"Something's not right."
Rose looked up at the Doctor as he craned his neck, scanning the area around them. She sighed, pushing back her sandwich. Well, picnic over, then. Since they'd stepped onto the surface of this planet, the Doctor had alternately tensed and relaxed. She knew he'd been trying to work something out and had left him to it, doing her best to keep her eyes open as they wandered through the town and the square in the center even though she didn't know the place enough to notice if something was off. Seems the Doctor had finally figured it out.
"What are we dealing with, then?"
Startled by the sound of her voice, the Doctor looked down at her. "Nah, nothing too urgent. Go on and finish your sandwich."
She huffed, sitting up straighter. "Really, Doctor, what is it? Do you know?"
He pursed his lips, looking around him. "There's just… something wrong… with the feeling of this place. Can't you sense it?"
She cocked her head to the side, examining her feelings. "Nope, nothing. Maybe you can tell because you've been here before, yeah?"
He shrugged, popping another cherry into his mouth. "Well, only one way to find it out."
"So are you going to blow up the parliament house or something smaller this time? Another shop, perhaps?" She couldn't suppress her laughter at the disgruntled look on his face.
He hopped to his feet, hauling her up with him. "Come on then, Barbarella. Lets pay a visit to the Agni, see what we're dealing with."
In the way things usually go for them, the visit to the Agni's office had only managed to get them invited to some big ball that night, and then bustled off in two separate directions to be made ready. Women flocked around Rose, putting her in the most gorgeous and fitted dress she'd ever worn and flipping and pinning Rose's hair in an intricate design. They seemed fascinated by her pale skin and blonde hair; she contrasted sharply against their darker (sometimes inhuman) skin tones and black hair.
After a light dinner and the rest of the women dressed, she was herded into a large ballroom. It was opulently set with rich and dark colors. Drapes of gauzy fabric hung from every surface, casting the light into a dim, warm glow. The men greeted them there, dressed in suits so fine they made Rose's heart flutter.
Several men approached her slowly, confident smiles on their faces. They were rather pretty, but her eyes scanned through the crowd, desperately searching for the Doctor.
"The daughter of the sun grants us this day with her grace," the first man to reach her said, dropping into a bow with his hand outstretched to her. Unsure if this was a traditional greeting, Rose dropped into a curtsy and let the man take her hand.
He guided her to a corner of the room, near a table laid with drinks and refreshments, and handed her a glass of some sort of wine. "I hope the other ladies did not dull that sparkling intellect of yours too much," he teased, white teeth flashing against the darker color of his skin.
Rose laughed, shaking her head, loving the way her dangling earrings tinkled. "Not at all. They were all absolutely lovely," she replied. Hemar, Rose remembered as the Agni's assistant, inclined his head, his smile stretching wider.
"I hope they paid you all due respect?"
"Of course they did. I really don't know what I did to deserve all this kindness. I don't think I've ever had my hair done up this nice, and my mum's a hairdresser."
"You are our guest of honor, Rose. I am sure the ladies were more than pleased to do whatever they could."
Her cheeks tinged pink at the way he said her name. She searched the room once more with her eyes. "Have you seen the Doctor about?"
Hemar waved his hand. "I am sure he is near at hand. It is his misfortune to pass on the opportunity to greet his companion, especially when you are so radiant. Dance with me?"
She chewed on her lip, looking nervously from his sparkingly eyes to the room around them that distinctly lacked the blue eyes she longed for. "Alright…" she agreed, letting him whisk her back to the middle of the floor.
The dance of the Istrils was complicated and weaving, but Hemar's firm guiding hand in the small of her back made sure she never missed a step. As the dance progressed, her worry for the Doctor faded to the back of her mind, and she laughed more easily at the dips and spins. Hemar was obviously important to these people, as they always made room for the two of them, but Rose didn't receive glares of jealousy that she was used to. The Istrils smiled just as warmly to her as they did to Hemar. The night felt magical, the light dress fluttering around her, the otherworldly music winding through the air. The only thing that could possibly make it better was a different set of arms around her.
The door at the far end of the hall banged open, cutting through the music and the low chatter of voices. Rose looked up to see the Doctor, all poised energy and brooding strength in a black leather jacket. His eyes were dangerously dark as he scanned the crowd, finally settling on her.
Hemar's face contorted in concern before he smoothed it back away to a pleasant smile. "Sir Doctor, you have finally decided to join the rest of us."
Unresponsive to the words, the Doctor stormed up to them. His eyes flashed to Hemar's hand still around Rose's waist. He drew back, but before Rose could even say anything the Doctor's fist flashed out, connecting soundly to Hemar's nose. The man crumpled to the ground. "Doctor!" Rose shrieked, frozen in surprise and horror. The Doctor glanced at her before staring back down at Hemar. His lip raised in a soundless snarl. "Doctor, stop it! Oh my god."
