Crimson Fates Series Book Four: The Fox Prince
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description: She’s a shadow touched fae trying to forget the vampire who never looks her way. He’s a fox smiling prince who’s known she was his soulmate since the moment he lost his reflection. Bound by loyalty to her overprotective brother, Sunoo keeps his distance until jealousy, chaos, and one very public mistake shatter his restraint. As secrets unravel and a rival date pushes him too far, the bond awakens whether they’re ready or not. Fate doesn’t whisper anymore. It demands to be claimed.
Kim Sunoo x Oc Female Character
content: Supernatural world but its modern/the norm. They will make jokes about being centuries old, but they are all 19-23, born as vampires, and stop ageing at 24. They are more like humans than vampires.
warnings: Mature. Allusions to smut. Lots of threats. Jealousy.
wc: 15.8k
an: If yall haven't realized by now, this series is basically a crack fic. Honestly idk what i was doing. So enjoy!
Part 1
It was late afternoon when Jake watched his little sister walk across the university courtyard, her hair glowing in the autumn sunlight. The wind tossed a few fallen leaves into the air, catching briefly in the folds of her coat as she adjusted her scarf and muttered something under her breath about the cold.
He smiled to himself. She was adorable.
He wasn’t the sentimental type unless it came to his sister. Then suddenly, he was a soft-hearted mess, always watching, always worrying, always ready to throw hands at the first idiot who looked at her wrong.
But right now?
She seemed happy. Really happy.
Jake tilted his head as he leaned against the stone railing, arms crossed loosely. There was a lightness to her movements, a gentleness in her expression. It had been a rough few months, and after the whole Taki situation, he had expected her to sulk or hole up again. But she didn’t.
She bloomed.
There was more color to her cheeks these days, more bounce to her step. Her magic didn’t hum anxiously around her anymore, it was soft now, swirling like a sleeping storm instead of a storm ready to break. And while he was proud of her growth, there was one thing he couldn’t ignore.
The glances.
Oh, he saw them.
The not so subtle flicks of her eyes. The way her lips twitched into a smile before she quickly looked away. And worse, the way Sunoo looked at her. Like he was barely holding himself together. Like he wanted to devour her and cry at the same time.
Jake squinted.
Nah.
Naur way.
Sunoo wouldn’t dare.
Jake had made it perfectly clear, off-limits. Absolutely not. No touching. No flirting. Not even breathing too close.
Still…
That look Sunoo gave her earlier that morning at breakfast like she’d hung the moon with her bare hands had made Jake’s protective instincts spike. He didn’t say anything though. He just narrowed his eyes and filed it away in the part of his brain labeled “Shit I Might Have to Kill a Friend Over.”
Across the courtyard, Sora stopped to wave at Seori, and seconds later, the rest of the girls spilled out of the academic building behind her like chaos in matching shoes.
Da-eun, smug and glowing in her vampire mischief. Kija, poised and smug, her siren charm laced with satisfaction. Jiyoon, quiet and sweet but glancing between Sunoo and Sora like she knew everything. Seori, humming a tune and casting illusions just to make the autumn trees dance. They all wore the same expression, knowing.
They knew. Oh, they knew everything.
Jake narrowed his eyes. “What the hell are they so happy about?”
And as if on cue, Da-eun caught him staring.
She winked.
Jake frowned.
Suspicious.
Too suspicious.
But before he could spiral into suspicion fueled overanalysis, Sora came running over, practically skipping, cheeks flushed pink from the breeze.
“Hermano!” she chirped. “Here’s the book you wanted to borrow from the library!”
Jake blinked.
“Oh. Right.” He took it, eyeing her carefully. “You okay?”
“Yup!” She beamed, bouncing slightly. “Just tired. Gotta go! Love you!”
And then she ran off again, yelling something back to Seori as the group of girls started moving toward the dorms.
Jake turned to glance over his shoulder and there was Sunoo, pretending to scroll through his phone on a nearby bench, failing terribly at acting casual.
He looked up for just a second.
And Sora who should have been running toward the girls glanced back.
Eyes locked.
Something soft passed between them. A breathless second of stillness.
Then she turned away like nothing happened.
Jake blinked. “...Naur. Definitely imagining things.”
