The Reign Of The Last White Wolf
Ralph’s POV
Failure had a way of lingering. It clung to the walls of my compound like a foul stench, refusing to fade no matter how many days passed. It settled over every report that crossed my desk, every map spread across the table, every conversation with my people, and every warrior who returned through the gates empty-handed. It lived in the silence after another failed search. It echoed through the halls long after everyone else had gone to sleep.
No matter how many plans I put into motion, they all ended the same way. Nothing. Every lead dissolved into another dead end. Every trail went cold before we reached Maddox. Every hope I allowed myself was crushed beneath another failure.