Blurb
Rowena Wickham only wanted one thing: freedom. But the Wild West is a brutal place filled with dinosaurs and outlaws. With no other option, Rowena became one of the very outlaws the West is ran by, and she made her own mark in the world.
With too many mouths to feed in her crew, the Free Outlaws, Rowena has no choice but to hit something big, the place that was rumored to be equal between dinosaurs and humans alike, Embertown. She never expected the bank owner to be a tyrannosaurus rex. She certainly never expected the same of the Sheriff.
But Rowena has a bigger problem. Not only is she dangerously attracted to the men she plans to rob, but Les ‘The Croc’ Chambers is headed towards Embertown, and Ro will do anything to escape his claws.
Rowena just has to rob the bank under the clever noses of Sheriff Bennett and Virgil King, and skip town before they notice.
Easier said than done.
**Rexes & Robbers is a ménage book within the Dinoverse and includes a tough outlaw and some sexy tyrannosaurus rex shifters. If bank robbery isn’t your thing, don’t worry, Ro has you covered. **
Rexes and Robbers
A Dinoverse Novel
Kendra Moreno
Copyright
Please do not participate in piracy.
Copyright © 2019 by Kendra Moreno
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.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
ISBN: 9781687240439
Cover art by Kendra Moreno
Formatted by Nicole JeRee at The Swamp Goddess
Edited by Jess Rousseau
For every little girl who watched Jurassic Park
and wanted her own T-Rex.
This one’s for you.
Contents
Author’s Note:
Preface
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
Chapter 25
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Kendra Moreno
Author’s Note:
The Dinoverse is a special series. Each release, there will be two books, one from Poppy, and one from Kendra. Each release, you’ll get two full stand-alone books that focus on a theme. The first books focus on Past. Enjoy!
Preface
Let me set the scene. It’s November in 2018. I’m about to release my steampunk book called Clockwork Butterfly. I’m still a baby author, only my second release, and I was asking other authors to come join my group for a fun event. I stumbled upon two amazing women: Poppy Woods and Katie Knight.
We hit it off so fast it was insane, and two strangers became absolute pillars in my life.
There’s this moment where I was geeking out (like I do) about dinosaurs and Poppy started geeking out with me and we both realized we had ideas for dino shifter books (“There’s dragons! Where the heck are the dinosaurs!?”). A situation like that could have easily ruined a friendship. We could have closed up, stopped talking about dinos, and started competing with each other. Instead, the Dinoverse was born and we decided to share in our mutual geekiness and create something so epic that we can’t contain our excitement.
My favorite dinosaur is a tyrannosaurus rex and so I thought, what better way to start the series off with a bank. Rexes & Robbers is my baby, one of the most fun stories I’ve had the pleasure of writing, and it’s for everyone who wanted a t-rex after the glorious beast stood at the end of Jurassic Park and roared while the sign floated around her and destruction was left in her wake. I hope you love Ro and her Rexes as much as I do. Hold onto your butts and get ready to get Jurass-kicked!
Prologue
Seven Years Ago
Rowena Wickham sat in front of the owner of the only bank in her small town of Millwatch, the well-dressed man twirling his moustache as he stared at the stack of papers in front of him. She tried her hardest not to tell him that his mustache was uneven, or that his pristine coat was smudged with red dust across the breast. None of that would help her case.
She leaned forward a little, the chair creaking beneath her, and the man glanced up at her over his spectacles.
“You can see right there that my father left me his land, Mr. Steele.”
He raised his brow at her words, before glancing back at the documents.
“And this is your father’s will and testament, Ms. Wickham?”
“Yes, sir. I had it verified.” She clenched her hand tightly into her skirt, the material wrinkling. She cursed her foresight to wear her Sunday best. While she looked more presentable, she was greatly uncomfortable. Her father would never have wanted her to be here in the first place, fighting for the right to own his land. He’d been assured that it would be possible if he clearly wrote out what he desired, but the bank chose to look further into the matter. Her father hadn’t been in the ground for more than a week before they came sniffing around.
“Do you have a husband, Ms. Wickham?”
Ro wrinkled her nose up at the man. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“It has everything to do with this case. See, a woman can’t own land in Millwatch.”
“But my father left it to me. It says so right there!” She pressed her finger against the paper, pointing to the exact statement she’d memorized. “He left all his possessions to me and that includes the land.”
“That may be the case, Ms. Wickham, but unless you have a husband, we can’t give you the land. A woman can’t own land, and your father, unfortunately, didn’t think about that.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” she spat, standing from her seat and leaning over the table. “My father came in here and spoke to you leeches. You told him he could do it this way and that there was nothing else he had to do.”
