Chapter One

Anyone, gay or straight, would be proud to have Grey at their side. Tall as a reasonably sized basketball player and bulky through the shoulders from lifting weights, he tapered down into a toned waist and trim hips before bulging out again with rocklike muscles in his thighs and calves. He had a bit more Cherokee in him than Nicholas, and it showed in the hawk-like shape of his features, his beaky nose and the stern cast of his mouth. His hair, too, was definitely of the People-long, the tips brushing his shoulders, and a deeply hued shade of black-although there was far more gray threading through it now than there had recently been.

He was a man of such size he made Nicholas feel small, and such a brave that next to him Nicholas felt every inch one of the white men, no matter how he had been raised. As a teacher, his great-grandmother had kept him firmly in line and made sure he knew the ways of the People and how to honor the spirits, but as a caregiver she'd loved him with all the heart in her wrinkled old body.

When he came to the dinner table one night, watching her cook, and he'd told her that he thought he was gay, she had simply smiled and continued to stir the soup she was making. He'd been trembling with fear at her possible reaction, but she'd only shaken her head and said, "Well, make sure to find a good man, strong in the arm and clever in the head, eh? Don't fall for someone pretty, with no sense. That's been the downfall of many a hunter." Then she'd offered him a taste from her pot, and, well, that had been the end of that.

He had learned many things from his great-grandmother, but simple accep

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