The lights don't turn back on until they come to give us breakfast and top up our water dishes, and by this point I've been awake for an hour. As always I eat fast, as I kneel to drink from the basin bolted to the floor I notice the same wolfblood from yesterday glaring at me from her cell. I ignore her, knowing she's not worth another electric shock.

"She's givin' us that look again'," I mutter to Maddy as I sit down beside her.

"Who is?"

I nod towards the girl.

"Oh. Yeah."

She starts picking at the same hole in her mat.

"You ain't thinkin' that she's right, Mads?"

She says nothing.

"This weren't yer fault, Maddy! Don' believe 'em, they're jus' lookin' fer someone ta blame."

She doesn't look at me.

Three hours pass, and we're chained up in the corridor again for another roll call. Once again I ready myself for a beating, because I refuse to answer to a number.

The pain from a shock under my chin is still lingering when we're released into the yard. Once again the boys are already here, and we head over to Rhydian as soon as we see him.

"Hey guys," he says, "It's- oh shit."

"What?"

I hear them before I see them; a furious clicking of claws on concrete, heading straight for us. All thoughts of the consequences fly from our minds as we wolf out and run. We've barely gone ten meters when I hear a yelp beside me and turn to see that a great black wolf has closed their jaws around Maddy's leg. That's when it goes from a chase to a fight.

We have months of aggression pent up inside of us, and now is the time to release it. I throw myself into the fray and bite and shake and taste blood and feel distant pain, paying just enough attention to my surroundings to ensure that I don't hurt my own pack.

"BREAK IT UP!"

Of course, none of us comply to the guards. I'm in full on fight mode, and nothing will stop me now, not even a man that I barely notice stepping right in front of me. I hear a human roar of pain, and taste a different blood, then there's the thick wire around my throat jerking me backwards, the shock to my side and the command to turn back that I can't obey, the wire tightening to choke me and the sounds of my friends and enemies being dragged apart and hit and shocked.

It takes a few minutes for the pandemonium to end, and for my head to clear enough for me to realize that it's human blood that I'm tasting. A guard is holding me by a pole with a wire loop on the end tightened around my neck, dragging me towards the gates. I try to stop, to turn my head to see my packmates, but another guard loops another wire around my neck and starts dragging me too. I can't pull against both of them, so I have no choice but to follow.

They take me to one of the holding cells off one of the main corridors and fasten one of the metal collars chained to the wall around my neck.

"Turn back!"

I glance at their shockers, and then turn back to human form. Immediately they cuff me and chain my ankles, forcing me to my knees and removing the wires from my neck.

"I di'n't mean t' bite whoever that was! I-"

"Shut up, girl!"

One of them grabs me by the hair and holds me tight as I struggle, seeing out of the corner of my eye what they're going to do.

"Please, it was an accident! I di'n't realise-"

"Quiet!"

I try to squirm away, but they force the wire muzzle over my face and strap it on tight, pinning my jaw closed. I try to wrestle it off as they leave, but it's no use. The door slams shut. The chain on my collar is too short to let me stand or reach the bars, so I have to stay sat against the wall, watching my injuries from the fight add to the collection of bloodstains on my clothes, unable to stop the pain.

I'm not sure how long I've been here, but it's been a while. I know I said I wouldn't cry, but being muzzled is too much for me. I draw my knees up to my chest and hide my face in them, silent tears running down my face. When I hear them coming down the corridor, I try to wipe my eyes on the shoulder of my jumper and put on a brave face. They unlock the collar around my neck and replace it with one on the end of another chain, dragging me out of the cell and along the corridor. We stop at a wooden door. I know where we are now. One of the guards knocks on the door.

"Enter."

They take me into the room and make me stand in front of the desk. In front of the Warden. He looks up at me.

"Six thousand and seventy two. Bit officer Gorman on the leg."

It was an accident! I want to say, but the muzzle prevents it.

"Got in a fight too, yes?"

I don't move. He types something into his computer, then looks at me for a minute. I hold his gaze, knowing that he's trying to make me uncomfortable.

"Put her in solitary."

