The aftermath of the operation took a full week to process properly.

Prisoners were interrogated, assessed, and sorted into categories—those who'd committed violent crimes during raids, those who'd merely followed orders, and those who'd been coerced into joining the Broken Chains in the first place. Each case required individual judgment, careful consideration of circumstances and intentions.

Arianna found herself spending hours listening to stories from captured wolves, trying to distinguish genuine remorse from calculated performance. Some were clearly hardened raiders who'd joined Kade willingly. Others were desperate wolves who'd made bad choices when legitimate options seemed unavailable.

"This one's nineteen," Thomas said, gesturing to a young male wolf sitting nervously...