Her second was to change the name of the pack to The Ferals, as a reminder that giving in to the softness of humanity was a shifter's downfall.
As time passed, the Ferals grew into a smaller and more close-knit pack, heavily defensive of their territory and intolerant of any canine shifter daring to enter it. The goal of hunting Hunters was cast aside; heroes' missions were for the foolhardy. The best life one could glean from the Bottom was stability: the same home, the same territory, the same rules to live by, and to defend that stability tooth and nail from any outsider daring to threaten it.
This radical, bloodthirsty standpoint on maintenance of territory and the blessings of shifter blood soon gained attention from various unwanted sources. Hunting Hunters came back into play simply as a necessity for the Ferals to save their own hides. Claribel, fed up with the interference, personally delivered a few mangled corpses to the steps of the Hunters' Lodge, notes of warning nailed to their chests. Though a few brave or stupidly vengeful Hunters took this as an invitation to hunting, the majority of the Hunters know well enough to avoid deliberate run-ins with the pack.
The second source of unwanted attention came in the form of Fenrir's Children. Navarre Eberhardt, unnerved at the prospect of having such a bloodthirsty pack go unchecked, sent word that the Ferals' greyback join him for a friendly meeting. Always wary but fully confident in herself, Claribel went alone to the meeting. A friendly dinner on the Wolf Lord's part turned quickly into a vicious snarling match on Claribel's end. The idea that her pack accept the sovereignty of Fenrir's Children was ludicrous, and she blatantly refused to even acknowledge such a suggestion. Eventually, the confrontation moved to the physical, both greybacks shifting and circling in a show of snarls and fangs. Navarre, despite his pacifist stand, was more than able to fight like a wolf, and a shocked Claribel found herself overpowered in moments. Navarre had succeeded in his show of dominance, and, grudgingly, Clari accepted his status as Wolf Lord—though on the condition that he accepted her as a greyback, despite her youth, and that the Ferals remain unbothered by the other packs of the FC. Navarre accepted these terms, though the Feral territory was to remain as it was, with no attempts to expand. Accord struck, Claribel returned to her pack and announced the changes, though with her own spin on the tale. Consistency of territory limits would contribute to the pack's stability, after all, and membership in Fenrir's Children ensured the Ferals' status as a recognized wolf pack. Though not keen on the idea of higher leadership, the Ferals accepted their greyback's word, and the unofficial name of FFC was adopted by the pack.
Things remained consistent for many years. Feral members lived, died, were killed or replaced as natural law saw fit. Their territory was kept, their reputation upheld, and Clari's leadership maintained. The lattermost of these was not for lack of attempt at upheaval, though Claribel defeated and destroyed the two or three wolves that dared challenge her directly. Dissension was kept to a minimum by Kay, who remained fiercely loyal to the leader who made the Ferals out of the ashes of a decrepit pack.
The only shake-up in the relative normalcy of the Ferals came in the addition of one particular new member, a young woman by the name of Gillian Arnett, who joined the pack in Claribel's third year of leadership. Now twenty-one, everyday more a woman than the girl she had been, the ever-learning Claribel had decided to be more selective about the members of her pack. Gillian was one of the first to experience the greyback's new selectiveness. Upon asking to join the pack, the girl—after an honest laugh on Claribel's part—was asked a rapid-fire series of questions as to her age, skills, abilities, usefulness both on the streets and in company, finally culminating in the most important: "Can you fight?" When greeted with confidence, Claribel attacked. The fight was purely for the purpose of feeling out the girl's abilities and instincts, not to sincerely damage or harm the potential member, which may have been a reason it lasted as long as it did. After nearly five minutes of fighting, Claribel managed to pin the other wolf and, eventually, get her to give up the fight. The greyback was pleasantly impressed with the other's relative skills, and offered her membership on a trial basis.
As with a few previous and all future members and prospective members of the Ferals, Claribel escorted Gillian on her first hunts as pack member, on her rounds in keeping territory, and on several other random occasions as a means of getting to know the new blood in the pack. Claribel personally taught Gillian a few fighting skills, helped her find work, and aided the girl in securing a place to stay. Unlike with other members, however, Claribel took an immediate and strangely personal liking to Gilly. Sensing the other's inherent fear of being on her own, the greyback set the newest member up in her own apartment, claiming that the girl would move into her own place once she was ready. This day never came.
A few months in the pack earned Gillian a permanent place among the Ferals, and Claribel watched over her closely, protectively, desiring almost by pure instinct to make sure that no harm came to the girl. It was some time before Claribel noticed her closeness to Gillian enough to question herself about it. It was not until, one night, when out on her job, that Claribel fully understood her feelings. While servicing a client—female, bleached blonde, pretty—Claribel found herself thinking about Gillian. This was like being slapped in the face, as Claribel had never before been anything other than immediately aware of her attraction to another woman. On the other hand, she supposed, she'd never been intimately attracted to any member of the Ferals before. Her first instinct, once realization hit, was to go immediately home and have Gillian for herself. However, she was very aware of Gillian's skittishness, and even more aware of the fact that her attraction to the younger woman was something more than physical. And so, not wanting to scare the other girl off, Claribel kept her desires to herself, thinking that, if given time, Gillian would somehow realize the intent of Clari's subtle advances, or that she herself would figure out some way to make her desires clear without frightening Gillian away.
Eight months of tension, however, finally managed to get to the greyback. Sick of passed looks and subtle touches, Claribel delivered to the object of her affections one single, sudden kiss before awaiting a reaction. The positive response she gained delivered Claribel into a night of joy and awe. Never had she felt so passionately about anyone as she did about Gillian, nor felt any of the things she felt in that first night they had together. One night was enough to convince Claribel of the reality of exactly what Gillian meant to her. Immediately, but with Gillian's consent, Clari claimed Gilly as her mate. This was silently proclaimed upon the next daily meeting of the pack when the two appeared together, Clari's arm about the younger's waist and a challenging smirk upon her face. No one said anything or questioned the two in any way, and in fact most of them seemed to have been expecting the two to get together. Though Kay remained her eyes and ears, certainly the most trusted male of the pack—and the only male, and only one of two, to have remained a living Feral since their inception—Gillian eventually became second in command, named second greyback by Claribel. This was not immediate or on whim, and was decided only after Clari was certain Gilly was up to such a task. Though lovers, Claribel remained Gilly's teacher and protector, helping her become more confident, more in touch with her shifter self. Mated or no, Claribel remains fiercely and equally loyal to and protective of all members of her pack, and today continues to defend her dream of strength and stability for her new, beloved family.
