Credit to my beta Telula13! She is incredible and a big reason why this story is any good at all!

This is to fill the multiple requests I've had for a sequel to 'A Study in Madness'. I honestly do not like how that story turned out as it was my first so I instead decided to give the werewolf au another go. So, here it is. I hope you like.

Sherlock was the sort of man who could look at a bloke from a mile away and know just what he had for breakfast and how long he'd been lying to his wife about his diet. However these skills (and they are skills, though they may seem very magical) were learned through scientific discovery and hours of research in the field of man. It was true that his particular flourish and pension for stealing the spotlight made these observations something of a spectacle, but truly they could be learned by even the most common of men. Not that he was common, no, no man who stored a human head in his fridge was common by a long shot. Common or not common though, he is, was, and always will be a man. His flat mate on the other hand, was not.

When John was a boy he knew he was different. Not different in the sense of how a normal person would see different, because if he were viewing things from how one of us might see things he might have thought to himself "gee, being a werewolf sure is different". He did not think such things though because what pointless thoughts they would be. Besides, being a werewolf wasn't so different; there were plenty of them around, they simply stuck to their own kind. He knew he was different because he wasn't like the rest of them. Most werewolves viewed their lives as curses, their senses were so heightened that in human form it was hard to focus. Many of their kind self-medicating with alcohol to dull the senses and mind, and in doing so they could blend in with the rest of the humans. Blending in was essential. Though many simply hated feeling out of control, it was imperative they stay hidden from the humans. There was no telling what one might do if they found out. For this reason they did not share their secret with humans, they did not mate with humans, they usually didn't even talk to humans.

John was different because he liked running on his full senses and he didn't care who found out. He liked climbing trees faster than the other boys. He liked being able to smell what was for lunch from the classroom. He liked knowing that he was the strongest in his class. This isn't to say that John was a show off, or that he enjoyed thinking of himself as better than most, but as a child it was quite a rush. He would run and jump and play with the other children as if they were any other members of his pack. As a boy attending school, he saw no problem with this, but as a werewolf hiding a secret, he knew his parents would. He tried not to let that bother him, he tried to ignore the way his sister and cousins would tease him saying he wanted to be a human boy.

That was the worst thing of all because John did not want to be human. He was proud of what he was, he wanted to share his gifts, he wanted to be friends with humans and he wanted to be able to enjoy who he was. It was the others who hated what they were, who used beer to wash away their gifts, and who spent their lives in hiding and being envious of humans. John couldn't stand it, and finally, one day he didn't have to. He moved away from home to attend university, he earned himself a degree, and then shipped himself off to war. His family was appalled; werewolves normally got the bare minimum in education and held jobs at factories or doing manual labor at places their pack worked. They certainly did not involve themselves with human affairs like war. Only John didn't care for any of that, he wanted to be a doctor and he wanted to be a soldier. And who better for the task than a full-grown werewolf?

The military was an excellent place to be if you were a werewolf, it would seem, especially one who enjoyed being one. The vast expanses of Afghanistan provided ample room to run around and expend his energy. It also allowed him to make good use of his senses to save soldiers. John would be lying if he said that he hadn't enjoyed being away from his pack. Werewolves seemed such bitter people, they seemed determined to drown out everything that made them who they were, and yet despised those who were different. John had never understood, nor agreed with, such thinking, and he was soon about to find that he wasn't the only one.

About three months into his first deployment he ran into two of his kind. At first he didn't know what to think, his parents had been adamant that werewolves did not join in on human affairs, they did not talk to them and did not take part in their politics. To find these two was a big surprise and he found himself thrilled at the prospect of like-minded werewolves: Mary Morston and Sebastian Moran. Both turned out to be his closest of friends. They both agreed that being a werewolf was a gift. The three of them had all had their own sort of falling out with their packs in joining the army but that didn't matter since they'd found each other. They formed their own pack and ran through the dessert terrain with newfound freedom.

John liked the humans he was stationed with as well though. He found Bill Murray to be a great friend and a decent card player as well. The two of them enjoyed swapping stories about girls they'd dated and fights they'd gotten in: good wholesome army conversations. Sebastian had very few friends there, but that had little to do with their species. He never said anything against humans nor did he say anything for them. Sebastian was an odd creature, somewhat of a loner, which was odd for their kind. However John supposed that he wasn't the strangest thing to be and he was a great drinking buddy. Mary had a few friends like John and enjoyed her time working among them. She shared John's belief that there was no reason not to have relationships with humans.

Mary was an intelligent woman, and a beautiful one at that. John loved spending time with her; he stole every chance he could. They would talk hours on end about everything and nothing. He never felt more in love. They were so alike it was as if he'd found his other half. There weren't many things they disagreed on, and even less that held any importance. Neither of them could agree on what the best band was or why being scratched behind the ear felt so wrong yet so right. They both wanted children of their own, and to raise them with a sense of pride. Mary was very insistent that werewolves should be happy with who they were, that they could be so much more if they simply stopped hiding in the shadows.

John had been so happy he'd nearly forgotten he was at war...

A dangerous mistake to make.

Soon after his and Mary's fourth deployment (Sebastian's fifth) they were ambushed when out on a mission through a nearby town to disable a defective missile that had landed in the center of the town. In an instant they were surrounded and there were bullets flying everywhere. Bill and John were doing their best to help those who were injured while the other soldiers tried to slow the onslaught of bullets hailing down on them. When the firefight ended and John was able to look around for the first time without his vision being clouded by kicked up dirt or bullets he realized quickly that Mary was missing. His search for her had to wait though; he couldn't search for her in human form like he could in wolf form. When he got his chance he was off like a flash.

When he finally tracked her scent he had a feeling it wouldn't end well, but he had no idea that there was a silver bullet waiting for him.