Why do cats get 9 lives?

Romulus saw the tiger get up, saw the massive clawed paw swinging down for him, and flinched in time to feel—nothing. He heard the tiger yowl in pain and heard Rudyard's snarls of fury, peeking open a silver eye to find his pack mate had intercepted the tiger's strike in the nick of time to save him. The tiger swung for Rudy and the monochrome wolf narrowly avoided getting clawed in the face. The big cat was hobbling now, its shoulder rent and joint eviscerated. There would be no retreat for the feline and it clearly knew it. The tiger was prepared to fight the wolves to the death; only one party would be leaving this skirmish alive, and Roman didn't intend for them to be on the losing side.

With the tiger's attention drawn on Rudy, Roman rolled to his paws and sprung back into the fight. His body ached from where he'd been body slammed by the full weight of the tiger, but it was nothing he couldn't manage. Adrenaline kept him going and pushed the ache in his muscles to the back of his mind. He had his steely sights set on his next target: the tiger's back leg. With murderous intent, Romulus lunged alongside the distracted tiger and managed to sink his fangs into the tiger's thigh muscle, thrashing once more to shred femoral muscle.

The tiger yowled, hot blood gushed into the wolf's mouth again, and suddenly the tiger's own massive weight became its downfall. Unable to keep itself propped up and stable on its own legs, the tiger collapsed sideways. Romulus narrowly managed to skirt back and avoid being squished a second time, but now the tiger's soft underbelly was exposed to Rudy. Romulus had created a lethal opening for his partner to seize the opportunity and end this fight.

"Romulus Armada"