Chapter 1
Noelle Evergreen
It was a cold, blustery evening, just after sunset on Fifth Avenue, and Christmas was fast approaching. This was the time of year that I had a conflicted feeling going through me. I loved Christmas, but I was also lonely. So this gave me a special version of my own holiday blues. I liked being surrounded by the magical Christmas settings of New York City, but I also felt sad that I did not have a romantic partner at my side to share it with—a someone in particular that I had loved and lost years before.
I walked past the decorative store windows. It gave me a bittersweet feeling. I stopped in front of one of the decorative department store windows. The main theme was the color red, but it was a sad red, not a cheerful red. It was like a Victorian Christmas scene. There were wooden toys and heavy ornaments decorating skinny trees. The stringed lights were a low twinkling red, and it only added to the sadness of the Victorian Christmas scene. It was beautiful, but it also reflected exactly what I felt: Christmas loneliness.
I continued to walk down the store-lined street looking at each decorative window. I wished that I had someone at my side that was keeping me warm. I took a drink of my hot chocolate just to warm myself up from the inside. I stopped to take in the Barneys’ window. This one was not Victorian looking. It was happy and magical, with a fake giant white Christmas cake with red and green decorations. A massive wall, the front of a gingerbread house was the backdrop, and out in front were small frolicking elves. It was beautiful. It put a smile on my face. It was silly that I felt so lonely and sad because I was doing quite well for myself since I returned to Earth.
I worked in the corporate office of Hevina, a luxury fashion brand, and I had all the perks that came with it, including a fat salary. This fashion brand was different and put a lot of thought into the materials it used, like recycled plastic to make pleather skirts and so on. It was a fun place to be, and I considered myself lucky to be a high-ranking buyer at the company. My job entailed traveling to find the materials that we would use for our line of clothes. I was wearing the white crème-colored boots that they created, which were made of recycled plastic scooped from the ocean. Besides my awesome job, I also had an amazing loft overlooking Central Park, and I had a good friend base, yet I was lonely, and no matter how many dates I went on, no one could measure up to him, the weredragon Gavonn. No one ever would in my heart, and that was a major problem, considering he was thousands of light-years away.
I continued walking, determined to enjoy my walk along the Christmas windows and trying not to think of him.
My cell phone rang.
“Hello,” I said.
“Noelle, where are you?” Betty said. She was a good friend, and one of my closest.
“I am walking down Fifth Avenue,” I said to her.
“Don't tell me you were looking at the window displays again? You do that every day, and then you make yourself feel sad,” she said knowing me well.
“I just wanted to go for a walk,” I said rolling my eyes.
“Well, I'm glad that you are in the area. I have big news. Meet me for a drink at The Plaza in ten minutes,” she said.
“What news? Is this about work?” I asked.
“No. It is much more exciting. But I want to tell you in person. Just meet me all right,” she said.
“Okay. I am already headed in that direction anyway. I will see you in ten minutes,” I said and then hung up the phone. I was only about four blocks away from the hotel.
The Plaza Hotel was decorated in the utmost Christmas luxury that a hotel could possibly have. There were white twinkling lights on the outside with elegant, clean lines. The doorman opened the door, and I walked in. In the lobby was a towering white Christmas tree with icy light blue ornaments and silver-white presents underneath. It was elegant and beautiful. I sat down in the lobby and waited for Betty. Her apartment was only about ten minutes away by cab, so I knew that she would be pulling up soon.
Finally, she walked in wearing her black hair in a high ponytail slick and elegant. Her black wool trench coat and black over the knee boots were sophisticated and beautiful. She paired it with a very bright red Christmas lipstick.
“Betty,” I said standing up from the chair and walking over to her.
“Noelle, you look beautiful,” she said with a hug.
“Thank you; so do you. Should we get a drink?” I asked pointing towards the bar.
“Absolutely,” she said, and we walked into the bar.
A few minutes later we were seated with hot bourbon drinks. It was just the perfect drink for a wintery evening.
“So, I can't wait to hear what you have to say. I am anxious,” I said.
“All right, but I hope that you are not going to get upset,” she said.
“What? Why would I get upset? Now you are starting to scare me. What is it?” I asked.
“Okay, but don't freak out. I registered. And I have been matched,” she said.
My mouth fell open. I was stunned. I had no idea. I was silent and could not think of the words to say. I had so many questions.
“Noelle, say something,” she said.
“Sorry. I am just so shocked. You registered? When?” I asked.
“I registered a month ago,” she said.
“You did? Why did you not tell me then?” I asked.
“Because I did not want to upset you. I didn't know if I would ever be matched, so I didn't feel there was a need to upset you without knowing for sure. We all know how upsetting it is for you to think about Gavonn. I know that telling you that I registered would bring back those memories; telling you now is very hard,” she said.
“Oh, I understand. It is upsetting for me, but that does not mean that you should have to keep something like that from me. Of course, I want to hear about it,” I said.
“Really?” she asked.
“Of course I do. I am happy for you, but does this mean you will be leaving?” I asked.
“It does. I will be going to Mooreah, just as you did before,” she said.
As soon as she said the words, I felt sadness wash over me. It did bring back memories. My heart yearned for Gavonn. But I had to stay in the moment. This was why she did not want to tell me in the first place: because of my reaction.