“Calm down, Ms. Wickham. Perhaps someone made a mistake.”
“More like you knew exactly what you were doing and took advantage of a dying man,” she snarled. “You’re saying the land that is rightfully mine, that there is no other heir for, isn’t mine because you say so?”
“Unfortunately, yes. We’re willing to give you a month to find a husband, and at that time, the land could be placed in his name. If not, then the bank owns the land.”
Ro barely restrained herself from leaping across the table and strangling the man. The deed to her father’s property sat on the table, the land he had worked so hard to purchase and leave as a legacy for her when she became an adult. Her mother had passed from distemper when she was a babe. Her father had been heartbroken and never took another wife, never had more children, but he made sure to give Ro everything she needed. When other girls weren’t allowed to read, he’d brought her home books and taught her himself. When she’d wanted to learn to ride a wild tric
, he’d helped her know the proper way. Her father had a heart of gold, and this idiot took advantage of that.
“I will not take a husband just to own land that’s rightfully mine!” Ro ripped the paper from beneath his hands and held it up. “It says right here that it’s mine. If you take it, it’s theft!”
“No.” The bastard had the audacity to laugh at her. “It’s not theft when it’s the law, Ms. Wickham. You’re a woman, and women don’t have any right to ownership.” His eyes trailed down her form. “Of course, if you’re willing to look for a husband, I, myself, am a bachelor.”
This time, Ro didn’t restrain herself. She pulled the gun hidden beneath her skirts, the revolver her father gifted her on her sixteenth birthday, and leveled it between his eyes. “Look at me again with your revolting gaze and I’ll make sure you don’t see another sunrise.”
Slowly, his hands rose in the air, a plea for innocence. “It’s the law. I can’t help the law.”
“You’re correct, Mr. Steele. You can’t help the law, nor do you try to. You have the power to give me my deed and let me walk away, but instead, your greed knows no bounds. My papa made sure to teach me everything I needed to know to deal with men like you. Do you know what his favorite words were?”
Steele shook his head, sweat starting to bead on his forehead. She pulled back the hammer on her revolver and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “No.”
“If a man looks you in the eyes and lies to you, deceives you, or treats you as inferior, he won’t ever listen to you. Don’t give him a chance to take advantage, because he will.”
“I’m not trying to take advantage.”
Ro smiled, a whistling in the distance signaling the arrival of the steam train. She used to hate the grunge and smog the locomotive brought, but now it sounded like freedom. Her father wouldn’t want her to bow to any man. She would live her life in his memory.
“Empty your pockets, Mr. Steele.”
“What?” The poor man’s face paled.
“While you’re at it, give me all the money from the back, too.” Ro glanced down at his pants. “Take your trousers off once you’re finished.”
“This isn’t necessary. Here, take the deed.”
“Too late,” she said, grinning. “I don’t want it. Only thing standing on it is a house that needs far too many repairs and half a fence. You can have it. Papa wouldn’t have wanted me to waste my life fighting for the rights. So I’m going to take the rights I want, and make my own name.”
“This isn’t proper.”
“Last chance, Mr. Steele. Empty your pockets, strip your trousers, and give me all the money you have.”
“You’ll have to kill me first,” he bluffed. Only thing was, Ro wasn’t afraid to shoot a man. Papa had taught her how to shoot and never hesitate. The Wild West was a dangerous place. There were too many outlaws and dangers in the desert.
Ro shrugged her shoulders and pointed the gun toward his shoulder. He was already protesting when she pulled the trigger, the bullet going right into his shoulder, sinking deeply into his flesh. He screamed out in agony. “Next bullet will be between your eyes, Mr. Steele,” she threatened calmly.
He stumbled from his chair, falling to the floor like a sack of flour. Ro rolled her eyes. And they said women were useless, she thought, stepping around the desk and leaning down. The whistles of the train grew closer. “Please, don’t kill me,” he begged. “Have mercy.”
“You mean like you did on me?” Ro met his eyes and reached into his pocket, pulling his coin pouch free. It jingled heartily, the sound promising. “Is the safe locked?” When he doesn’t answer, Ro leveled her revolver on his face again. She didn’t plan to kill the man, but she’s not opposed to shooting him in another limb. He didn’t know that, however, and started blubbering like a babe. “No. Please. It’s open. I didn’t close it before you came in.”
Ro stood and left the sniveling man on the floor, stepping over him toward the safe. He was correct, the safe was wide open, perfect pickings for a bank robber. With a start, she realized that’s exactly what she was, but it didn’t scare her like it should. No, it sounded like freedom and control. No one would be able to control her again. She’d travel to another city, find a crew. Perhaps there were some other women who wanted their rights back. Perhaps there were more dinosaurs out there that would team up with her. A Velociraptor would be a great partner in crime. There had to be others tired of being at the mercy of men and the law.
