A week passed, almost silently. Rahne tried to ignore her parents for the first couple of days, but eventually both personality and practicalities got in her way – for one thing her essentially loyal nature made it very hard to hold grudges against people she loved, but it was also impossible to manage to ignore people when they provide you with meals. So there was a wary, subdued kind of peace reigning in the Sinclair home at the beginning of the Easter break.

"Where's Dad gone this morning?" Rahne asked her mother. She hadn't seen her father at all that day, but she didn't think he was out on the National Park. But maybe he was – what if more bodies had turned up? The nagging doubts over her powers and her sanity when using them had caused her to withdraw into herself over the past week, even after the ignoring had subsided. She could smell the concern that both her parents shared over her, but hadn't been able to rouse herself out of her negative mindset enough to allay their fears – she was never a good actor at the best of times, and apathetic depression is definitely not the best of times. Her parents were still unaware of the connection with the sheep killings though, and were putting it down to missing the Institute.

"Oh, he had some business down at Garve this morning," her mother replied. "He should be back very soon."

And sure enough, in a couple of minutes Rahne heard the car pull up outside their gate. She went to the front door to greet him, and to try and surreptitiously find out what he had been doing – maybe there was more information on the killer? But she wasn't sure what she wanted to hear, especially when more evidence might just lead straight to her. As relieving as it might be to know, she really didn't fancy the idea of being exposed as a psychotic savage killer.

"What were you in Garve for?" she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

"Just had ta pick something up from there, lass," he said mysteriously as he hung his coat up on the rack. "It's waitin' out there on the doorstep for ye.…"

Puzzled, Rahne walked to the front door and opened it cautiously. There was a figure standing there, suitcase in hand. Rahne's mouth dropped open in surprise before she recovered herself somewhat and leapt, knocking the visitor to the ground in a flying tackle.

"Whoa, down girl!" he said. "Did ya miss me, Wolfie?" Rahne fought back the lupine urge to lick Roberto's face and smiled at him before replying.

"Not at all, Sunshine…."

"Well, in that case, please get off me and I'll just go right back to the Institute!" he huffed.

She stayed where she was. "Well, maybe just a little bit then…."

"Hah! I knew it! The girls can never resist me!"

"You just keep on telling yourself that, Sunny boy." Her voice was sarcastic but inside she was bursting with pleasure – he'd come to see her!

"So, is being pounced on by a mad wolf-girl the only welcome I get?" he asked, mock plaintively. "It gets marks for enthusiasm, but it's not really what I was hoping for.…"

"Oh," she said, worried. "What did you want?" Was he expecting some kind of formal introduction to Scotland, or a platonic handshake?

"Just this," he said, and kissed her. She responded willingly. In fact, they were still sprawled on the front doorstep when Rahne heard footsteps on the road and looked up to see a very scandalised Mr Fraser walking past.

"Maybe we should go inside," she suggested sheepishly. They'd been lucky that it had been Mr Fraser and not Mrs MacBride or one of her clique walking past. Roberto nodded. They picked themselves up, dusted each other off and entered the house. "So how come you came here anyway?" she asked.

"Well, it's Spring Break – most of the others went on a cruise in the Caribbean, but the Professor asked me if I wanted to come here, instead." He flashed her another dazzling Roberto-smile.

"But how did he know that I wanted to see you?"

"The guy's a telepath, Wolfie."

"Yes, but not over a few thousand miles!"

"Actually lass, I think your mother and I had something ta do with that," came her father's voice from the living room. "We called the Institute, told them ye seemed ta be missing them a lot…."

Rahne led Roberto in to the room. "Oh… Thank you."

"Actually, I don't think that we even needed to ring," said Mrs Sinclair. "He seemed to be very up-to-date about what you'd been up to." Rahne's thoughts went to the strange woman, Moira, who had been there to help her when she needed it. Twice. It was strange, really. "Anyway, welcome to Scotland, Roberto – I hope it will compare with a cruise."

Roberto smiled politely, but he was looking at Rahne. "I'm sure it will," he said.

"Which brings me to the rules," continued her mother. "You two sleep in separate rooms, no funny business, no excessively late nights. Okay?"

"Yes, mother," said Rahne quickly. She didn't care however many rules her mother had put on her – Roberto had come to see her! She was struggling with a nagging desire to wag a non-existent tail.

……

"Does the sun ever show up here?" asked Roberto, frowning. "I'm totally out of juice!" The two teenagers were sitting up on one of the hills looking over Loch Broom. Rahne had wanted him to see some of her favourite places in her hometown.