But deep down, a quiet part of him whispered, “You’re not.”
────୨ৎ────
The sun was barely up, fog still curling around the mountains outside the coven mansion when all seven men...well, six, minus one currently MIA Kim Sunoo, sat in the war room.
Not that they were at war.
Yet.
But from the sound of it? That might change soon.
“What the hell is going on?” Jake groaned, dragging his hands down his face as he paced near the window. “The girls are hiding something. I know it. And Sunoo’s acting weird.”
“He’s always sneaky,” Ni-ki grumbled from where he sat, arms crossed. “But lately? He disappears. Doesn’t spar. Doesn’t even mock me. That’s concerning.”
Sunghoon nodded. “And the girls? They’re tight lipped. Kija literally smacked my hand when I asked what they were whispering about. Like full power smack. I’m still bruised.”
“That’s because you were trying to read her phone,” Jay snorted.
“I was being sneaky,” Sunghoon admitted. “But still.”
“Jiyoon pretended not to hear me twice yesterday,” Heeseung said, clearly more amused than bothered. “She usually can’t go ten minutes without trying to emotionally regulate all of us.”
Jungwon, seated at the head of the table, let out a long, slow sigh and rubbed his temples like he had the beginnings of a migraine. “Are we really having a meeting because Sunoo has a crush on Sora?”
Jake whirled around. “A crush?!”
Jungwon deadpanned. “What else could it be? He’s brooding, disappearing, avoiding eye contact…classic signs.”
Heeseung raised an eyebrow. “You just described yourself when we ran out of imported blood.”
“Exactly,” Jungwon muttered.
“But,” Ni-ki interjected, “there’s something off. Like…tension.”
“Sexual tension?” Jay offered.
Everyone turned to stare at him.
Jay shrugged, tossing a grape into his mouth. “What? You’ve all been dancing around it. You’re telling me none of you have considered that they might be-” He paused for dramatic effect, then wiggled his eyebrows. “...shagging?”
The room exploded.
Jake shot out of his chair like it was on fire. “I will murder him.”
Sunghoon barked out a laugh. “Bro, breathe-”
“He’s my best friend!”
“You threatened all of us,” Ni-ki reminded him. “Pretty sure Sunoo took that to heart.”
“And yet here we are!” Jake threw his arms up. “What if they have kissed? What if they’ve done more than kiss? What if she’s...OH MY GOD, WHAT IF SHE’S-”
“Okay, shut up,” Jungwon snapped, standing up. His voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
Silence fell.
Jungwon pointed to Jay. “No more hypothetical shagging.”
Then at Jake. “Stop spiraling.”
Then to the rest. “And none of you are helping.”
“I think it’s kind of romantic,” Heeseung said under his breath, only for Jay to slap him upside the head.
Jake sat back down reluctantly, seething. “If I find out they’re dating, I swear to the moon, I’ll...”
“Do nothing,” Jungwon finished for him. “Because you’d lose your best friend and your sister. And you’re not stupid enough for that.”
Jake grumbled something that sounded like “debatable.”
Jay leaned back in his chair with a smirk. “I’m just saying...if they are shagging, they’re doing a damn good job hiding it.”
And just as Jake lunged across the table again, Sunoo walked in, calm, pristine, hair flawless, sipping boba with popping blood pearls like he hadn’t just become Public Enemy #1.
He paused at the sight of the tension in the room.
“...Did I miss something?”
Silence.
Glares.
Murderous glints.
Jay smiled. “Nothing, mate. Just talking about how good you are at hiding secrets.”
Sunoo raised an eyebrow.
Jake’s eye twitched.
And Jungwon? He just muttered, “I need a vacation.”
────୨ৎ────
Sora was trying to sip her iced matcha in peace.
Keyword: trying.
“Admit it,” Da-eun sing songed, her sharp fangs peeking out as she grinned wickedly. “You’re totally sneaking around with him.”
“I am not!” Sora hissed, cheeks pink as she hugged her drink like it might save her. “We’re just talking.”
“Oh, is that what we’re calling it now?” Jiyoon smirked from where she was painting her nails black she didn't even look up, but her tone was soaked in amusement.
"Yeah with tongue," Da-eun cackled.
