The words Derek spoke hung so heavily on Emma; they actually numbed her for a moment.

Of all the things the stupid jerk could attribute to her—a mistress?—and the way he looked at her, as if she were some piece of trash.

Emma was beyond appalled.

"Hey, are you dumb too?" he asked with a gibe, unfolding his hands from each other. Brushing an imaginary tint from his hair, he scanned her again–from the hair she knew was crispy with dust to her feet, which were not faring any better in those tight white tennis shoes.

He hissed after his appraisal and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his denim jeans, yet staring down at her in contempt.

That look again, Emma thought, cringing. Where has her charm gone? People always compared her to the goddess Venus.

Back in Florida, her beauty had gotten her out of a lot of trouble. She even liked to think sometimes that her father disliked her because his associates were taken with her at first sight rather than with Amelia. But then her sister never acted as if she noticed it, or perhaps she simply didn't care. 

Albeit, this was some weird place in England, and it seemed that her beauty potential had faded.

Emma sighed worriedly at the thought.

"Clem, get me the phone! Seems we have a case of an intruder or whatever in Mr. Jason's place," Derek finally called to the fellow nearest the tail of the truck, needing to be out of the dirty space.

He had watched the girl zone out and decided that perhaps she was looking for a lie to buy time; he believed she couldn't be the owner of this house.

Clem, lean, tall, walked over to the driver's seat, fetched the phone, and brought it to Derek while looking at Emma pityingly.

He thought the human girl looked lost, innocent, yet beautiful, even though she was coated in dust. What was she doing out here alone?

Was she a spy? No; she looked far too innocent for that.

She might be a runaway. He concluded, promising to help her find her way if she truly was lost.

But for now he waited to see what his best friend, the Alpha's son, would do.

Derek dialed the company's hotline without hesitation, his gaze fixed on the cleaning truck. 

"Hello, Peipei Company here," a female said over the phone when the call connected.

"Yeah, it's Derek," he said impatiently, wondering again why his father had sent him to this company as a punishment.

The old man could have told him to run a hundred  laps around the pack's training ground—it wouldn't be easy, but it was better than working with humans for two months.

"Oh Derek, what's the issue?" the voice cooed now, sultry.

And Derek knew at that moment it was Cassey on the line; the bitch had been all over him since he arrived at the company last week.

"Nothing much, Cassey. Just wanted to really confirm the house on No. 13 Moonway. There's a girl loitering around the house, claiming to be Mr. Jason's daughter, but she seems deranged and…"

This offhanded insult snapped Emma out of the haze she'd been in, and she wondered again if she was really okay.

If she had been alone, she would have smacked her head. Her anger rising, she scolded herself for letting a stranger speak to her that way.

She's Emma, for God's sake! she thought, and she wasn't respected by her peers for nothing.

With that remembered pride, Emma snatched the phone from Derek's ear, threw it to the floor, and smashed it beneath her shoe. She looked up at him and smiled devilishly, feeling a little vindicated.

"What the hell!" Derek raged, feeling so annoyed that he wanted to grab and shake her until she apologized. She wasn't of his clan—otherwise she would have been dealt with accordingly.

But before he could carry out his thought of shaking the life out of her, Clem touched his arm intentionally.

Derek hissed, restraining himself,  glaring at Emma. She is so lucky.

He didn't want to get in trouble with his father over a human again; he had no idea what the punishment would be this time.

Emma, not knowing Derek's short temper and inner turmoil, threw him a smirk and planted her hands on her hips. 

Derek couldn't hold it in. In a fit of rage he swatted Clem's hand aside and lunged for Emma—but to his astonishment, he found himself on the floor within seconds.

Derek winced in pain; although it eased after a few seconds, it left him bewildered. He couldn't explain what had just happened; everything had occurred so fast.

He snapped from his daze when Maru, his wolf, started laughing at him.

"Shouldn't you be on my side? A girl just tripped us..." he mused, forgetting momentarily that he was still on the ground.

"No… she tripped you, not me. It was funny to watch, though I'm actually disappointed,"

"I'm going to kill her then,"

"It seems you want to work in a sawmill this time around. But she is actually beautiful, and smells very nice... very nice for a human," Maru added, uncertain whether to tell Derek that the human might be his mate; he knew the guy would throw a fit.

Derek scoffed at Maru's words, glanced at his colleagues near the truck still doubled over with laughter, and suddenly remembered he was still on the floor.

He imagined what his father would say if he'd witnessed this, and shuddered.

He looked up to see Emma folding her arms across her chest, a disdainful look on her face. 

And then she whistled.

Derek saw red. He would deal with her in a minute!

He tried to stand gracefully like a human but tripped clumsily for reasons he couldn't have explained.

Today wasn’t going well at all. He clung to the door frame angrily and hauled himself up. 

"What did you just do?" he demanded of Emma in an angry voice touched with amazement, shaking dust from his jeans. 

But Emma paid him no mind, not even a glance; her attention fell on Clem.

"What are you hotties doing here?" she asked Clem, batting her eyelids and smiling.

Did she just tune him off? Did a human really tune him off for the first time? Derek thought, grinding his teeth.

"Yeah, she sure has guts," 

"Shut up!" Derek snapped; he could tell Maru would start taunting him if he didn't give the order.

"We were contracted by Mr. Jason to clean this place," Clem answered, blushing.

Derek snorted; the girl already had the beta's son wrapped around her fingers.

"Okay. Mr. Jason is my father. You guys should come in… the place is a real mess," she stated, and walked into the house with her head held high.