Page 40 of Priest’s Sunbeam (Renegade Souls MC: Next Generation #2)

Sunshine

The sun-filled Thursday started normally.

Nothing unusual happened while she ate breakfast in the kitchen with Seb.

He’d been burning the candle pretty low lately, and she was there to support her husband with her presence, knowing there was nothing else she could do for him while he hunted for a man who’d last seen Seb when he was only a little boy, somehow held a grudge against her man.

The sweetest man on earth. Even estranged, she couldn’t figure out why a father would do that.

What he had against Seb, she couldn’t figure out. But it was easy to see how it affected him.

He didn’t even like her going out alone without someone else with her. Several times that week, her dad had driven to the house to run errands with her.

Being a legacy kid, she didn’t question their cautionary tactics, even though it was inconvenient to have her dad there while she went to pick up her birth control pills.

So the day started well.

Even better, when Seb grabbed her around the waist and sat Sunny on his lap to listen to what she was working on that day, he looked tired as she ran her fingers through his hair.

She wanted him to hand the case over to the police, to give the burden to anyone else, but that wasn’t who Seb was.

And because the danger also touched her, he worked diligently until he fell exhausted into bed every night.

And then a call came to make her husband rush out to the garage and mount his bike.

For the rest of the day, Sunny kept in touch with him via a few texts to let her know he was okay, but he would return by dinnertime.

That time came and went.

Every wife and girlfriend worried like a cop’s wife worried for her man. Dreading the knock on the door to let them know something bad had happened to their partner.

The danger of their job was always there, and Harper, knowing that, too, came to keep her company. Their other friends, Lily and Valentina, joined them later, bringing wine and snacks.

“Did Cain say where they were going?” she asked Harper.

“No, babe.” But Sunny got the sense her friend was holding something back. Cain told Harper everything, as if he were under oath.

Texas’ daughter, Valentina, chimed in next as she poured everyone a glass of white wine. “At least three skilled trackers are in Seb’s troop, Sunny. They’re gonna find the prick father and cut his dick off for the trouble he’s caused.”

“Eww,” Lily said. She was their sweet, delicate dancer friend, though she’d been to so many rough underground fights because of her former champion father, Tag. “Why would they even want to touch his penis? I’d just shoot him. Clean shot and done. Maybe poison, that’s an option, too.”

“Little savage.” Harper laughed.

Val grinned. “It’s symbolic. You mess with me, I mess with you, but in a way, you’ll never forget.”

“You would suit being the queen to a king of the underworld, Val. You have such a hidden thirst for vengeance.” Lily pursed her lips, amused.

“Bad boys are too much trouble,” Val answered, flicking hair over her shoulder. “When I decide I want to date seriously, it’ll be someone I can control. And who wouldn’t know how to commit a crime if their life depended on it. Maybe an investment banker. Or a chef.”

“I bet you fifty bucks you go the complete opposite way.” Lily goaded.

“I’ll go with that bet, too. Our Valentina will fall so hard for a vicious lunatic.” Harper said, half-laughing.

“You hooked the biggest lunatic, babe. You have no room to talk.”

“I did. But yours is out there somewhere, probably lighting the fuse to a bomb as we speak or doing epic fraud. Lil’s, make a note of the bet.”

Val rolled her eyes, and Lily started making a note on her phone.

“It’s done!” she declared.

Half laughing, Sunny reached for her glass when she caught a distinct noise.

Suddenly, the laughter stopped.

Please let Seb be okay .

She’d had a bad feeling all day.

The tension in the kitchen snapped like a living thing as the group of them heard the roar of the motorcycles turning into the small street and pulling into the carport. Sunny jumped off the bar stool, wondering silently what they’d see coming through the door.

“They’re back,” Saint said, strolling out of the study where he’d been camped since the girls showed up. He’d drawn Sunny duty, sticking close, eating his weight in donuts, fiddling with his tech, and half-listening while they gossiped.

Saint wasn’t just smart—he was dangerously smart.

That kid could hack the government before breakfast and still rule the world by dinnertime, appearing bored while doing it.

He wasn’t riding with the Souls yet—at least not legally. Everyone knew his old man taught him young, but he was stuck behind for now. Saint might’ve looked like a pretty boy with his clean jaw, full mouth, and icy blue eyes, but that was just the outer package.