Seori, legs tossed lazily over the arm of the couch, added, “You know, for a shadow fae, you’re real bad at hiding things lately.”
Sora's face was flushed now. “I’m not hiding anything...!”
“You literally vanished from the ball with him,” Kija said, brushing her thick black hair behind her ear like she was the queen of evidence. “We waited at the chocolate fountain for you for fifteen minutes.”
“I dropped a macaron into the fondue in your honor,” Da-eun added with a wink.
“Guys!” Sora shrieked, burying her face in her hands as her wings threatened to flicker behind her. “He’s Jake’s best friend. I’m already doomed.”
“That didn’t stop you from sucking face like a starved nymph,” Jiyoon teased, now definitely looking up. “You were glowing. Glowing, babe.”
“Was not!” she mumbled into her palms.
Seori cackled. “Your fae magic literally pulsed into the floor. You lit up like a mating firefly.”
Kija smirked, “Honestly, I’m proud. Our baby is all grown up.”
“Shut up,” Sora groaned, trying to crawl into the couch cushion.
A knock.
No, not even a knock. Just the front door opening.
All five girls turned toward the hallway at once like animals sensing a predator. And when he stepped into view, tall, graceful, that stupidly expensive dark shirt hugging his lean frame, his icy eyes locked onto one person.
Sunoo.
He didn’t speak.
He didn’t even blink.
He just lifted one hand and reached it out toward her.
The room went still.
“Oh my God,” Jiyoon whispered, eyes wide with delight.
Sora swallowed thickly, her heart hammering as she stood up on instinct. She reached for him. And in a heartbeat, Shadow. Swallowed. Everything.
A crack of dark light folded through the space and Sora and Sunoo were gone.
They landed in the middle of her dorm room, the air still humming with the remnants of magic.
Sora barely had time to gasp before she was being backed into the wall, Sunoo’s lips crashing onto hers, all control shattering like glass under his hands.
His fingers were in her hair, his other hand gripping her hip with just enough restraint to keep from bruising. The kiss was deep, needy, their mouths meeting like a match struck to flame soft, hot, unrelenting.
She whimpered softly into him as her arms looped around his neck.
“Sunoo…” she breathed against his lips, but he didn’t stop.
Didn’t even try.
He kissed her like he was starving.
Like he had waited too damn long to touch her again and couldn’t go another second without doing so.
“You drive me crazy,” he muttered into her mouth, his voice low, dark, possessive. “Every time you smile. Every time you look at someone else. Every time you vanish into the shadows when I need to see you.”
Her hands slid up into his hair. “I thought you were the composed one.”
“I was,” he growled, lips now trailing hotly down her jaw. “Then you kissed me.”
His fangs scraped gently against her neck, and her wings flickered barely contained magic rippling off her skin.
“Sunoo-”
He pulled back just enough to look at her, eyes glowing slightly, lips swollen from kissing, and he smiled like he owned her soul.
And maybe he did.
Because she leaned up again, wrapping her fingers around his collar, and dragged him down to her again.
They didn’t make it to the bed.
Didn’t even try.
He was going to snap. Break into a thousand splinters. And it wouldn’t be pretty.
The mark on his neck still burned, not from being bitten, but from being denied the one thing that had driven him to the brink.
Her.
She had let him love her. Had tangled her hands in his hair, whispered his name until it no longer sounded like a name but a prayer, had cried into his neck when it was over. Beautiful and undone, skin glowing with leftover magic and fae moonlight.
But she hadn’t let him bite her.
Not yet.
Not until he talked to Jake.
Her damn brother.
His best friend.
The boy who had nearly murdered another man for simply taking her on a date.
────୨ৎ────
Sunoo sat hunched over the edge of the obsidian marble table in the council room, forehead pressed to his steepled hands, his mind spinning with memories of her voice, her touch, her soft body arched against his under the golden lighting of her room.
He hadn’t even made it to the bed.
He hadn’t cared. He’d made love to her on the floor like a starved man worshipping the only salvation he had ever known.
And then she stopped him. Whispered against his lips, "Not until you talk to him, please. It has to be done right."
He hadn’t argued. He’d just held her, shaking from the restraint.
But that restraint had its limit.