Ro grabbed a moneybag from the safe and filled it full of gold and coin, taking a few pieces of jewelry that the weasel had stashed inside. Steele still rolled around the floor, crying about women and the pain in his shoulder.
She slung the bag over her shoulder and stepped back over the man, snatching his hat and placing it on her head. A good cleaning and it would stop smelling like piss and idiocy. “Have a good life, Mr. Steele,” she called, heading for the door. “Oh, when you try to sell my land, there’s a herd of wild Compies behind the cabin. Be careful not to anger them.” His watery eyes met hers and she winked. “They have a taste for flesh. Pa lost a finger to the things once.”
Ro strolled from the building, leaving Mr. Steele to shout for help as she made her way toward the billowing steam. The locomotive whistled again as she moved toward the conductor. She dropped a shiny gold coin into his hand, his eyes on the bag slung over her shoulder. It was heavy, but not unbearable. The conductor didn’t mention her haul as he gestured for her to climb aboard. In the distance, an airship loomed, gently cruising across the desert. Ro watched it as the steam train began to move.
Freedom was all she wanted. She was gonna get it, whether they’d give it to her or not.
One
Ro rocked back and forth softly on the worn soles of her boots, with a crystal glass of whiskey between her fingers. The chugging of the steam train nearly drowned out any other sound, except for the boisterous laughter of a round man behind her, one who’d tried very hard to proposition her a few minutes earlier. When she’d rebutted him, he’d turned his sights to her partner, Clem, whom he had even less of a chance with for sexual favors. Clem loved sex, but she also had a particular taste of the female variety. She’d sooner eat the large man than fuck him, but Ro wouldn’t be upset either way. Reptiles needed to eat, after all, and poor Clem had gone a long time on rabbit and coyotes. No doubt she was itching to take the man into the storage car and eat him whole. Unfortunately, they were there to work, not play.
Ro smiled at the clerk who traveled up and down the train car, punching tickets and making sure everyone was comfy. He seemed like a kind man, one Ro would hate to harm, and so she’d make sure he wasn’t in the line of fire if it came to that.
“Get lost,” Clem snarled behind her, and Ro’s smile widened. Seemed her partner’s patience had worn off.
The large man made a disgusted noise in his throat, no doubt curling his lip up at her rebuttal. “Whore,” he growled, stepping away. Ro knew that was exactly the wrong thing to say to her partner.
Sighing, Ro threw back the rest of her whiskey, her eyes scanning those aboard her train car. The people riding on this steam train were wealthy—had to be in order to afford it—and they’d all looked down their noses at her and Clem the moment they’d stepped on board. Their money was just as good as any, albeit stolen, but they didn’t know that. No, they only judged based on appearances, and two women dressed in trousers and coats like men didn’t earn them any respect. That’s okay, Ro thought, I’d earn their respect either way, even if it was through fear.
Shifting her gaze toward Clem—whose eyes were already reflecting the reptile she was, thanks to the idjit before—she nodded her head once. The rest of their crew would be waiting for their signal, some on the steam train with them—at least one in every car—and some riding along with the train outside. New laws dictated the trains had to move at a slower pace, but her crew could have kept up either way. Horses were slow and far too cumbersome. Her crew was made up of a mix
of humans and scaly friends. There had been talks at one point, of how the dinosaurs should have been extinct. She’d heard someone from another region claim that it was unnatural how the Wild West was swamped with the reptiles, both wild and humane, and that they were integrated in the very makeup of their way of life. Ro thought his surprise stupid at the time. The Wild West was a brutal land. The best way to survive was to avoid unnecessary fights, not when the land and outlaws were already trying to kill you.
But not everyone had the same mentality as Ro.
Many of the people in the West thought the dinosaurs were abominations, or worth less than a human. For some reason, some of those people got it into their head that humans were better than dinosaurs simply because some turned into a scaled beast. Her crew had once needed to step into a town that was torturing reptiles. Clem had been one of those rescued; she was barely alive by the time the sheriff and citizens of her town had been done with her. Ro had taken pleasure in putting a bullet between the sheriff’s eyes. Clem had mutilated many of the others. Even in pain and weak from blood loss, she’d been a force to contend with.
Bringing her mind back to the job at hand, Ro slammed the crystal whiskey glass on the wall, the tiny glittering pieces shattering around the train car. Every eye turned toward her, the woman dressed like a man, and a few snarled at Ro for destroying the pretty tumbler. Leave it to the wealthy to judge her, even as they’re about to be robbed.
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