“And why should I answer that?”

Lukas laughed. His diabolical one. Oh, no. “Because you owe me. Especially after you scarred poor Loretta.”

I didn’t have to see Dominic to know his eyebrows shot to his hairline. “And who the fuck is Loretta?”

“One of my generals. She went to investigate a disturbance on the western shoreline of the Aegean. Big surge from two very powerful beings.”

Oh. No.

“And wanna know what she saw?”

“No,” Dominic grumbled.

Lukas answered anyway. “She saw the gods of the Underworld getting busy in the water. Fled like she was getting chased by a pod of sharks right back to Lounion to tell me what she saw.”

The mention of Lukas’s underwater palace hitched my nerves up a level. The fact that he was still there at the height of summer was a problem.

“Well, tell Loretta to mind her fucking business,” Dominic responded.

“You can issue an apology yourself. She likes tuna.”

Dominic snorted. “Your general likes tuna?”

“Well, she’s a dolphin,” Lukas said. “So, yes.”

“I’m not apologizing to a dolphin, Lukas.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Dominic. She’ll bite your ass off next time you want to go skinny dipping with Rose.”

I could see Dominic’s head shaking with a silent, but tense laugh.

“Rose,” Lukas prompted, causing Dominic’s head to snap back up.

“One second,” Dominic said, then slammed the door in his face, muffling Lukas’s laugh. I didn’t hear anything in the hallway, so I assumed he was still standing there. Waiting.

“I should probably go,” I said, but before I could move toward the door, Dominic crowded me against the wall.

“Why?” It almost wasn’t a word, the question was spoken so low.

I clamped my lips down to fight a smile. Since our morning bubble was already fucked, I decided to tease Dominic a little bit. See that vein that loved to pop out of his neck when I irritated him.

“Lukas needs me,” I explained.

Dominic’s eyes narrowed, and he brought his hand to my chin to force me to look him in the eye. “Say that again.”

“I should go,” I evaded.

Dominic let loose a growl and I broke, my lips pulling into a grin and a chuckle building in my throat.

“Something funny?” Dominic asked, deadly serious.

“Yes, actually.”

“Care to explain?”

“I just think it’s hilarious that you think Lukas and I are sleeping together.”

Dominic’s shoulders dropped an inch in relief. Good. “So you admit that you aren’t?”