And it ended tonight.
He had called the others. Said it was urgent. A council meeting. All seven of them.
Because if he was going down for this, he was going down honest. If Jake was going to punch him in the throat, let it be in front of witnesses. Let it be after he told the truth. After he proved that he loved her. Not just as a mate. But as his.
He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the echo of phantom wings and her laughter somewhere in his chest. Her magic hadn’t left him. It was swirling beneath his skin like a second heartbeat.
The door creaked.
He stood up just as footsteps echoed from the hall.
Jay entered first, hands in his pockets, sharp jaw tighter than usual. Then Heeseung, expression unreadable. Ni-ki, dragging his feet with a half-eaten rice cake. Sunghoon and Jungwon, talking lowly instantly pausing when they saw Sunoo’s face. And then Jake.
Jake’s eyes narrowed slightly, sensing something in the air. “What’s going on?”
Sunoo straightened his back.
This was it. He was either going to die or walk out with a mate officially his.
He opened his mouth but the room hadn’t even begun to burn yet.
“I need you to shut up for a minute,” Sunoo said.
It was the first thing out of his mouth. No preamble. No warm up. Just nuclear detonation.
Jake blinked at him from across the room.
Jay muttered low, “Oh shit.”
The others didn’t speak. Not even Jungwon.
Sunoo’s voice was calm but behind it was a storm. “I know this is insane. And I know I probably should’ve waited, or sent you a memo or something, but,” he took a breath, ran a hand through his hair, “...I need to say this. All of it. And then you can do whatever you want. Yell. Hit me. Kill me.”
Jay:, “Definitely hit. Maybe kill. We’ll vote.”
“Shut up,” Jake growled.
Sunoo exhaled slowly, eyes locked on the floor for half a second before lifting them to Jake. And then he let it out. Every single word.
“I love her.”
Silence.
“I’ve loved her for a while. Even before I felt the bond spark. I knew what she was to me the second I saw her, long before she ever smiled at me or looked me in the eyes. You told us to stay away from her. And I did. For months. I listened to you. I ignored her. I made her feel invisible, and I hated myself for it.”
He didn’t look away. Not once.
“But Jake…it’s her. It’s always been her. And I would never, ever hurt her. You know me. You know me. And I know she’s your sister she’s precious to you. But she’s precious to me, too. I want to protect her. Make her laugh. Worship the ground she walks on because she deserves that.”
His voice cracked just a breath.
“I didn’t choose this. I didn’t choose her as a mate. But I would’ve chosen her in every lifetime, every timeline, every universe. Even if she wasn’t mine. Even if it killed me.”
No one breathed.
Sunoo went on, quieter now.
“If you want to punch me, fine. If you want to murder me, I won’t stop you. But don’t think I’d ever take what I have with her lightly. I’d die before I let anything happen to her.”
His shoulders dropped. Tension bled from his bones.
“I love your sister,” he finished. “And I don’t want to hide it anymore.”
They stared at each other.
Jake didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just glared. And glared. And glared.
CRACK.
Jake’s fist connected with Sunoo’s jaw so fast, the others barely saw it coming.
Sunoo went flying. Literally. Across the room, over the sofa, landing in a perfect vampire crouch with a wobble.
He pressed a hand to his jaw, blinking.
“Ow,” he muttered, tongue poking at the bruised skin.
Ni-ki, from the side, eating popcorn, “Damn. That was a good one.”
Jake exhaled, slowly walking over.
“I swear to God, Sunoo…” he said, voice low and deadly. “If you hurt her. If you so much as make her cry, I will snap your neck, drain your soul, and leave your ashes in a garden gnome’s asshole.”
Sunoo blinked. “…That’s…graphic.”
Jake stepped closer. “And no fucking kissing around me. Ever. Got it?”
Sunoo swallowed. “Crystal clear.”
Jake finally sat down, arms crossed like a petulant king on a throne. “Good.”
Silence.
Jay burst into laughter. “Holy shit, we knew it! I said they were shagging!”
“I thought she was just really sleazy lately,” Heeseung muttered.
“She blushed six times in English Lit yesterday,” Sunghoon added.
Jungwon sighed, rubbing his temples. “This entire coven is feral.”