"Very occasionally, and never for very long at a time," she replied. "You'd probably have been better off going on the cruise with the others.…"

"Are you kidding? I would have had to room with Jamie!" He shuddered melodramatically. "And Tabitha and Bobby are both going, so it's doomed to disaster anyway…." Putting one arm around her, he smiled, an odd sort of grin. "There's no way it would have been better than this, even with your awful Scottish weather. I told you I'd see you again Wolfie…."

She looked at him searchingly. "Aye, but then you never wrote or anything!"

"Oh, well… um…… hey! Neither did you!"

Now it was Rahne's turn to be on the spot. "Aye, but, um…," she trailed off. She'd wanted to, but then she'd interpreted his silence as a sign that he'd forgotten about her. "Okay, it's a draw, we're both hopeless."

"Speak for yourself!" He said. Some things never changed, and Roberto Da Costa's self-confidence was one of them. Rahne just laughed at him.

"So what do you do round here all day then?" he asked.

"Not a lot really." She told him the story about her game of football, which he appreciated. In fact he wanted to go down into town and challenge Murray to a rematch – apparently no one got away with fouling Sunspot's girl. Rahne had to disappoint him on that notion. "I don't think Murray's going to want to play football again for a while; the last time I saw him he was limping a wee bit and he couldna sit down," she told him.

"Do you realise how Scottish you sounded there?" Roberto asked.

"Really? Guess the accent's coming back a bit…," At last! She had had enough of the villagers commenting on her supposed American speech.

A little longer sitting in the silence which 'Berto's presence seemed to make comfortable, and Rahne was already feeling more relaxed than she'd been for a long time. "I'm bored," she announced suddenly.

"Are you sick of me already?" he asked, teasing.

"Nay, but I feel like playing a game," she replied, bouncing up and down.

"Not that game again," he groaned, knowing exactly what she meant. Everyone who had been at the Institute had quickly got to know and dread when Rahne said she wanted to play. "We don't even have anything here!"

"A girl can always improvise," she said coyly.

"Alright, but it's just because I like you, and I'm exceedingly generous," he grumbled. Rahne giggled and let herself transform into a wolf.

As always, the enhanced senses hit her in a rush. Wolfsbane turned to the olive-skinned boy expectantly. He sighed, but picked up a stick from the ground and lobbed it over the wolf's head for her to chase. She caught it and brought it back, tail wagging furiously. She'd greatly missed being playing fetch since she'd been back in Scotland – her parents wouldn't have approved, no one else could know about her shape-shifting, and it would have been hard to convince anyone to play it in human form. She gave the boy her patented wolfish grin, and he laughed and threw the stick again.

The game continued until Wolfsbane heard a suggestion of footsteps climbing the hill. She looked to see the lean form of Russell MacLachlan tramping up the track with one of his sheepdogs in tow. He was downwind of the teenagers, otherwise she would have been alerted to him earlier – but it was too late to change back now.

"Hello," he said, eyeing Roberto suspiciously. "And who might ye be?'

"Roberto Da Costa – I'm staying with the Sinclair's for the Easter break."

"Och." This seemed to redeem him slightly in the man's eyes. He turned to look at Rahne. "And would that be your dog there, laddie?"

"Umm… I suppose you might say she's my bitch," said Roberto in a deadpan voice. Wolfsbane glared at him and nipped his hand. "Ow! Yes, I uh… brought her with me – she likes the fresh air."

"Aye, Ullapool has plenty o' fresh air." The sheepdog trotted over to Wolfsbane and started sniffing her. She resisted the urge to growl – this was the worst part of looking like a dog, having to put up with their stupid investigating noses – they almost always noticed the strange scent of the werewolf. "She's a fine specimen – some kind of German shepherd cross?"

"Could be," said Roberto, trying to play along. "I'm really not sure to be honest, but I always thought she was of Scottish stock."

"Hmmph," said MacLachlan laconically and started to walk off. "Ye'd best be careful with her, Mr Da Costa – there's a demon on the loose in Ullapool, and it's been killin' sheep, dogs too. Wouldn't want her ta get hurt, aye?"

"A demon?" he asked, trying not to laugh. "No, I'll do my best to protect her, sir."

The sheepdog started to growl at Wolfsbane, who bared her teeth in return. Luckily the man called him to heel and he followed, turning back to give another low growl in the wolf's direction.

As soon as they were out of sight Rahne transformed back into her normal self and the two mutants fell about laughing.