Pio and forty more (2)

Author's note: This is from Seraphina's point of view

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"Why do you live here?", I asked the old man.

He exhaled and shook his head while remembering unpleasant memories. "It was chaos. Some of us managed to hide, and some were injured and left to rot, but we didn't."

I felt Duke's hand tightening around mine, and I gave him a squeeze in return. I assumed that he didn't recognize this man, but that didn't mean that the story didn't impact him.

Duke was not aware that those were werewolves, but he saw them as people who lived on this land. His friends and neighbors, even if they were strangers.

Luckily, Duke changed quite a bit in the last eleven years and Pio didn't realize that he was standing in front of Mateo.

"I assume there are more of you here.", I said.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Pio nodded.