Can I store photos only in iCloud?

iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See the following Apple article for more information: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.

Another way that photos may be on iCloud (if you don’t have iCloud Photos turned on) is via a backup of an iOS device. The only thing you can do with a backup is use it to restore a device or set up a new device. The contents of backups are not viewable at iCloud.com and if you delete a photo from a device it will not be included in future backups and will be lost.

To add to FoxFifth's recommendations be aware that a Photo Library can't be stored on Dropbox or any other online storage site and be expected to be retrieved in working order. A library must be stored on a volume formatted either APFS or OS X Extended (journaled). Any other format will break the ecosystem in a library and render it unusable.

Just some food for thought.