Page 1 of Safe in His Arms

Chapter One

Roman

Roman was restless, and he wasn’t sure why, but all he knew was he couldn’t stay home tonight, he needed to go out. He considered going on a run, but that didn’t feel right to him either.

Ro looked around his room and considered his options, he could go hang out with the guys, his brothers, and cousins, but he wasn’t up to being social either. There was a weird itch under his skin, like his wolf was trying to take control. And that hadn’t happened since he’d gotten control of his shifting when he was about ten years old.

Maybe he just needed a good fuck to get it out of his system. His wolf tilted its head to the side considering, apparently that wasn’t what he wanted, but it was a good enough way to go for his human side.

Ro hadn’t been into town recently. They’d all been busy, his oldest brother, Rick, who was also the new alpha of their pack after their dad retired, had decided to do a lot of renovations. In preparation for their mates, he’d said.

Roman had snorted. None of them were mated, but his three older brothers and his cousins were ready and waiting. As the almost last child Ro was indifferent either way. His younger brother by a couple of minutes, Ronin, felt the same way he did. Well mostly he was ready for his mate, but not looking.

Ronin was off doing some work for the pack. Apparently, Rick thought that the best way to get them mated was by going to packs in surrounding states and then setting up some sort of work exchange programs, giving other alphas and omegas the chance to go out and find their mates.

Honestly, it wasn’t that Ro didn’t want a mate, he just hadn’t thought about it either way. If it happened, then awesome, but if it didn’t, well, he wasn’t searching either way. At least not yet. He was young enough that he had plenty of time.

Ro decided going out was better than spending his time wallowing or overthinking. He was in the weirdest funk.

Ro concluded going out was definitely the way to go, even though he'd almost talked himself out of it. So, he got off his couch where he'd parked himself after getting off work, jumped in the shower and got washed up quickly, then dressed in his favorite faded jeans and a nice flannel shirt. He was a simple guy that way. It wasn’t that he wasn’t into fashion, actually yeah, that was what it was. Ro wasn’t into it at all. He was more comfort over anything else.

It drove his middle brother crazy, but River was a bit of a diva anyway. Okay, he was the only omega in the midst of alphas, so that was what probably drove him crazy. Not that the little dude hadn’t learned to get his point across and he would fillet Ro for calling him little.

Ro drove out of the family compound, although that wasn’t exactly the right word for their home. It was more like acres and acres of land that belonged to the pack. Actually, most of the town belonged to them, but his family lived on the outskirts backing up to the large forest. It made pack runs easier.

Some pack members lived here with them in their own homes, others lived in town, but gathered on their land for monthly shifting and runs. A wolf should not be trapped for long amounts of time. That was a lesson that his second brother Ryder had learned when he’d gone off to the city to get his law degree.

Every member, whether or not they lived on pack lands, was allowed to come and run as they pleased.

As Ro drove through the pack lands he waved at some of the kids, some in pup form, others in human. Most houses were fenced in, especially for families that had pups, so they could play safely. One of the only reasons Ro ever felt like getting mated sometimes, was the idea of having a pup of his own.

As he drove into town Ro tried imagining what it would be like to have an omega of his own, but honestly, he couldn’t even picture it, so he put it aside.

Driving through the town that had been owned by his family since shifters had settled in the new world, Ro felt a sense of pride, especially since he was the one who had handled a lot of the renovations. He’d found he was good with his hands and his father, their old alpha, had made him the main contractor for the pack and humans who had settled here.

Ro pulled into one of the two bars in town. This one was run by a wolf shifter family, though that wasn’t the reason he chose it since both wolves and humans alike came here.

Tonight he was too on edge and he figured this was a safer bet.

Sitting in his car, he glanced up at the winking neon light that said bar, orB.Rsince theAseemed to be out. Ro made a mental note to come around and get it fixed. The bar was owned by a lovely beta/omega couple, and even though they ran a wonderful bar, they weren’t exactly handy, but the food was amazing, and it was one of the few hangouts in town, so business was always booming for them. Not to mention their town was kind of a stopping-off point between a couple of major cities, so they got bikers, truck drivers, and the like stopping by.

They also had some awesome fishing, some surrounding mountains, that got some climbers, mountain bikers and anglers visiting.

As he stepped out of his car, for some reason his wolf sat up, and his spirits lifted. Apparently, he was supposed to be here today…

A thrill of anticipation coursed through Ro’s body, and he wasn’t sure why, but he would take it over the itchy, on edge feeling he’d been having.

His wolf was feeling perked up, and Ro wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t sure what had the beast energized, especially since Ro figured he would recognize most of the people in the bar anyway.

Maybe you just need to be around people.Ro shook his head. Nah, that answer didn’t fly since he could have gone over to any of his brothers’ or cousins’ homes and hung out.

The bouncer at the bar Jason nodded at Ro. He was a brawny alpha who also worked on Ro’s construction crew, but he worked at the bar at night too. He wasn’t much use most nights, but since they did get people passing through, and Rex and Parker, the omega/beta couple didn’t have their alpha yet, they needed the extra security.

The bar was busier than Ro expected, although since it was a Friday night he shouldn’t be that surprised. When Ro got inside the bar, he stood at the entrance for a moment taking everything in. Since he was part of therulingfamily, some of the wolves present nodded to him with a slight tilt of their heads as a sign of respect.

Ro wasn’t about that formal shit, but he knew what he was supposed to do, so he nodded back, but added a smile for each person.

There were more humans here than he’d expected, and none of them looked like they lived in town. The good thing about their town’s location was they were close to so many cities and still kept the small town vibe, but his father—and now his brother—had kept up with the times, modernizing and advancing.