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

Yet, my apprehension wasn’t logical. No one had entered the mouth of the breaks before me. There were no tracks or even evidence of blurred hoof prints. A rider approaching this end of the rough country would have been evident to my eyes. Still, the state of my nerves raised an alarm in my mind. With every step the palomino took, I halfway expected a bullet or a confrontation.


By the time I reached the side canyon that led to the little-known, difficult trail up out of the breaks country, I was so jittery that I reined Yellow Thunder into the mouth of the draw. A few minutes later, I stood looking at the mostly obscured trail up the south wall of the place. I made certain the pigeon cages were secure, apologized to Thunder, and urged him up the steep slope.


Chapter 50