“Tell me everything,” I said with a smile. I didn't want to hear about what she had gone through and who she was going to be with.
“Well, I decided months ago that I really wanted to register. I had always been conflicted about it, as you know, but I just feel like there is no one here for me. I am tired of dating, so I thought why not. I went in to register thinking it would take years to be matched, but yesterday I was matched with one of the Drackon that I had picked in the lineup. He seems great Noelle. I cannot wait to meet him. His name is Ritona, and he is a commander. He is a very attractive weredragon. I am very excited to meet him when I arrive on Mooreah,” she said.
“So you do not get to meet him first, here on Earth?” I asked.
“No, you know that it is rare for that to happen. You are lucky that you were able to have such a luxury. But it is not the typical way of things, as you know,” she said.
“Yes, that is true. I did not think about how lucky I was. So, you registered. You have been matched; this is a very big deal Betty,” I said.
“I know, I can barely believe that it is real. I feel like I am dreaming. I can't believe that I am actually going to do this. It is a bit scary,” she said.
“Yes, traveling thousands of lightyears into space to go live on an alien planet full of weredragons, that is a very scary thing,” I laughed.
“I guess you should know. I would love to get your advice before I go,” she said.
“When do you leave?” I asked.
“I leave next week. It is so fast and sudden, but if I don't go now, then it will be two months before I could go on the next ship. I don't want to wait that long. I want to start the New Year with a Drackon husband and a happy romance and adventure. So I decided to go next week,” she said.
“Next week? Wow. You are really leaving. I am happy for you, but I am also going to miss you dearly. You are one of my best friends, Betty; it is going to be hard without you,” I said with tears forming in my eyes. I had already been feeling lonely; now I was going to be more so because one of my good friends was leaving, and it wasn't like I could just visit her anytime.
“I know. I am going to miss you. I promise I will communicate as often as I can,” she said.
“Well, let's talk about the specifics then. We don't have a lot of time,” I smiled and squeezed her hand.
“Thank you; that means a lot to me,” she said.
We sat there drinking our hot bourbon drinks, and I answered her questions about the process of being a mailorder bride of sorts to the alien race of weredragons known as the Drackon.
Earth had long ago established a system for human females to intermarry with the alien race of Drackon. Human females would register at the registry building. They would then pick out a group of Drackon that they wanted to possibly match with based on a short biography and photographs and short videos. The humans would make note of the woman's choices; then their choices would be sent to the Drackon planet of Mooreah. If the male weredragon that they chose also chose them in return, then it would be declared a match. The human female would be sent off to marry the Drackon weredragons.
The Drackon were a race of shifters. They had many abilities and were a patriarchal male-dominated society of warriors ruled by a king and his royal family. Females had very few advantages in their society unless they were from noble families. I still did not understand it all, but I thought I would get a chance when I was supposed to move there. But that did not happen.
These alien shifters had the ability to shift into part animal, and it was this dragon half that gave them their barbaric and animalistic ways, like a keen sense of smell. In physical appearance, they looked like bigger, stronger versions of human males: about eight to nine feet tall. At that height, everything they had was proportionately bigger. But these shifters did not shift entirely into full dragon form. Instead, large silver wings appeared on their massive back and beautiful colorful scales sprouted on their bodies, like dragon armor.
The weredragon Drackons were an impressive sight, and many women had lined up to register to be a wife to a warrior. Now, my friend was going to be one of them.
When I got home from having drinks and hearing my friend’s news, I tossed and turned all night in bed. I could not stop thinking about him, more so now than ever because of what she said. She was going to go off and marry a weredragon. I had lost my weredragon.
Two years had passed since it happened, and yet I felt like it happened yesterday. I still loved him. I knew that I always would. But after what happened, I didn't even know if he was alive or not. That information was classified and closed to a regular human like me. All I could do was hold onto the memories that I had with Gavonn. I wondered if he was out there somewhere on Mooreah, living a new life.
I would never know. Now that the Christmas season was here, I thought about him more than ever. I had always thought that the next time I celebrated Christmas, I would be on Mooreah with Gavonn. I would teach him what Christmas was and explain everything to him. Of course, he had heard of it; being in contact with humans for years he knew about it, but he could never really know until experiencing it. I thought I would have gotten that chance to do it with him.
I got up out of bed and turned on the bedside lamp. I needed to get these thoughts out of my head. I needed to tell him everything that I wanted to say to him. There was only one way to do it. I needed to write it down. I took out a notepad and a pen. I began to write him a letter. It was a letter that I knew would never get to him, but I needed to pretend that it would. Maybe then I could have some peace of mind.
Dear Gavonn, I miss you, and I still love you. Here in New York, it is snowing. Everything is decorated for the Christmas season. I wanted to celebrate Christmas with you. I know you don't know exactly what that is, but we could create our own traditions. I would’ve decorated our home on Mooreah that we shared together. I would have made a Christmas feast for two on Christmas Eve. At midnight, we would give each other one small gift, something from the heart. The next morning, more gifts and playing outside together. It would be a Christmas miracle to be with you again.
I continued to write the letter, getting everything out of my heart and mind that I needed to release. I cried. Drops of my tears stained the paper. It was good. It was therapeutic. I fell asleep on the bed with a notepad at my side. I was feeling some sense of relief.