if ANYONE out there has read the Louise Penny Armand Gamache book series or any of the books and enjoyed them please talk to me IMMEDIATELY
I’m on like the 17th book now I think- the brainrot for these lovely guys is so real especially jean guy I’ll never stop loving that dysfunctional man <3
characters here are Isabelle lacoste and jean guy Beauvoir
Chapter Eight
Armand Gamache x Werewolf!Female Reader
Warnings: super angsty, anxiety, gunshots, attacking
A/N: please don't hate me for the end of this chapter, I just wanted to be super angsty in this one.
Credit to @firefly-graphics for the dividers
Taglist: @sgt-petter
The days were getting shorter and the nights were getting longer, and your wounds have finally closed up while you were also able to walk by yourself once again. You shuffled out of your bedroom only to stop when you heard talking in the gallery, listening as the three detectives talked with Bea.
“We still haven’t found a way to break her curse.” Isabelle frowned, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest.
“Tomorrow is the solstice. Unless some miracle happens, there’s no way we can do anything to help her.” Sadness was evident in Bea’s voice when spoke.
“No, I refuse to give up on her. We can’t just give up on helping her after everything she’s been through. There has to be a way.” Armand was determined. There was silence for a little while before a sigh resonated through the room.
You carefully pushed the door open, still listening to the conversation going on while stepping into the room. Jean-guy nudged Isabelle when his eyes landed on you, and everyone else’s attention came to you but you were looking at Bea since she seemed to know more than anyone else. “Bea, what’s going to happen to me tomorrow if the spell isn’t broken?” you asked her. Bea’s face paled upon hearing the question because she never wanted to have to tell you. When a while of silence passed, you frowned and looked at everyone else. “What’s going to happen to me?” you pressed on, wanting the answers that no one seemed to want to give you. You glared at everyone, even Armand, when no one answered you. Your eyes shifted from their regular color to gold, the eyes you would have when you shifted.
“Y/n, please, take a breath. Nothing’s going to happen to you. We’re going to figure it out.” Isabelle said, trying to approach you but you stepped back and a soft growl left your throat.
“Tell me why tomorrow is so important.” You frowned, your wolf instincts kicking in and telling you that something wasn’t right.
“Y/n, if we don’t break this curse by tomorrow at midnight, we won’t be able to break it all. You’ll be stuck in this supernatural way of life for the rest of your life.” Bea finally said. You stopped in your place and looked at everyone with wide eyes, trying to process the secret they had been keeping from you this entire time.
“Why? Why didn’t you tell me before?” you asked, looking at each person in turn.
“I was trying to protect you.” Bea started saying.
“You damned me! If you had told me in the beginning, I would’ve probably been a normal person by now!” You snapped, pinching your brows together in anger before looking at the detectives. Your eyes stopped on Armand. “Did you know about this?” You asked, still angry and when Armand nodded ever so slightly, you couldn’t believe it. The one human who had treated you with kindness and warmth from the very beginning didn’t even tell you. Your heart cracked a little while you shook your head in disbelief. Without a second thought, you turned and swung the door open, running out of the center and straight to the woods to find your pack because you knew they weren’t too far away.
After a split second to process what had happened, everyone snapped out of it and hurried after Y/n. “We have to find her. We have to stop her from making this permanent.” Armand told the others as they approached the treeline of the forest. Everyone split up to search for her, not knowing where in the woods she would go to get away from them. Armand trudged through the trees before being hit with the suffocating smell of death and rotting. When he looked around, Armand spotted dark blood that had stained the plants nearby and he moved towards it. The smell became stronger, making Armand physically gag before pulling his coat over his mouth and nose to block out most of the smell. He examined the scene and realized, with a lot of trouble identifying them, that the bodies strewn about the ground were the hunters from last month who attacked Y/n.
