Here's your expanded chapter (≈1500+ words), keeping your plot intact while deepening tension, atmosphere, and emotion:
They left before sunrise.
Not quietly. Not secretly. But with intention.
The sky still wore the deep blue of night's last breath, the horizon only just beginning to pale like a secret about to be told. Mist clung low to the ground, curling around the wheels of the convoy as though reluctant to let them go.
The formation gathered at the edge of the eastern drive, black vehicles lined in precise order, their surfaces gleaming faintly beneath the dim light. They were reinforced not just with modern steel, but with older protections, ancient magic woven into their frames like invisible armor. It hummed faintly in the air, a quiet promise that this journey would not go unanswered.
Wolves moved alongside them, some in fur, others in flesh. Shifting in practiced rhythm. Guardians of both instinct and strategy.
This was not a mission.
It was a statement.
