Outlaw Tiger
Terry Bolryder
Copyright © 2021 by Terry Bolryder
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover art by Yocla Book Cover Designs
Contents
Author’s Note
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
Sample of Onyx Dragon
Also by Terry Bolryder
Author’s Note
Hi,
Outlaw Tiger is book 4 in my brand new Texas Dragon series! You can read each as a standalone, because each book stars a new couple and their entire journey to love, including a happy ending. No cliffhangers!
However, there are some overarching mysteries and side characters, so reading in order will give a richer experience!
Book 1:
Cowboy Dragon (Texas Dragons Book 1)
Book 2:
Rancher Dragon (Texas Dragons Book 2)
Book 3:
Wrangler Dragon (Texas Dragons Book 3)
Prologue
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
Three boys, all somewhere between twelve and fourteen, bore down on the lone kid who stood in front of them.
Though only about eight or nine years old, the kid showed no fear in his expression. No emotion. Only steely determination as his fists clenched.
After all, his only name growing up had been “Killer.” The violent people who’d raised, trained, and tortured him had used that term in place of whatever name he might have been born with long ago.
But now, living alone on the streets of Dallas, Texas, he’d merely come to be known as “Kid” by the humans who’d had the dumb luck to ever see him.
So, at least in his own head, the name had stuck for lack of a better one.
After all, he had no parents, no home except for the streets.
It was better than being back in the hell that had been his life before this one.
The bullies, all three of them stinking of low-blooded wolf shifter, advanced on Kid. A minute ago, the same bullies had been ready to beat the living daylights out of a couple of children. Kid had happened to hear the commotion a block away and came to investigate.
He knew it was better to stay out of sight. To survive at all costs.
But whenever he saw someone bigger or with greater numbers oppressing another, even just bigger children ganging up on smaller children, the tiger in him roared and snarled.
More than once, this sort of situation had gotten him into trouble. But it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.
“That bozo’s lunch money was almost mine,” the oldest of the bullies said, a young wolf shifter with brown hair and pale-blue eyes. “You’re going to pay, human.”
Even in the city, there were large clans of different shifters that existed amongst the humans. And in his travels, moving from place to place, from city to city, he’d run into all types. He could recognize them by scent from large distances away.
But as a tiger, Kid couldn’t be scented by other shifters.
Which meant everyone always underestimated him, thinking him a regular human like everyone else.
The lead bully yelled and threw his fist toward Kid, much faster than a teen of fourteen would normally move. Kid dodged, ducking easily beneath the wild swing.
Like the pack animals they were, the other two bullies attacked. Adrenaline rushed through Kid, years of training no child should have ever endured keeping him calm and collected.
He punched the bigger one in the gut, hard enough to knock the wind out of him. The next, a rangy preteen who was more bones and height than brawn, Kid hit across the cheek with the back of his hand, knocking him down toward the side.
But the first one was already turning around, charging with bared teeth, the wolf in him seemingly near the surface.
In a motion that was as fast as it was reflexive, Kid grabbed the bully’s wrist and turned his own back toward him, then tossed the bully over his shoulder as he used the forward motion to send the wolf flying away. The bully tumbled a dozen feet, making angry oof sounds as he did, and Kid braced himself for another attack.
After all, bullies rarely stopped until he made them stop.
“What’s going on back here?” An adult male voice boomed through the small alley where the scuffle had been taking place. The bullies, who’d been gathering themselves for another attack, bolted away as a tall figure emerged from the shadows, blocking Kid’s exit toward the street.
Damn. Caught.
He hadn’t meant to throw the bully so far. It was just hard to control his own strength at times. And since they were wolves, he’d needed to use more effort than if they were humans.
Kid looked up at the towering man. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties, and he wore a blue shirt and blue jeans with a black Stetson and a swaggering drawl that screamed “cowboy from out of town” instead of just another city slicker who liked to dress up as a cowpoke.
From his overall size and physique, the man looked all shifter, though his scent was foreign to Kid. Not a wolf, bear, or big cat for certain.
“What were you up to?” The man had piercing blue eyes, and he folded his arms as he loomed above.
Kid kept his trap shut. Talking had never been one of his strong suits. In fact, he never talked at all. And the less he said, the less chance he had of ever being caught.
The man looked in the direction the bullies had run, and his mouth quirked in a frown. “What did those kids want with you?”
No answer.
The man seemed amused by the lack of response, and his expression relaxed somewhat. “What’s your name, son?”
Kid just shook his head. He didn’t even have one. And if he did, he wasn’t keen on sharing it with a stranger.
