Publisher's Synopsis
Shh... there's a secret. It is the secret of the Baahpuuo Isawaxaawuua, the Hitting Rock Mountains, where the Little People demand tribute for passage... and as settlers' discovered, the cost is great. After a disastrous journey, the travelers' horses were failing; whipped to pull heavy wagons through the mountains, their spirits broke and they lay down to die. The Little People sent their wolves and cougars to guide the proud animals on their final journey. The settlers' rose up and shot them... all but two, a couple who tried to stop the massacre. The mystics felt guilty for sending their beasts into slaughter, and although they spared the couple, their spirits were melded with the predators that had been killed. To keep their secret, they formed a pact that they should forever protect the mustangs. The Apsaalooke, a proud tribe of Native Americans, were tasked to watch over their promise. Centuries later, the Apsaalooke became known as Crow, the Baahpuuo were renamed the Pryor Mountains, home to the largest protected mustang range in the country. A new wolf pack leader and his ambitious son have decided the legend of the Little People is nothing more than a fanciful story. They ignore the promise and begin capturing and selling the mustangs for profit, risking the fury of the mystics and breaking the circle of protection keeping the shifters safe. Far from the mountains, Lexi's father raises her on a small southern ranch, hoping to keep her safe. Strange dreams interrupt her nights. She runs up a dark mountain trail with a mysterious man chasing her. At the top of the cliffs is a fire, with a wolf sitting in its circle of light. It is the pack leader's son calling to her, drawing her back to the mountains. She finds herself immersed in the world of form-shifters, with the wolves' conspiring against the mustangs and cougars, and a shaman watching over it all. Lexi must reclaim the promise to keep the secret. She must wander the Baahpuuo and remember the pact, because... The Little People demand tribute... and the cost is great.
