Back in summer I read Still Life by Louise Penny and drew this scene where the two main detectives wander into a psychedelic desecration of a traditional Quebecois home. I thought the writing was so witty I had to visualize it
I only read the first two books (and watched all of three pines). It was pretty alright! nice to see some Canadian centric media for once
Chapter One
Armand Gamache x Werewolf!Female Reader
Words: 1,805
Credit to @firefly-graphics for the dividers
You were able to keep your secret from the detectives the entire time you were staying with Bea while you were healing from the wound. Now, you were all healed up but unfortunately, you were still cursed. Your tail swayed softly while you stood on the table, hind leg lifted a little while Bea removed the bandages and gauze. You glanced to the side and looked at Gamache, noticing that he seemed to be eyeing you carefully. “There we go. All healed up.” Bea said before petting your head. Sure, you were a wolf but head pats are head pats and you couldn’t pass that up.
You jumped down from the table and walked around a little, finally able to put weight on your leg without limping or pain. You looked back at Bea and then at Gamache. You wouldn’t admit but you had become fond of the inspector after Bea explained that he tried to help you the night you arrived with the wound. You walked over to Gamache and sat down in front of him, watching the slight smile come to his lips as he reached out slowly towards you. You sniffed his hand before nudging his fingertips, receiving a chuckle and more head pats. Your tail wagged happily and your inner pup decided to come out as you started to get playful. Gamache laughed wholeheartedly and looked down at you before kneeling in front of you.
“You definitely have more energy than you did.” Gamache said, petting you again before standing up once more. There was a ringing noise that disturbed the silence in the room but Gamache pulled out his phone and answered the call. “Of course, I’ll be right there.” Gamache said before hanging up the call and tucking his phone back into his pocket.
When he left, you looked at Bea and sat down, your eyes glued to her as she watched the door close behind the inspector. When her attention came back to you, she chuckled a little and gestured to the door. “Go.” She said, smiling at you before opening that door and watching as you bolted out the door after Gamache to join him.
Gamache heard sprinting steps behind him and looked to his side when a black mass appeared at his side, noticing that Little Paw had caught up to him. “Joining me this time?” Gamache raised a brow with a light chuckle, watching as Little Paw looked up at him with her gorgeous, golden eyes. He started to wonder if she could understand him and what he was saying but brushed it off for the moment as they approached the crime scene. Lacoste and Beauvoir walked up, the woman smiling and kneeling down to pet Little Paw while Beauvoir rolled his eyes and stepped away from the wolf.
“You had to bring her along?” Beauvoir asked, looking at Gamache who just shrugged with his hands in his pockets.
“She came charging after me. I had no part in her coming along. Besides, she could be quite helpful.” Gamache explained, watching as Lacoste stood up straight and looked back at him. As the night drew closer to dawn and the investigation never stopped, Gamache looked around the room that Bea was allowing him to use for his and his partners’ work. ‘Huh, she must’ve run off or something.’ Gamache thought before returning to his work.
A few moments later, you stepped into the room that Bea was letting the detectives use for their work, looking at Gamache while he sat at the table and looked at his computer. You had just taken a shower after shifting back to your human form so your hair was still damp and you were wearing an old t-shirt that Bea handed to you when you stepped out of the shower and dried yourself off. You took another step further into the room and jumped a little when the door closed behind you, catching Armand’s attention as he lifted his head from his computer screen and gazed at you. “Ah, good morning, Miss Y/n.” He said, smiling sweetly at you while you brushed the oversized shirt down to ensure that you were covered.
“Good morning, Inspector Gamache. Um, what are you doing up so early?” You asked, your hands moving around so they were hidden behind your back as they started to fidget nervously.
“Oh, just filling out some reports to send to my commander.” Armand answered, still holding that sweet smile on his lips. You stood there awkwardly, moving your gaze to the floor while your cheeks heated up minutely from your nerves. “Why are you up so early?” Armand asked, closing his laptop and pushing it aside so that his full attention was on you.
“Oh, um, I just finished taking a shower so I-I thought I would just wander a little.” You answered, keeping your eyes on the floor while your hands wrang together nervously. You were silent for a little while before breaking the silence. “It’s, uh, it’s been a while since I visited Bea last. I used to come to the center more often but, uh, things happened.” You added, raising your head a little and glancing at Armand, seeing his curious eyes gazing back at you.