“I’m not feral,” Ni-ki said, still chewing.
“Yes you are,” Jay, Sunghoon, Heeseung, Jake, and Sunoo all said at once.
Meanwhile…
Sora sneezes again.
Claire looks up from her potion notes in alchemy class. “Jesus, that’s the seventh one.”
Sora sniffles and whispers, “Someone’s talking shit about me.”
Claire grins. “Or thinking about you.”
Sora pauses.
…Oh no.
────୨ৎ────
The grand Sim estate was bathed in warm autumn gold, the late sun spilling across the marble floors like melted honey. The massive front doors swung open as the coven and their mates arrived, footsteps, laughter, and a low rumble of voices echoing into the mansion like a thunderstorm of youthful chaos.
Jake was the first to burst inside.
“EOMMA!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, arms flailing. “Sora HAS A SOULMATE AND SHE LET HIM BITE HER!”
Chaos detonated.
Sora groaned loudly from behind him, shoving his shoulder. “Jake, I swear to the gods, shut up-”
But it was too late.
Julia, Jakes birth mother who was visiting stopped dead in her tracks, Jake’s elegant, always soft spoken mother gasps, her hands flying to her heart like she’d just witnessed the start of a romance drama she didn’t approve of but couldn’t stop watching.
“Oh my stars! Baby, why didn’t you tell me?” She rushes over, cupping Sora’s face, inspecting her neck for bite marks like she was searching for a scratch on a porcelain doll. “Was it painful? Were you safe? Did he do it right?”
“Mama!” Sora yelps, cheeks burning red. “Please don’t ask me that in front of everyone.”
Her father stoic and unreadable as ever stood several feet away with his arms crossed, gaze slowly swiveling toward Sunoo like he was calculating the fastest way to end his life and hide the body with class.
Sunoo, to his credit, held eye contact…for about two seconds. Then he bowed his head politely and decided silence was the better survival strategy.
“Is that him?” Mr. Sim asked lowly, finally speaking. “The one who bit my daughter?”
Sunoo cleared his throat. “Yes, sir.”
“And you’re still standing?”
“…Yes, sir?”
Mr. Sim gave the smallest nod. Wrapped his arms around his wife Mrs. Sim. That was all.
Kija leaned over to whisper to Sora, “Okay but like...your dad’s scary hot when he’s mad. Does he have a single younger brother?”
“Stop,” Sora whispered back, horrified.
Meanwhile, Da-eun had already thrown herself across the polished floor and declared, “This is better than Netflix.”
Ni-ki picked her up by the back of her hoodie like a kitten and muttered, “You’re embarrassing.”
Seori was on the velvet couch with Julia, holding her hand dramatically. “I think I should get a bonus for helping orchestrate this love story.”
“You just sat there in a red dress looking pretty,” Sunghoon pointed out, arm slung lazily around Kija.
“Exactly,” Seori said. “The sacrifice.”
Jiyoon, ever the empath, was casually pressing a calming hand to Mr. Sim’s shoulder while Heeseung stood beside her like a proud but silently frightened husband.
Jay was eating cookies from the tea tray like he wasn’t witnessing a possible family meltdown.
Jungwon looked like he was praying and questioning life, while mumbling about a vacation far from here.
And in the middle of it all, Jake beamed, hands on his hips like he’d saved the world by snitching.
When no one was looking, Sunoo took two smooth steps toward Sora, gently caught her wrist, and pulled her behind a column.
She blinked up at him, breath caught.
“You’re insane,” she whispered.
“So are you,” he whispered back.
And then his lips met hers quick and soft and impossibly warm. Her heart flipped, and her shadows curled around her ankles like shy kittens.
When he pulled back, Jake’s voice rang out again, “WHERE’S SORA???? ARE YOU KISSING HER BEHIND A WALL?!”
She vanished in shadows before he could catch them.
Sunoo turned, grinning smugly.
Jake pointed a finger at him. “I’M WATCHING YOU, VAMPIRE SCUMBAG.”
Sunoo just nodded. “That’s fair.”
And across the mansion filled with witches and vampires, fae and immortals, sirens and soulmates.
It was clear.
This wasn’t just chaos.
This was home.
This was what living was all about.
