The cub stood up and dusted. Noticing the change of expression on her master's face, she asked, "Is everything alright?"
Echo took her finger up to her lips and whispered, "I almost told Damon that I love him. What is going on with me?"
"Nothing!" the cub replied, jumping off the bed, and continued, "You just love him. I can feel it… there's this aura coming off of the two of you, and it's both the same. The aura of love."
"I can't believe I'm taking relationship advice from a cub," Echo blurted.
"I'm not just a normal cub, I'm a familiar," the cub smiled proudly.
Echo scoffed, "But you are still a cub… unless you lived for a hundred years or something… like everyone else here."
Hunter stared at Echo, "You're not going to get an answer for that anytime soon."
—
Sebastian leaned on a shelf as he stared at the commander, "You know she does have a point, right?"
The commander sighed, looking agonised. He crossed his arms and stared blankly at the books on the shelves, "If I am right, and Damon chooses Echo over the demons, it'll be a much easier fight."
"You're placing a huge bet on his emotions. For all we know he could be playing us for information," Sebastian explained his thoughts.
"I've seen how he looks at her, Seb. There's no way he's faking it. He truly loves her."
Sebastian rolled his eyes, "I can't believe you still… believe in true love. There's no such thing as true love… If you so badly want things to play out your way, just tell Echo. She'll get him on our side."
The commander glared at Sebastian, stepping closer to him, and threatened him, "Sebastian! If you want to believe that there's no such thing as true love, fine. Just don't go around breaking other people's lives and relationships. And stay away from Jane!"
"Oh yeah! What are you going to do if I don't stay away from Jane?" Sebastian challenged him.
The commander turned around to leave, but he felt a fire burning inside him. He stopped trying to control his anger. Sebastian had pushed him far past his limit. At first the man almost fought with Damon, and now he was challenging him. The commander turned around to face Sebastian, and grabbed him by his jacket.
"Kylo! You need to calm down," Sebastian replied in a calm voice.
The commander pursed his lips. Sebastian had poured oil into a flame, and now wants it to extinguish on his own. The commander was running out of patience, he just wanted to punch Sebastian, but he restrained himself. He was no monster, and he was surely not going to give into his anger, definitely not in front of his wife.
"You are in big trouble once we go out on the training field," the commander taunted, taking his hand off Sebastian's jacket.
Sebastian nodded, "Fair enough!"
—
Echo picked up Hunter in her arms, and walked out of the bedroom. Damon was staring at the field from the balcony, contemplating what had just happened between him and Echo.
'What was she going to say? It went something like 'I l…' What could that even mean? And why did she stop all of a sudden, and act weird before vanishing into her room? Ugh… Why is she so hard to understand? She could just talk to me but she doesn't.' Damon thought to himself, when he heard the sliding door open.
"Hey! Let's go on our merry way to continue our date, shall we?" She asked cradling the cub in her arms like a baby. Her hair blew back for the breeze, exposing her neck.
Damon gulped at the sight of her, "Uh- Y-Yeah. Sure!" He scratched the back of his neck, and lowered his head a little looking at her through his eyelashes.
"Okay! Let's go then!" Echo replied, she swiftly turned around and walked back inside.
They went back to the library. Echo saw Sebastian and the commander glaring at each other, as if they were about to throw hands.
She glanced at Damon, who gave her a slight nod. It was pretty obvious to her that something was going on between the commander and the captain. She did not know what the problem was, but it was always better to ask after de-escalating things. Her glance to Damon was mainly for his reassurance, and with his nod, the two approached the men.
"Everything alright here?" Echo asked.
The commander kept his gaze on Sebastian as he replied, "Yes!"
Sebastian smiled, looking at the ground breaking eye contact with the commander. He bit his lip, and turned to Echo, "What took you so long? I thought you were going to get the cub."
Echo glanced down at Hunter in her arms. She kept the cub on the ground, who rushed towards Jasmine and Jane.
The commander turned his gaze to Echo with a raised eyebrow, glancing at Damon from time to time. "Maybe you should go check on Jas and Jane. Leave your boyfriend here, we need to talk to him."
Echo nodded in confusion, turning around, making her way to the table where her friends were. 'What just happened there? Is Sebastian and the commander fighting… but why? Wait… Why'd they want Damon to stay? Are they going to do something to him? Please don't do anything to Damon… maybe I should go check.'
"You're deep in thought. Is everything alright?" Jane asked, glancing at Echo, who had arrived at the table.
Echo inhaled deeply, and pulled a poker face, "Yes. I was just thinking about some unimportant things."
"'Unimportant things'? Could this have anything to do with that handsome demon you have a crush on?" Jane asked with a sly wink.
Echo blushed at the thought of him. Both Jane and Jasmine smiled, as she sat down looking embarrassed.
Echo leaned closer to the girls. She wanted to tell them about the kiss she shared with Damon, but wanted to make sure no one could hear them. So she whispered, "Damon kissed me… well more like he asked me to, and then I did."