The king cheetah lunged forward again, readying to sink his fangs into flesh and blood.
And he did. It gave satisfyingly beneath his teeth, and he flexed his jaws, tasting metal.
And then pain. A flailing hoof connected with his temple, sending him staggering. He yowled, blood trickling from a gash the deer's sharp hoof had opened up.
Shaking his head, a vague ringing in his ears, the cheetah staggered forward. The doe had suffered enough already, and so he stepped forward, and set his teeth into her throat, severing her jugular with a flex of his jaws. She jerked, and blood sprayed across his face, but she died quickly.
He went down with a groan, shaking his head as he tried to think around the rattling in his head.
His stomach rumbled, and the cheetah approached the doe. She was very dead, at this point, and so he reached down to attempt to take a bite out of her stomach.
And pulled.
And pulled.
And pulled.
He growled in frustration, shaking his head from side to side as he attempted to rip open the doe's stomach.
The cheetah huffed, and let go of the doe, flexing his jaw. That hurt! He shook his head, and approached her again, sinking his teeth into the flesh of her stomach and beginning to pull, thrashing his head from side to side as hard as he could. But still, the flesh wouldn't give way.
Beginning to growl, the cheetah strained until, finally, there was an audible tear. Some of the flesh gave, and he continued to pull until there was a hole big enough for him to eat from.
Then, he buried his muzzle in the hole, and began to eat the first large meal he had ever hunted. It was warm, and steaming, and by far the best thing he had ever tasted.
The cheetah ate until he couldn't any more, not wanting the doe's body to go to waste. He ate until his stomach was bulging, and he thought he was going to be sick. Only then did he back away, turning to head back to Orion, where he could rest and tend to his head wounds.