Armand raised a curious brow at her answer and her demeanor, like she was nervous of something. “How long have you known Bea?” He asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest while he looked the younger woman over.
“Since I was a pu- baby! Yeah, since I was a baby. She practically raised me.” Y/n answered. Armand narrowed his eyes a little, wondering what she was going to say instead of ‘baby’. ‘Something’s odd about this one.’ He thought, having never seen someone so nervous and fidgety before. Now he was determined to figure out what was up with Y/n and why she was like this. It wasn’t very long before Y/n left the room and the door closed behind her before Lacoste and Beauvoir entered. They looked at Armand, Lacoste with a smirk and Beauvoir with a raised brow of confusion.
“What was that about?” Lacoste asked, stepping over to the whiteboard with pictures of suspects and witnesses to their current investigation.
“Y/n was just wondering why I was still up.” Armand answered, opening his laptop again and returning to the reports that he had put on hold. Armand was about to type but the strangeness of Y/n’s behavior kept his mind busy so he turned to Lacoste and Beauvoir. “She’s a strange one. Have you noticed how fidgety she is around us? It’s like she’s nervous or afraid of something.” Armand asked, leaning his elbows on his knees and settling his head in his hands in thought.
“Maybe it’s not something, but someone.” Lacoste suggested, making Armand sit up and look at her with a raised brow.
“I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s strange that when Y/n is around, Little Paw isn’t and when Little Paw is, Y/n isn’t.” Beauvoir explained, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking between his boss and colleague.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed that too.” Lacoste said but Armand could only chuckle a little at the implication being made.
“You can’t be saying that Y/n and Little Paw are the same being. Things like that don’t exist.” Armand said, looking at the detectives with a skeptical look.
“I mean, with all of the strange things happening lately, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Y/n and Little Paw were the same being.” Lacoste explained, crossing her arms over her chest and watching her boss carefully as his expression shifted. He knew that she was right. With the unexplainable events happening in Three Pines, a shapeshifter wouldn’t be a big surprise either. Without another word on the matter, Armand stood and got started with recapping what they had so far on the investigation.
You heaved a breath of relief when you entered the room that Bea was letting you stay in, your eyes coming to said woman and she noticed the worry in your eyes. “What’s happened?” She asked, coming over to you and guiding you over to the bed where you sat down and took a few deep breaths.
“I-I almost told Inspector Gamache that I’ve known you since I was a pup. I almost told him that I was a wolf!” You explained frantically, wondering if the inspector had caught on to what you said and would put the pieces together.
“Hey, hey. Look at me. He’s not going to find out. None of them are. The only ones who are going to know are you, me, and your pack. That’s it. Okay?” Bea reassured you after taking your face in her hands and staring into your eyes with determination. “No one else in Three Pines is gonna know that you are cursed.” She added before guiding in taking deep breaths to calm you down. You nodded softly and finally relaxed, knowing that Bea always kept her word. You spent the rest of the day in your room, reading and worrying, pacing back and forth until you could no longer stand being in the bedroom for another second. As you stepped out, you looked towards a window, noticing that dusk was approaching. Your heart rate spiked and you hurried to get outside and into the woods before you could shift.
Unfortunately, you had to bump into someone on your way to the door and that someone just had to be Inspector Gamache. ‘Shit, shit! I need to get out of here!’ You thought, not even noticing that Armand was asking if you were okay. You broke out of his grasp and hurried off, reaching the outdoors and running through the snow, not caring about how cold your bare feet were. As you reached the woods, the pain in your body made you collapse into the blanket of white on the ground, your bones shifting and cracking as they moved into place. From the exhaustion of running and the pain in your body, you just laid in the snow, eyes fluttering closed as the pain slowly disappeared and your mind was dragged into sleep.
Armand watched in shock and concern when Y/n ripped out of his grasp and straight towards the door. ‘She’s going to get hurt!’ He thought, chasing after her but when he reached outside, he stopped in his tracks when he noticed footprints in the snow that shifted into drag marks and then into paws. He followed beside the tracks, looking around worriedly for Y/n. He was stopped in his tracks again but this time, his eyes landed on the familiar black fur of Little Paw. “Oh mon Dieu.”