Underneath, he was a blade-honed, razor-sharp. Deadly, fast, and scary good with a knife and barely a conscience for causing a bloodbath.

Sunny was assured that the girls were safe with Saint. If anything went sideways, he wouldn’t hesitate to leave bodies behind.

As the back door opened, the boys stepped through, one after the other.

Alpha, Dax, Cain, Mateo, Pasha. Sunny only held her breath to see one man coming through the door, and her heart ramped up when she saw Sebastian’s head behind Mateo.

She instantly scanned him for any apparent injuries.

None of the boys looked worse for wear, which could mean they’d gotten into scrapes but came off the victor.

Or it meant they had seen no violence during their time out.

Sunny knew how tough being a biker’s wife was when her man risked his life to protect them. She’d felt sick all day being away from Seb. And then he was striding through the door with his powerful gait. Sunny’s world realigned again, and her heart thudded fast.

Other bikers followed him into their house, but she only saw him.

Relief stung her eyes. Her arms were laden with heaviness, aching to hold him.

His eyes, when Seb raised his dark head and their gazes clashed, made the air evaporate from her lungs. He had only one direction as he moved, and she saw it was to get to her.

Sunny had the same mindset. Her pulse fluttered madly.

She instantly pushed off the counter and moved her feet toward him. Somehow, everyone got out of their way, and their fingers connected; Sebastian pulled Sunny forward, and she moved into his body.

“Are you okay? What happened?” she asked. His quietness rattled her nerves.

His eyes were turbulent, like two storms swirling within the colors, and Sunny knew by the tightness around Seb’s mouth and how firm his jawline was that he was holding a lot of rage inside.

She didn’t need the answers, she realized, because touching him, seeing he had come home unscathed, was enough.

However, she noticed a great deal in a short period.

Like how when Sebastian’s fingers locked onto her hips, they were tighter. Harder than he’d ever held her. And he was brimming beneath his skin like he couldn’t hold on to his anger. His eyes were so tortured that when she rushed her hands up his bulging arms, she felt him trembling.

Without another word, Sebastian let his head fall a few inches. One hand remained on her hip, but the other came around the nape, angling her up as his mouth crashed down on hers. He swallowed her surprised gasp, but gave her back a delicious grunt of his.

Their connection buzzed under her skin. Knowing his devastating kiss was Seb extinguishing his frustration with the only person he trusted it with.

It didn’t matter that they were in a kitchen full of babbling people.

His seeking mouth and hot tongue shattered Sunny’s senses with every deep, hot lick between her open lips.

Seb kissed her like a man possessed, keeping her plastered up against his body, angled up on her tiptoes to reach his mouth.

It seemed like he was planning to engulf Sunny with pleasure, to overwhelm her, and Sunny understood she needed to act to calm her man down, to ease the fury brewing inside him.

It had been only seconds, but Sunny’s lips were burning.

His hand released from around her throat, and before she caught a breath, his eyes gleamed, their choppy breaths matched in sync, and then Sebastian slammed his lips down on hers again.

His kisses were always passionate, but this one burned with legendary desperation and rage.

While she barely heard Alpha recount their leads were dead ends and Harper passing around the plate of sandwiches she’d been building for the last hour, Seb kept Sunny pressed into the fridge while he ate at her mouth as if he were trying to suck secrets from the bottom of her soul.

When they parted, she still felt his body simmering as he pressed their foreheads together.

Her next move wasn’t a hard decision.

She took his hand in hers, holding tight when his forehead furrowed.

“Entertain yourselves.” She told their friends.

They’d guess what Sunny and Seb would do in a second.

She should feel embarrassed, but she didn’t.

As she led Seb across the kitchen, she paused next to the portable music dock and switched it on.

The music started playing, and she turned up the volume.

It showed how close they were that he trailed Sunny into the garage without asking questions as she closed the door behind them.

They trusted each other implicitly. They’d built their foundations, brick by brick, over decades, right from birth. Seb could ask her for anything, and she’d be there for him.

They might be on a more romantic path together now, but their devotion to each other was established long ago.

Sunny had always needed Seb like oxygen. If given the choice of a last breath or a last kiss with Seb before she died, she wouldn’t hesitate to taste his lips.

He was vital .