Rancher Dragon by Terry Bolryder (best ereader for manga .TXT) 📕

And slowly, through the love and teasing of his new makeshift family, Beck had started to heal.

Frequent trips with TJ, who still treated him the same despite knowing Beck’s dark history, helped also.

But this time with Sierra had been the best of his life. And Beck thought it would kill something inside him if he truly had to leave her in order to keep her safe.

He wanted to be the one to keep her safe. To stay beside her. Love her.

But if he truly loved her, there was only one thing to do.

“You’re right.” Beck sighed. “I was being stupid and selfish. But what do I do now?”

“You’re not stupid and selfish, Beck. It’s just a hard situation, knowing you have a monster inside you.”

It burned to hear TJ say that, but it was the truth.

“How do I convince her?” He thought of her sweet, smiling face. How a part of him had been fixing up all of her place just because he hoped to be with her.

It would hurt her so…

TJ sighed. “You just have to tell her the truth, Beck. Tell her what happened in the past. Tell her your decision.” He blinked, long and slow. “Tell her exactly who you are.”

“Tell her about dragons?”

TJ shrugged.

“But that’s forbidden.”

“How else are you going to explain killing that many people?”

Beck felt like it was hard to breathe. “She’ll get in trouble if she knows.”

“I saw the way she looked at you, Beck. She’d never tell a soul. She loves you.”

That just made all of this worse.

“She won’t understand unless you tell her. And you won’t have the resolve to leave.”

Beck nodded dully. “I’ll do it.”

“Good,” TJ said, walking forward to pat Beck on the shoulder before turning around to leave. “I’m proud of you, Beck.”

But for some reason, Beck didn’t care about that.

All he cared about was the fact that he was going to hurt Sierra.

He didn’t know how he was going to get through it, but because he loved her, he would.

Then he’d get the hell out of her life.

17

“Beck! What happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” Sierra exclaimed as she opened the door to see him standing on the porch.

It was a little bit early for lunch, but as always, she was happy to see him.

She reached up to pull him down, longing to feel that beard against her face as they kissed.

But to her surprise, he stopped her, gently pushing her back as he stepped inside.

“We have to talk, sweetheart.”

“What?” Sierra felt like time had stopped. She was so shocked by what he was saying.

Beck took off his hat, held it in his hands, and led the way into the living room. “This was only supposed to be until you were safe.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a folded envelope, handing it over to her. “Read this.”

She did, and when she was finished, she gasped and looked up at him. “What does this mean?”

“Means your problem is over. You don’t need me around anymore.”

“But how?” She blinked. “I mean, I trust Ross’s father about this. But how did you get either of them to agree to this?”

“TJ did it,” Beck said. “He’s smarter than me. Smoother too. I’m sorry I didn’t think of convincing them sooner.”

Sierra shook her head. “I can’t think of anything that would convince those two stubborn fools other than a bulldozer to the head.” She walked over to the living room window, looking out at the land. “But why now? Is this what you seem so upset about?”

Beck shook his head. “Can we sit down?” He gestured to the couch. Sierra didn’t like the emotion that was brewing in his gorgeous silver eyes.

It looked a lot like misery, and she’d do anything to take it away.

“Of course,” she said, walking over to sit on the couch with him.

“No, separately,” he said, moving to a chair across from the couch. “You’re so beautiful, darlin’. It’s going to be hard enough to say what I need to say without being so close to your side.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding. This was the moment she’d been dreading, she guessed. When their fun adventure would end.

He wasn’t the staying type. He’d told her that.

“There’s a story I need to tell you,” Beck said. “It’s not an easy one.” He looked down at his hands. “I’ve been around a long time. Longer’n you might think possible.” He looked to the side. “I’m not human.”

She froze because, of all the things she expected him to say, that wasn’t one of them. That wasn’t even in the top thousand. “What?”

“What do you know about the legends surrounding Dragonclaw Ranch?”

She blinked. “I mean, there are some silly tales about actual dragons flying around out there. Shapeshifters. Men who can change into beasts.” She grinned. “You aren’t trying to tell me those old tall tales are real. They’re just to scare people off.”

His gaze was serious. “I’m a dragon. Well, I have this form and my dragon form. I’m a mountain dragon.”

“I…” She blinked. “So those old stories my grandpa told were true? He’d swear he saw a drunk dragon flying around when he was younger.” She laughed. “I just assumed he was drunk and looking at clouds, and that’s why he thought he saw a dragon.”

Beck rubbed the back of his neck. “That might have been me.”

She felt like she was on some kind of prank show. Like at any moment, someone might step out from behind the camera.

How could this gorgeous man also be some kind of beast?

“I know you need time to process it,” he said. “I don’t expect you to believe me, but I owed you the truth. Please don’t tell anyone.”

She nodded. Of course she wouldn’t. Man or beast, Beck was Beck to her. And she’d never betray him or let him down.

Aside from being her lover, he was also her very good friend.

He always would be.

“A while back, in another state, TJ and I were working a mine together. Next