But there was something about this stranger that was utterly… different. An aura of strength, of control, that somehow resonated within Kid’s soul.
“Not big on talkin’, I see.” The man lowered himself a bit and scratched the back of his head, which was overgrown with chocolate-brown hair. “I saw what you did a minute ago. And I know those other kids were wolves. I know you’re something, but I have no clue what.”
Something that shouldn’t exist, Kid thought.
“Where’s your family, son? Or your home?”
Kid just shook his head.
The man raised an eyebrow, trying to hide the surprise in the corners of his expression. “There must be somewhere you call home.”
No answer was as good as any answer. But that just seemed to make the man above him more perturbed, and he let out a long sigh as he looked around the dank alley.
He adjusted his Stetson, then reached into his back pocket and produced a hefty hunk of vacuum-packed jerky. The smell was delicious, and Kid sucked in his cheeks to keep from showing that his mouth was watering.
“You hungry, boy?” He offered the jerky, but Kid ju
st backed away a step. Don’t trust strangers. Don’t trust adults. Don’t trust anyone.
Yet there was something about him that made Kid feel like he could maybe break those rules.
He’d been alone for so long. Surviving on scraps and running from his “family.”
The man gave Kid a sidelong glance, then opened the jerky and ripped a piece off for himself. Then he offered the rest to Kid.
Not poisoned. Good enough.
Starving, he grabbed the remaining jerky and scarfed it down, not bothering to enjoy it since he still had his guard up. But the strength was welcome, needed even. And the stranger’s calm patience helped keep Kid at ease.
“Name’s Harrison. What’s yours?” Harrison brought a hand forward for Kid to shake, but he didn’t take it. “You’re a cautious one, aren’t you?” he said with amusement as Kid gulped down the rest of the jerky.
His immediate need for sustenance satisfied, Kid continued to appraise Harrison. That unique scent, one that bespoke power and experience far beyond the age this man seemed to be, wafted in the air like some sort of magic.
Maybe he was one of those fabled dragons Kid had heard about a million times growing up. After all, he’d been forced to study all types of shifters.
But in his travels, he’d never actually met one.
For some reason, something inside Kid told him to follow this Harrison person.
“I guess you’re just here by yourself, then. Can’t believe anyone would abandon you like that.” Harrison frowned at that, then tried to smile again as he looked down. “Pretty badass of you, taking on three bigger kids at once. That kind of grit is hard to come by these days.”
Kid suppressed any emotion from showing. Grit was about all he had right now.
“If you’re willing, you can come join me. I own a spread a long way from here. It ain’t fancy and it ain’t easy living, but it’s honest work. And there’s room for your animal to roam if you want it,” Harrison said earnestly.
Kid wanted to say yes. To nod emphatically. After all, if Harrison was bad, he’d just run away again like before.
But something deep inside Kid told him he’d finally found someone he didn’t need to run from. Someone he could trust, even though all his experience told him such trust was foolishness.
Harrison waited a moment, but Kid couldn’t find the words to say. His throat felt dry, tongue locked up from years of disuse.
“I’ll respect what you want, then,” Harrison said with a sigh, and he stood to go.
Kid couldn’t let him just walk away. If there was a fate, and if it wasn’t cruel a hundred percent of the time, maybe there was a future that didn’t involve living on the streets, hidden from sight.
Kid’s hand shot out, grabbing the back of Harrison’s shirt. His arm was trembling, body shaking from fear, excitement, and everything in between.
Harrison’s surprised smile as he looked down at the tiny boy was full of warmth.
“Well, all right, then. That settles that,” he said, turning around and facing Kid again. “You’re coming with me.”
Kid let out a pent-up breath.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Being a cowboy is hard living. But I promise that as long as you’re with me, you’ll have a safe place to stay and a full belly each night. But first, you’re going to need a name I can call you by.”
Kid frowned. He’d never been in the place to choose his own name before. Did people do that?
Harrison grinned as Kid’s confusion seemed to show. Then he thought for a moment and snapped his fingers. “How about Dallas? It’s as fine a city as any other in this big state. And it’s where I found you.”
For the first time perhaps in his whole life, Kid nodded eagerly.
Dallas.
Your name is Dallas from now on, he told himself.
Harrison surprised him further by taking off the black Stetson he wore and placing it on top of Dallas’s head with a chuckle. The huge hat came over his eyes, and Dallas had to adjust it to just look past the wide black brim.
“That’s yours now. Gonna need it where we’re going,” Harrison said as he started to turn for the exit to the alley. “Just have a couple more things to conclude here. Then I’ll take us back.”
