Thirty-two-year-old mixed blood John Strobaw, known to the Sioux as Medicine Hair, returns to his Turtle Crick Farm after a six-year exile on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Grief-stricken at the loss of his mate and lover Matthew Brand, known as Shambling Bear, at the Battle of Wounded Knee, he struggles to become a farmer again while fighting an internal battle to let go of the past and face his future. Will that future be with his best friend Winter Bird or with Pretty Face, an outrageous flirt who hasn’t yet decided who he is?<br><br>But before he can come to grips with this, John faces several battles. Will his former friends and neighbors accept him now the Indian War has come to an end? Can John forgive those same friends and neighbors after the murderous ambush of the Sioux by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee? Or survive the hostility of an Indian-hating sheriff named Charles Landreth and protect himself against the mindless fear and loathing for Two Spirits, men who love men?

Wastelakapi…Beloved

Andre piggybacked on my purchase and went for another hundred animals. Half or better would go to the Liberty Ranch, which was what Dex and Libby called their spread. Libby’s birth name was Liberty Belle.


When we returned to the office after picking out the animals we wanted, James gave us a warning. “Keep an eye out for rustlers. We got some among us.”


That was news to me, but Andre apparently knew about them. “Thought they were operating west of here.”


“Was. But yesterday morning, they hit a ranch not more’n two-mile from this spot. Landreth swore in some deputies and took out after them.”


“Dunno. Ain’t nobody come back in. The news sent a fella out with them, but he ain’t come back, neither. I hear Asa Peeler’s fit to be tied.”


“We’ve got a newspaper now, John,” Andre explained. “The Yanube Valley Weekly News. Peeler’s the editor.”


“Anyhow, you keep a sharp eye out for rustlers, hear?” Hugh said.


Chapter 10