He thought he heard something, and he paused, but then there was nothing, and he stepped forward again. That was when she pounced. She could have bitten harder and he wouldn't have cared; his skin was actually pretty thick, and it didn't hurt really, just felt different than it might if he were human.
He shook lightly and she rolled off, and this time he was able to whirl around and take a couple of bounding leaps to catch up, and then he pounced her. He was careful because he was so much larger than her and so much heavier, but he had plenty of practice and they rarely had accidents with each other anymore.
But he pinned her lightly and mouthed at her neck to show he'd gotten her before he continued and leapt away, in the lead himself this time, taking off for a particularly fine tree he hoped to jump up in and tease her with his tail.