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

“S-sheriff,” he stuttered. “Mr. Middleton would like a word with you.”


“Middleton? Is Nate Middleton behind all this? Tell the old bastard to come over and palaver.”


“He thought maybe you’d come to him. He’s just over in them rocks to your right.”


Our eyes went to a jumble of rocks about a quarter of a mile from us.


Landreth tugged at one end of his mustache. “He wants to talk, he can come to me. But I don’t want more’n one man with him.”


Without another word, the messenger turned his horse and waved the flag attached to his rifle barrel. Then he held it aloft before lowering it. He did this twice, apparently in a pre-arranged signal.


“Now,” the sheriff said, “scoot on outta here or I’ll turn the braves loose on you.”


The nameless cowboy took him seriously. He kicked his horse into a run and passed the two horsemen riding out from the rocks without pausing.


Chapter 33