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

“I see you caught up with the murdering bastard,” Ethan said. He moved to my side and took the reins of the black from my hand.


“You all right?” Andre nodded to the bloody spots that had soaked through my coat.


“Caught me with a shotgun blast but didn’t do much damage. Wasn’t regular buckshot. He had gravel and grit in the casing.”


“The answer to that might just be what this water thing is all about,” I said. “Might have something to do with salting the crick beds.”


Andre slapped his yellow slicker. “Be damned!”


“Any trouble with the sheriff?” I asked my neighbor.


The falling snow made his frown seem deeper. “Apt to be some splinters fly from that wood chop. And he knows you went after Hume. Adding his carcass to the pile won’t help things any.”


Chapter 56