Titan didn’t wait for the cat to recover, even if there had been a crash. His wolf leaped onto the tiger’s back, clawing deep into thick fur, digging hard as the massive cat wrenched his body and tried to throw him off.
Natural Tundra wolves were large, growing seven feet long. Much bigger than those, Titan had earned his name honestly by growing to nine feet long, not counting his bushy tail.
But their opponent still outweighed Titan by three hundred pounds of muscle.
Titan’s claws kept digging fast.
The tiger pushed up hard on his hind legs, then teetered and fell backward.
Oh, shit!
Titan slid backward, clawing for purchase, then gave up and pushed to leap away, but not fast enough. A thick golden hindquarter striped in black landed on one of Titan’s rear paws. Bones crunched. The tiger landed in a twisted position. Titan wrenched his body around and locked his jaws high up on the tiger’s rear leg, jammed between his body and the wall. Grinding and yanking viciously on the thick leg, Titan did not let up even when he dragged tendons and muscle from the wounded leg.
Unable to twist far enough to reach Titan from the other side, the tiger made an awful high-pitched noise and tried to push up and get away.
Weight on Titan’s leg eased.
He unlocked his jaws and scuffled to the far wall. Bosse saw stars as agony rushed through his wolf’s body.
Unable to do more than suffer with his wolf, Bosse kept quiet. Never distract the one fighting.
Titan rose to stand again. Bosse’s head spun. That crushed paw felt useless. Titan couldn’t walk without limping, so he stood very still, snarling a threatening sound that would raise goose bumps on the dead.
Blood soaked through the tiger’s striped fur and dripped into a puddle beneath him. His back leg hung unnaturally.
Titan had managed to rip significant tendons.
Even though the cat still had three powerful limbs, his bright blue eyes changed from animal to a deeper human color filled with pain and sadness.
Such a shame. The tiger had wanted to live. He’d been captured and forced to fight, but so had Bosse and Titan.
Only one of them could survive.
Keeping the crushed paw still, Titan scratched the dirt with his opposite front paw and snarled nonstop. Blood ran warm down Titan’s back. Time was not on their side. They could not drag out this battle.
He lifted his wolf head and howled, a blatant sound of victory.
Hate replaced sadness in the blue eyes of their opponent. The tiger began to stalk. Unable to lift his damaged leg, he hobbled sideways in slow, deliberate moves.
Bosse hadn’t planned on that tiger still being mobile.Can you move, Titan?
Only once. I will wait for the best chance.
That didn’t sound good.
Titan’s head turned slowly as he tracked the tiger while remaining still. When the large cat paused as if he were about to leap, muscles along Titan’s body tensed.
The tiger couldn’t jump without two functioning back legs. Instead, he rushed forward on an uneven gait, jaws wide open to rip a good bite out of Titan.
In a move Bosse didn’t expect to survive, Titan twisted his body and rolled over on his back as if submitting. Legs folded and head pointed toward the tiger.
Krol yelled a gleeful shout wrapped in relief. “You lose, you miserable dog! You lose!”
Always on alert to follow Krol’s lead, the guards erupted in matching shouts.
Inertia from the tiger’s huge body already in motion prevented him from stopping quickly to attack the prone wolf.
The minute he could stop, he had only to drop his entire body and crush Titan.