Dallas followed closely behind Harrison, walking quickly to keep up with the big man’s strides. He looked up with a curious glance, and Harrison looked down at him from over his shoulder.
“Where?” Dallas asked, the sound more like a croak than a question, his mouth unfamiliar with trying to use words like this.
“To your new home,” he said with a proud smile. “Dragonclaw Ranch.”
1
Dallas threw the last bale of hay into the barn with an easy flick of his wrist, then took his hat off to wipe the perspiration from his brow.
The days were getting hotter. Summer was in full bloom over Dragonclaw Ranch. And since the three dragons who had run it for much longer than Dallas had been alive were all happily mated now, things had changed overnight in this quiet place he’d called home.
He scented the breeze, catching a million different scintillating aromas. Wildflowers blooming out in the east pasture. Freshly cut wood from the pile at the back of the house. Someone’s attempt at an apple cobbler that was more char than dessert.
Something was changing. He felt it deep in his soul.
He just didn’t know what.
Harrison’s voice called to him from the house, though Dallas almost had a sixth sense about these things, and he was already halfway toward the main house at the center of the ranch before the words had even reached his ears.
After all, he’d known Harrison the longest. As the boss of Dragonclaw Ranch and the man who’d shown Dallas everything he knew about being a proper cowboy, Dallas owed everything to the surly dragon.
Harrison was at the top of the stairs that led into the house, looking even younger these days since he’d found his mate, Marian, a firecracker of a woman with enough kindness to melt even the boss of Dragonclaw Ranch’s heart.
Seeing Harrison and Marian happy just made Dallas happy.
“Got something to talk to you about,” Harrison said, and Dallas looked past him toward the door.
“Not inside. We’ll talk over here,” Harrison motioned toward the toolshed off to the side, and Dallas followed until they were positioned in front of the door.
Dallas found a small spot in the shade where he listened.
Harrison paced a moment, looking surprisingly pensive for how calm things on the ranch had been. After all, there hadn’t been a single basilisk sighting in weeks. Not since the day Clancy and his mate Billie had fought off an evil swamp dragon with—to everyone’s utter shock—the help of one of the aforementioned titanic creatures.
“I got a call this morning…” Harrison said.
Dallas just raised an eyebrow.
“I can’t tell you who. It doesn’t matter right now. But there’s a situation we’ve been asked to handle.”
Dallas nodded. This sounded like a mission.
He was good with missions.
“A reporter is coming into the area. Into Parson’s Creek, to be exact.”
He knew the place. A tiny town by most people’s standards, but the most populated area for a dozen counties around them.
What could they possibly be coming in to report on?
“There’s been stories floating around. And not just the usual ones, like the stories about the dragon’s talon. But stories about giant monsters rising from the earth. Sightings that people have had.”
It made sense. In this age of smartphones, it was difficult to keep a lid on anything for long when it came to human matters. And even though all shifters operated under the primal rule to never reveal themselves to humans, that didn’t seem to matter when it came to huge basilisks rising from the Texas earth.
But Dallas could take care of this. After all, he wasn’t just a cowboy.
He was a hunter. Born a tiger with t
he speed of a wolf, the strength of a bear, and the agility of a big cat. And though, with all his soul, Dallas hated the people who’d raised him before Harrison, they’d toughened and taught him more than enough things that made him more deadly than any shifter alive, save actual dragons.
If Dragonclaw was at the center of this trouble, he’d do whatever it took to protect his family from discovery.
“What do they want?” Dallas finally spoke.
Harrison continued. “They want us to keep an eye on the people coming in to do this story. Specifically, the reporter. He should be arriving…” He looked at a piece of paper produced from his back pocket. “Actually, it’s a woman. She and her crew should be arriving this afternoon. Just go into town and keep an eye on them. See that they don’t catch wind of what’s been going on.”
“Anything else?”
There was a metallic clang followed by an annoyed noise from Reno, a wolf shifter who was a genius with anything mechanical, and that was the only sound that punctuated the quiet yard around the ranch.
“Just make sure they don’t see or hear anything more than what the locals will already likely be telling them. Stories and rumors are one thing. But we can’t let them get their hands on any hard evidence.”
It made sense. Shifter rule number one.
“I’d normally try to take care of this personally, but I’ve got my hands full with managing the herds and making sure we make it through the summer smoothly.”
Among other things, Dallas thought to himself as Marian appeared at the window to the house and waved at them both.
Dallas wouldn’t want something as trivial as following some humans around taking Harrison away from his mate.
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