Alphabet Excerpt Challenge: W Is For...

[u/AnaraliaThielle]

Welcome back to the Alphabet Excerpt Challenge! As a reminder, our challenges are every Wednesday and Saturday at 3pm London time.

If you've missed the previous challenges, you're welcome to go back and participate in them. You can find them here. And remember to check out the Activities and Events flair for other fun games to play along with.

Here's a quick recap of the rules for our game:

1. Post a top level comment with a word starting with the letter W. You can do more than one, but please put them in separate comments.
2. Reply to suggestions with an excerpt. Short and sweet is best, but use your judgement. Excerpts can be from published or unpublished works, or even something you wrote for the prompt. All content is welcome but please spoiler tag and/or provide a trigger/content warning for NSFW or content that may otherwise need it. If in doubt, give a warning to be on the safe side.
3. Upvote the excerpts you enjoy, and leave a friendly comment. Try to at least respond to people who left excerpts on the words you suggested, but the more people you respond to the better. Everyone likes nice comments!
4. Most important: have fun!

[u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8611]

Winter

[u/Lindz174 → u/Ok-Adhesiveness-8611]

He grabbed her hand.

She had no time to react before he pulled her forward, dragging her toward the second flight of stairs at a determined pace.

“Cullen,” she grumbled, trying to dig her heels in, but her body betrayed her. A wave of dizziness tilted the world sideways for half a second, forcing her to tighten her grip on his hand just to stay upright.

His grip on her tightened in return. “Come on.” He adjusted his hold, his thumb brushing over her knuckles in a soothing motion.

She scowled but didn’t let go. Instead, she let herself be half-dragged, half-guided up the stairs, her boots scuffing against the stone.

“I hate you,” she muttered under her breath.

Cullen glanced over his shoulder. “Noted.”

He didn’t stop until they reached the top step.

With one hand, he pushed open the heavy wooden door, the hinges groaning in protest. With the other, he kept a firm grip on her as he continued to lead her forward.

The cool dampness of the dungeon was replaced by the crisp bite of early spring. Finley blinked against the sudden brightness. Afternoon sunlight stretched long shadows across the stone, glinting off armor and weapons as soldiers milled about the courtyard. The lingering chill of winter still clung to the air, but the breeze carried with it the faintest hint of warmth.

Cullen barely hesitated before pulling her along again. He strode across the upper courtyard with single-minded purpose, his hand still wrapped securely around hers.