But it was clear now what had been missing from his scent.
This human had the mate smell, but was missing the rest of the identifiers. He didn't smell male or female and lacked a specific species scent as well. He looked like a mundane, but hevery well could be a shifter in disguise, or even an Aos sí with the tips of his ears cut off.
I frowned, examining the lack of any discernible hair on his face.
"Are you an adult?" I asked. He had to be, because the mate scent did not develop until well into a person’s maturity. The years before it developed were considered a time to explore and learn about one's desires before the mate scent brought about the time for settling and breeding.
"Yes," Kyle said, his voice soft and high as he stepped out of the chest. He cleared his throat, and his voice dropped a few levels, as if he was forcing it deeper. "Are you?"
"My name is Durom, and I am a sexually mature male of breeding age," I said. "You are scrawny, have no facial hair, and smell strange. Here, eat."
I picked up one of the bowls and held it out to him.
He came forward and took it from me, stepping back out of my reach the moment his slender fingers curled around the edges of the bowl.
He wasn't wearing any boots.
I frowned down at the socks on his feet. This was extremely irritating. Not only did he look immature for a male, which was alarming and off-putting, but he was also missing basic protective gear. He had no armor, no boots, no weapons. How had someone so badly equipped gotten this far into the Dungeon?
"Where are your shoes?" I asked.
"In the chest," he said as he sat down on a stool on the far side of the fire. "I took them off so I would move more quietly."
That explained why it was so hard to hear him while I was tracking him in the maze. If it wasn't for his scent, as empty as it was, I would have had trouble herding him in here.
I grunted, then took a big spoonful of my stew, hoping it would calm down my agitation. Even if he was a normal human, barring a naga, this was still the worst possible mate I could have scented. Mundane humans were fragile, traumatized creatures kept and abused as slaves. Chasing and rutting one would be unthinkable.
Kyle made a happy sound as he dug into the stew, eating bite after bite with enthusiasm.
I was going to have to reject my mate.
I groaned and put my hand over my face at the thought.
"Are you alright?" Kyle asked.
I rubbed my forehead, massaging in between my horns as I tried to work out the tension between what my body wanted to do and what I was going to do.
"I have to get you back to the surface where it is safe," I said. "You can't stay here."
Even as I said it, the words felt wrong. Sending my mate back up to that school wouldn't keep him safe. The Dungeon was the only safe place on this entire campus.
The human looked shocked, like he was trying to process one life-upending event after another. I knew exactly how he felt.
"Why?" he asked.
"You have the mate scent," I said. "But you are a mundane. I will be frightening to you."
"You aren’t frightening me now," Kyle said, studying me. Then a deluge of questions burst forth from him, as if released by the strain of his emotional reaction. "Why are you feeding me? How long have minotaurs been able to talk? Why would the Orcs be safe? Why aren't you trying to kill me?"
"You have the mate scent," I said, relief washing over me with the knowledge that he thought he could handle the rut. Now that I had scented him, letting him go would be torture.
"What does that even mean?" Kyle demanded.
"It means you run," I said as I stood up. “Then I mount you.”
Kyle coughed for a moment as he inhaled a small portion of his soup. It took him a few moments to clear his lungs, and by the time he did, the look in his eye was wild and wary as I loomed over him.
"I can't run," Kyle asked, forehead wrinkling as he leaned back in his seat to look up at me, his eyes darting towards where the vines blocked the door. I took a few steps back so that he didn't have to strain his neck to get a good view of me, and his shoulders relaxed. "There isn't anywhere to run to."