He couldn’t believe that Y/n was able to do this, having not seen the outcome of that night until now. It was then that his mind gave him a new reason to find Y/n and break this curse. To prevent her from doing this ever again to anyone else. As Armand continued through the forest in search of Y/n, he came across a familiar wolf feasting on a dead animal that it had killed. The alpha. The wolf raised its gaze and growled upon seeing Armand, pausing its feeding time to start approaching Armand. “You hurt her!” The wolf lunged at Armand, who quickly moved out of the way and drew his gun.
“We were trying to break her curse.” Armand said, standing up straight and frowning at the alpha wolf, who was leaned down in position, ready to lunge again. “We still have time if we can find her.” Armand added, watching the wolf before tucking away his gun to show that he wasn’t going to do any harm. The wolf stared at him before turning and walking away, going deeper into the forest. The inspector sighed heavily before looking at the time and feeling panic rush through his nerves. There were only a few hours until midnight when they would all be too late.
Armand rushed out of the forest and met up with the others, except Isabelle was missing. It was only a few minutes before Isabelle emerged from the forest, dragging a struggling Y/n with her. Isabelle’s arms were wrapped firmly around Y/n’s shoulders, pinning her arms down, and her hands were locked together for a stronger hold on the young woman. When Isabelle reached the others, she released Y/n, who toppled into the snow and stared up at the four people standing over her.
You shifted and scrambled up onto your paws, growling at the four while you backed away from them. “Y/n, please, we can still help you.” Bea said, taking a step towards you but you just growled in response and that made Bea stop.
“I don’t want your help.” You snarled, your eyes staying on Bea. There were more steps in the snow behind you and you glanced back, seeing the rest of your pack and your parents in their wolf forms. Alpha glared and growled at Armand upon seeing him, rushing forward to attack but you were quicker and despite being extremely upset with the inspector for keeping the secret from you, your feelings were stronger. A gunshot rang through the sky. Everything had happened so fast that you didn’t realize you were lying in the snow until you heard your mother’s voice on your right.
“Oh my god.” your mother muttered, rushing to your side with your father beside her and she looked down at you with tears in her emerald green eyes. You finally looked down and saw that you had been shot through the shoulder and into your chest. You brought your eyes back up and gazed at your parents, swallowing hard before opening your mouth to speak.
“Mama, papa. I’m sorry.” you felt tears prick your eyes, voice weak and soft. “I’m so sorry for running away.” you closed your eyes tight and felt a few tears drip down your snout.
“No, no. hunny, don’t apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who’s sorry. I should’ve known better than to let this happen to you, to let this curse on us affect you.” your father said, shaking his head before they both laid down beside you and nuzzled their faces into yours. Alpha stood there, frozen in shock that you had taken the bullet that was meant for him. Another face came into view and when you turned your head, you let out a choked sob.
“Armand.” You gazed up at him, seeing tears of his own filling his beautiful brown eyes.
“You’re going to be okay, Y/n.” He said softly, bringing one of his hands to stroke your fur. You only shook your head a little.
“I’ve been so stupid, Armand.” You whimpered, gazing up at him with teary eyes. “I’ve been blind and stupid because while I was upset that you didn’t tell me what would happen tonight, I forgot about everything else that we’ve been through. I was blinded to the fact that I love you and I have since that night, when you told me that you and Isabelle and Jean-guy were looking for a way to give me a normal life.” You felt the strength in your body be slowly stripped away from you. “I should’ve told you sooner but I didn’t know how to put it into words.” You chuckled sadly at yourself. Armand tried to blink away the tears but it was no use because they started trailing down his face while he listened to your confession.
“I should’ve told you. I shouldn’t have kept it a secret. You were right. If we had told you about the solstice, you would probably be happily living life as a person right now.” Armand continued to stroke your fur and was kneeling in the snow now, not caring that his pants were getting cold and wet from it. It hurt when you chuckled again.
“It’s ironic. This is how we met. Me, a wounded wolf with a bullet in her body, and you, a kind and worried inspector.” You felt your eyes start to drop shut but you were trying your hardest to keep them open.