In some part of my brain I was expecting this, but it still comes as a shock. I try to writhe my way out of their grip when they grab me but they hit and shock me, bundling me out of the room and along the corridor. I can't go into solitary again, it's torture! It gets worse every time too, because you know you're going to loose it, and you can feel yourself losing it, but there's nothing you can do about it.

They open a door and push me down a narrow corridor, only wide enough for us to walk single file. When we get to the cells at the end they take off all my restraints and shove me through one of the metal doors, sliding it shut and locking it. I hammer on the door with my fists and shout, but I can hear them walking away. I sink down to the floor and hold my head in my hands; I've just about gotten used to my usual cell but this is too much. The room is only two meters across each way, completely empty and pitch black. My own little torture chamber, where I've been left with nothing but claustrophobia, loneliness, hunger, thirst, cold and discomfort until they decide that I've suffered enough.

I start to shake. The walls are closing in, I'm sure of it. I can't see them but I can feel them, pressing in on me. The air is getting thicker and heavier too. I can't breathe. I howl, knowing that no one will hear me, and start to pace around in tiny circles. The quiet clicking of my claws is deafening in the silence.

How long has it been? I don't know; there's no way to mark the time in here. It feels like ages. I'm pretty sure dinner time has passed because I'm starving. I'm often hungry, but this is unbearable; it feels like my stomach is eating itself and my mouth is completely dry. I keep pacing, trying to push my hunger to the back of my mind. I tire eventually, of course, and after another age of pacing I fall to the floor and sleep.

I wake up in human form, even hungrier and thirstier than before. For want of something to take out my frustration on, I pull off my shoes, socks and jumper and shred them, throwing the scraps around and losing them in the dark only to find them later when I'd half-forgotten about them. I can feel which shreds of my jumper had the numbers printed on them, and I shred them all over again, furious at this place for numbering me like a prisoner, like I've committed some terrible crime.

My back is starting to itch. I reach over to scratch it, and I feel the numbers there too. Anger flashes across my mind. I don't belong to them, they have no right to brand me!

I have to shred the numbers. My nails turn to claws.

It hurts now. It's like when I split my knuckles against the walls in my cell: it doesn't hurt when I do it, only after. The tiny cell is full of the smell of blood, and I'm freezing, and I'm so hungry and thirsty that it hurts. Did I really deserve this, just for one bite, one accident? I've started to cry without realizing it, writhing in pain because that's all I can do, but soon I can't move anymore. I'm too weak, and I hate it. I'm getting tired again, but it takes a long time for me to sleep.

"Jana?"

The room somehow isn't so dark anymore, and I'm not alone either. I don't recognize her exactly, but she's not a complete stranger either.

"...Mam?"

She nods, laying a hand on my arm, but I can't feel it. I start to push myself onto my elbows.

"Don' try t' get up, love."

I try to take her hand.

"I can't feel you."

I look into her eyes.

"I'm dreamin', aren't I?"

She smiles sadly. "In a way."

I feel a tear run down my face.

"I miss you, Mam. Ev'ry time they hit me fer tellin' them me name I think abou' you an' I miss you. I wish you was with me, Mam."

"I am with you, love. You've bin so brave, Jana. I'm so proud o' you, an' I love you so much, don' forget that."

I'm crying harder now. "Dad hates me."

"Don' worry, love, you'll make up one day."

There's a degree of certainty in her voice when she says this that I can't help but believe, giving me a small moment of comfort. I curl myself up tighter.

"I'm so hungry, Mam," I sob, trying to reach out to her. She seems so sad looking at me.

"You'll have something soon, love, I promise," she says, trying to stroke my hair, "You'll be okay."

I try to shuffle closer to her, somehow feeling both comfort and emptiness when I touch her and feel nothing.

"They hate us 'ere," I sniff, "Jus' cos we're wolfbloods. I wanted so badly ta find a place in their world, Mam, but they hate us now."

"You'll find your place, Jana, I promise. They don' all hate us, love, there's still kindness out there."

I'm finding it hard to keep my eyes open.

"You need some sleep, love."

"No, Mam! I don't want to lose you!"

"You won' lose me, love. You'll be okay."

She lies down beside me. I move closer, expecting to feel nothing, but to my surprise warmth spreads from my chest as she wraps her arms around me. I fall asleep in her arms, and wake up alone as a key clicks in the lock of my cell door.