Hemar, not moving from the floor, raised one hand towards Rose, the other cupped around his nose where blood was spilling down. "It is alright, Rose. I have seen similar reactions from other travelers who have come here and have not… I am so sorry. I did not realize you and the Doctor had not yet—"
The toe of the Doctor's boot connected with the man's stomach, and with an "oof" he collapsed backwards. Rose shoved the Doctor away from him, pulling at his arms to get him to back off. His dark eyes shifted to hers, and she stepped back with a gasp. Without a word, his hand closed around her arm and he towed her out of the room.
He didn't even seem to notice her struggling as he towed her down the hall. Her cries of protest fell on deaf ears as he pulled open a door, glanced inside, and shoved her in before him. She stumbled, ripping the skirt of her dress, but wheeled to face him. "What the hell is wrong with you, Doctor? Is this another one of your stupid claims again? Because not even Adam or Mickey got beat up by you, and Hemar and I were just dancing! What do you think you're doing? How could you—"
She was cut off as he hauled her against him and covered her mouth with his own. Every thought on her mind fizzled out into a silent oh with the way he captured her bottom lip, working it roughly until he soothed it with his tongue.
She didn't notice he'd been backing her up until her knees hit a bed and she tumbled over backwards. He grabbed her waist and hauled her farther up the bed, hovering over her. He pulled her hands above her head and trapped them there in one of his hands.
She opened her eyes slowly, struggling to focus on the Doctor in the low light of the room. "Doctor..?" she whispered, shuddering at how hoarse her voice was.
"Remember when I said something was wrong here? Something in the feel of the place?" he asked in a flat, toneless voice. She wished she could search his face to try to understand what was going through his head. "Low-level telepathic field. It isolates the baser instincts and amplifies them. Too subtle to notice until it's too late."
She stared at him dumbly, struggling to understand the meaning behind his words. But his thigh pressed firmly between her legs was doing its damnedest to make all thinking impossible.
"Y'see, Rose, the Istrils are the slightly devolved descendents of the Mystrols. A telepathic race. Subtle telepathy, mostly sharing minds through touch." His hand trailed down the exposed inside of her arm and she shivered again. "Like most higher life forms, the Mystrols were weakened by the Time War. So many men sent off to battle. So few of them returned. The species was on the brink of extinction. They had to take desperate measures.
"In order to survive, the Mystrol leaders put every last thing they had into developing a low-level telepathic field that would reawaken the sex instinct in their males, driving them urgently until they claimed a mate." He lowered his head, sinking his teeth into her shoulder. She cried out at the touch, squirming against him, stilling when he pressed his hip against hers.
And by claim, he meant… oh heart tripped into a higher speed. He ground his hips against her again. "Mine," he growled against her neck. He brought his lips crashing down on hers again, tongue slipping in her mouth when she gasped against his movements.
Fear coursed through her, along with a startling burst of arousal. She struggled against his hand at her wrist, trying to free herself. But when his hand found her breast, she ended up arching into him.
Without warning, he recoiled from her, leaping off the bed and rocketing to one corner. She sat up, blinking after him. She could make out his dark silhouette in the corner. He huddled close to the wall, arms wrapped around himself, hands closed around his head. "Doctor…"
"Go!" he cried, somewhere between a growl and a shout, and by the shudder that ran through him she could see how much effort it had taken him to say it. "Get to the TARDIS. She'll keep you away from me."
She stood on shaky feet, looking at him, and it nearly broke her heart. Even with the telepathic field in his head, forcing him to do things, he was still fighting to protect her. Rather than taking a step away, she moved closer. "Rose," he groaned, sliding a little farther down the wall.
She slid closer again. "Doctor." His startling blue eyes opened, fixing on her even through the gloom of the room. She took one of his hands in hers, pulling it away from his head and threading her fingers through his. "I am yours, you know. Have been since I agreed to step onto the TARDIS with you."
He pushed off the wall, colliding with her and pushing her back into the bed. "If you were mine, why'd you bring all those pretty boys on my ship?" he growled. Kneeling next to her, his hands found the tear in the skirt of the dress and he tugged harder, ripping it the rest of the way up to her bodice. "You're mine, you'll always be mine, and I'm going to make sure you know it so thoroughly you'll never look at another man again." She whimpered as his hand traveled up her thigh. "I am going to mark you mine. So hard, everyone'll know it," he promised, fingers shoving her knickers aside and thrusting up inside her.
She screamed against his rough caress, arching off the bed. His other hand pressed against her stomach, holding her down while he withdrew his fingers from her and brought them to his mouth. Fixing her with a stare that had her shivering beneath him, he rolled each finger along his tongue, then closed his eyes to savor the taste.