“Hunny, stay with us. One of your detective friends is on the phone with 9-1-1. Just keep your eyes open, they’ll be here any minute.” Your mother said, nudging you with her snout gently to keep your eyes open. It was getting harder and harder to breathe and keep your eyes open, to keep the remainder of your strength.
“I love you guys. All of you. Mom, dad, Armand, Isabelle, Bea, my pack, Iris, Jean-guy, even though I know he’s pretending not to care.” You brought your eyes back to Armand. “Take care of Iris for me.” Your voice faltered while you laid your head in the snow. “I’m just gonna close my eyes for a minute.” Your eyes fluttered closed and the last breath in your lung exited into the night air.
Armand felt his heart break when the light in her eyes disappeared with her last breath. Her mother and father curled up against her still body while the wolves of her pack came around and sat, howling into the night for the loss of a member. The alpha was gone without a trace and the flashing lights of red came into view, signaling that the ambulance was here. Armand stood and stepped back as the veterinarians came over to tend to Y/n. She was quickly loaded into the ambulance before the doors were shut and the vehicle took off.
Armand glanced down, seeing her mother and father standing at his sides, looking back up at him with the look of grief and pain in their eyes that everyone else had. The howls of the pack continued to echo throughout the night while everyone grieved the loss of their dear friend and Armand’s crush.
Armand sat outside on the back steps of the center, a small item in his hand that he moved between his fingers. It was a maple leaf. Armand gazed down at it, his mind taking back to the day that Y/n, or Little Paw at the time, had given it to him.
Armand was talking to Isabelle and Jean-guy about their current findings regarding the curse they were trying to break when there was a thud against the back door. The three turned and looked in confusion at the door before Isabelle walked over and opened the door. Little Paw walked in, her tail swaying happily while a wolf pup chased after her. Both canines were covered in snow and leaves and pine from the trees and as the two ran around, the snow, leaves and pines got everywhere. Armand, Isabelle, and Jean-guy laughed at what they were witnessing while also having no clue what was going on.
When the two finally settled down, Bea made the decision that it was time for a bath for the two wolves, asking Armand to wash Little Paw since he had the stronger muscle to handle Little Paw. He complied but didn’t know what he was getting himself into until Little Paw shook off 90% of the soap in her fur before licking Armand’s face and taking the opportunity to jump out of the tub and off into the rest of the center. Armand got assistance from Isabelle when she and Jean-guy stopped laughing. Little Paw was finally put back into the tub and Armand finished giving her a bath, gently scolding her while scrubbing her fur.
Little Paw hopped out and Armand dried her fur the best that he could before watching her trot off to probably cause more mischief. He smiled to himself with a shake of his head before going to change out of his soaked clothes. When he returned to the investigation room, Little Paw was lying down on the layers of blankets that Bea had set up ever since the wolf started spending more time in there. Armand sat down and watched Little Paw for a few minutes before watching her lift her head and walk over to him. Armand raised a brow before looking at the maple leaf that was placed on his leg, bringing his eyes back to Little Paw and smiling at her. “Thanks, Little Paw. I’ll make sure to keep it.” Armand patted her head before she nudged into his hand and then went back to bed.
Armand blinked a couple of times and stared at the leaf, more tears escaping his eyes when he recalled the memory. At the time, after doing a little research about the symbolism of a maple leaf, he thought it was an innocent little gift but now, as he was missing Y/n, he realized that she had told him she loved him that day and he didn’t even know it. He brought his face into his hands and finally broke down, shoulders shaking from quiet sobs at the realization that he never got to tell her that he loved her too.
"But Isabelle Lacoste had been in the Sûreté long enough to know how much easier it was to shoot than to talk. How much easier it was to shout than to be reasonable. How much easier it was to humiliate and demean and misuse authority than to be dignified and courteous, even to those who were themselves none of those things. How much more courage it took to be kind than to be cruel."
