Chapter Forty-Five
Blade’s POV
The Nevada desert air was cooling, but the inside of the "Viper’s Den"—the most exclusive, neutral-ground clubhouse in the region—was sweltering. It was a gala of sorts for the criminal underworld; a place where outlaw clubs traded favors, smoothed over blood feuds, and reminded the world that they were the ones who truly owned the highways.
Stone didn't dress down for these things. He wore a clean, pressed leather cut over a crisp black shirt, his heavy rings glinting under the stage lights.
He moved through the crowd like a shark in a school of minnows. At his side was Tessa, his wife. She was a woman who commanded the room with a cold, terrifying elegance, draped in expensive, dark silk that made her look like the queen of a shadow empire. She kept her