"Rose," he murmured, crouching between her legs to taste directly from the source. She mewled loudly as his tongue moved up her folds and circled the little bundle of nerves at the end. When he slid another finger inside her, thrusting it a few times before adding a second, she sobbed at the sensations. Her own hands traveled across his close-cropped hair, pressing him closer to her.
He worked her relentlessly, making every muscle in her body slowly tighten as a coil low in her belly wound tighter. When he brought his teeth lightly across her clit, she flew apart, his name the only word falling repeatedly out of her lips.
When she dropped away from him, he growled, moving up her body. "That is only for me now," he ordered, hands moving to the rip that stopped at her beaded bodice. He tugged at it, trying to tear the rest of the dress from her as he had before. The material across her breasts was heavier than that of her skirt, and he eventually huffed in frustration, pushing it up towards her head. As soon as her breasts were revealed, he flicked open the clasp on her strapless bra and pulled one of her nipples into his mouth, his hand tormenting the other.
"Doctor! Doctor, please," she cried, squirming against him and tugging on his ears to get him farther up her body. He pushed the dress the rest of the way off her and threw it somewhere into the darkness. His nose bumped against hers as he moved towards her lips. She met him eagerly, arms wrapping around his neck to keep him in place.
When she broke away for air, he moved down to her breast again, rolling the peak between his lips. A hand moved between them, lining him up. He pinched down tightly on her breast as he thrust into her, making her gasp and shudder at the combined sensations. "Mine, he growled against her again, moving hurriedly.
Through with being a passive participant, she wrapped her legs around his waist, forcing him deeper into her. She raked her nails down his back before pulling him up to her lips again. "Mine," she growled back, nipping at his lips.
The word startled him; he stilled for a moment in her before resuming with renewed vigour, pounding into her, twisting on every third thrust in a way that ground him against her clit. Grunts, groans, curses, nonsense, and his name fell from her lips in a rhythm she was determined to live her life by for as long as she could.
Her second orgasm hit her so quickly he startled her. She arched, breasts squashing against his chest, as she screamed, "Doctor!"
He slowed his thrusts into her, pulsing at the same rate her body was, teasing her on the cusp of her orgasm until she was shaking apart. When she calmed beneath him, he pulled out of her and made her whimper. "Turn over," he growled.
She scooted up into a sitting position, and before she obeyed him she ducked down quickly, sucking him into her mouth. The taste of their flavors combined made her groan around him, and he echoed the noise with a shout, threading his fingers through her hair. He pulled her closer on to him for a moment before pushing her back. "Over," he ordered.
She obeyed, settling onto her knees and hands, arching under his cool hand that ran down her spine. He moved between her legs, working her tender flesh before pushing back into her. She dropped to her elbows, pressing back against him as he hammered into her. The noises he was making made her tingle all over, but she wanted to feel him coming inside of her. She snaked a hand beneath her, feeling with her fingers at the place where they were joined, and clenched her muscles tightly around him. His rhythm stuttered.
He draped himself over her back, mouth playing against the back of her neck before he moved to her shoulder and latched on with sharp teeth. She cried out, pushing harder against him. His hips never stopped moving against her. She could feel the strain in him, feel him reaching for the peak he couldn't quite make. She reached one hand back, running it over his hair as she whispered. "I'm yours. Forever."
He let her go and reared up, thrusting into her a couple more times before he let out a roar, spilling himself inside her. She squeezed around him, doing her best to milk him for ever last drop and push him through like he'd done for her.
Finally he dropped onto her, rolling them both over on the bed. When she gathered her breath, she rolled over to face him. His eyes looked stricken but more clear than they had the rest of that night, and he ran a hand over her cheek down to the spot she was sure was turning into a dark bruise. "Did I hurt you?" he mumbled in a mournful voice.
She smiled, wiggling closer to him, and cupped his face. "No, Doctor, it was perfect." She bent forward to kiss the tip of his nose, then settled her head against his chest, listening to the slowing double thump of his hearts.
"What are we going to do about that telepathic field then? Shut it down?" she asked him. By the way he jumped a little against her, she guessed he'd assumed her asleep. She smiled, kissing the center of his chest.
"Nothing," he replied with a shrug. "Without it, the Istrils wouldn't last past the current generation. They've got a system in place to handle it; their whole society has been shaped around it. Lets just hope other weary travelers are better prepared than we were."
"Oh my god!" Rose cried, shooting up. "Is that what Hemar meant by… Oh, god." She covered her face as it flushed a deep shade of pink.
He chuckled, pulling her to him. "I suppose I owe Hemar an apology. In the morning." His lips moved against hers in a smile before he set to taking her breath away once more.