The steel door opened all the way, and a massive Cape buffalo pounded in.
Titan was done joking.Give me the body.
Not yet.Bosse barely got the words out in his mind when the buffalo charged him.
He dove to the side, telling his wolf,If we try to shift now, it could kill us mid-shift.He jumped up and ran to the other wall.
We do the flip-flop. That will give us time, Titan suggested.
Good idea, but Bosse wasn’t sure he could trick the buffalo into biting or if the buffalo would stop in time like the tiger had.I’ll try it.
He took a deep breath and ran at the buffalo, who lowered its head, snorting and scratching the ground. The buffalo flicked sharp horns in Bosse’s direction, ready to rip him open. At the last minute, Bosse sidestepped, kicking a hard foot under the black throat.
Great kick, but his foot and ankle felt as if he’d attacked a stone wall.
A sick sound squeezed from the buffalo’s throat as it quickly jerked around.
The sharp tip of a horn caught Bosse in the side and ripped open skin, damaging muscle. Pain seared his skin, and blood spilled. Attempting to flip-flop meant pretending to be injured.
Thanks to the buffalo, Bosse wouldn’t have to pretend.
He cursed and made it to the far wall. Leaning against the cold stone, he gasped for air with a hand covering what he could reach of the cut on his side.
Blood ran through his fingers.
A captured tiger that had shared a cage near his before dying in the arena once told Bosse the natural Cape buffalos were vegetarians but had been known to hunt and kill a human who had angered it.
He warned Bosse to avoid pissing off a Cape buffalo shifter.
Too late.
It took only seconds for the buffalo to swing around and stomp its front hooves on the ground. That wide head lifted, and huge jaws opened. It bellowed in rage.
Bosse stumbled backward and put his hand on the wall to stop his fall. The flip-flop worked best if he could step out into the open. His gut twisted like a pretzel at the idea of leaving the wall.
From far across the arena, the buffalo started striding toward him.
Bosse shoved away from the circular wall and tried to walk confidently but ended up limping a few steps into the arena.
The buffalo snorted loudly and once again stomped front hooves big enough to smash large rocks. Then it charged, nose down and horns headed for Bosse’s body.
That bulky animal was damned fast.
Bosse had one second to make his move. Sweat ran through his eyes and dripped off his chin.
One second with over two thousand pounds of fury coming hard.
He had to allow this one to come closer than the tiger had.
Keeping his eyes on that towering animal, Bosse watched through wet strands of hair.
The easiest move would be backward and rolling away, which would also be obvious. Too risky.
At truly the last second, Bosse called forth Titan, then dove forward and to the side, barely missing a collision by less than an inch.
The buffalo rammed the wall. A deep-throated moan followed.
Pain ripped up Bosse’s insides with shifting, the gash still raw.
