Time ✔️

Chapter Thirty Three

Word Count: 1380

~Time (original Time from Rosie's era)

I sit still in my seat, watching her.

I'm not sure what it is about Jennifer that bothers me so much. It's been a few weeks of this strange, although irritating university student who has been helping me retain my magic again. It has been a slow, tedious process, but finally, it may seem like we are coming to a conclusion.

This entire time I've had nothing else on my mind other than Rosie. What is she doing? Is she even still alive? I don't think I'm bad enough to have done that to my mate, even with my dark history, but I can help as my mind wanders. If Rosie was gone...I don't know what I'd do.

"I finally have it," Jennifer mutters, walking around the room holding a clear plastic container full of sopping wet bandages. She's been telling me she's just a student, but I have suspicions she's been working with magic for a lot of her life. Even if it did take us this long to figure out how to rejuvenate the powers I, my previous-self managed seep from me.

"Good. We need to get this done as soon as possible."

"It's been three weeks and you've hardly said any words to me that don't relate to this mission," she tells me, placing the container on the table beside me, pulling the lid off. The smell that arises from the container leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, making me recoil. Magic is nasty stuff.

I don't even look at her, concentrating on the bandages she fondles gently with rubber gloves on. "This has been a business partnership, and that is it."

It's true. Jennifer doesn't really mean anything to me other than a business transaction. She gets to ask me questions sometimes about being an immortal, and she gets my abilities back. It's a good situation for all of us...we accept me, at times. She doesn't believe in personal space, although I bought her a room at a hotel and have provided her with everything she has needed. And she still demands so much from.

"Your mate must mean a lot to you then," Jennifer comments.

I eye her warily. "More than anything."

"You're honestly nothing like I thought you would be," she admits, wiping a stray piece of ginger hair from her sweating forehead with her forearm, avoiding touching anything with those gloves. "I mean you're pretty calm for a guy who goes around terrorising people."

"I've told you before, I'm from the future," I tell her. I changed my mind on keeping it from her, since it seemed pretty pointless. She's smart enough to figure it out anyway, plus, it only made her even happier, which works for me. As long as she stays out of my way and gets me back to my mate quickly. I can't not be around her for any longer.

It's driving me insane...

"Do things change that much with you?" she questions, sounding as though she doesn't believe me. I know I wasn't good for a very long time, but does everyone really have that little faith in me?

"Enough for me commit my life to finding and keeping my mate," I tell her. As I sit here, my shirt off, waiting for her to commence this process, I feel oddly satisfied. I haven't admitted to anyone how much my mate has meant to me; how much of my life I've been willing to give up for her. "And enough for me to deal with an annoying girl who asks too many questions."

"Letting me ask questions is part of the deal," she reminds me, pulling out the first bandage from the small container. "And for your information, I think I've collected enough information to write an entire book about you."

She leans over me, smelling like cheap champagne and bitter magic. She places the first bandage along my chest, making me shiver.

I hate this already.