Mate
by Ali Hazelwood
Contents
Prologue
Overview
During a brutal attack on a house, a neglected child is abandoned by her mother and left to hide alone while the adults around her are killed. A fearsome intruder discovers the child and appears to be death itself, but he unexpectedly spares her, calls for a social worker, and takes responsibility for the lone survivor. The prologue establishes the child's traumatic past and a pivotal rescue that may alter the course of her life.
Summary
An unnamed child has learned to survive through neglect and fear. When attackers break into her home, the child runs to her mother not for comfort but to urge her to flee. The mother pulls away without helping the child, forcing the child to retreat upstairs alone.
Upstairs, the child tries to warn a sleeping Were in the bedroom, even though he frightens her. The Were responds with anger and almost hits the child, but he pauses when he realizes something is wrong. Because danger is closing in, the child hides in a closet and tries to steady herself by counting while screams, insults, and the sounds of violence spread through the house.
When blood seeps under the closet door, the child loses control and gasps, revealing her hiding place. A dark, terrifying man opens the closet and finds her. The child expects to be killed, especially after seeing the dead Were behind him, but the man tells her that her noise is not the reason he found her, because he could smell her as soon as he entered the house.
As someone downstairs calls up to him, the man notices the child crying. Instead of hurting her, he wipes away her tears and orders that a social worker be called because there is one survivor. He tells the child that this is better than what came before, asks when she last ate, and offers to take her downstairs for something warm. Believing he may also help her mother, the child lets him carry her through the blood and clings to him as she begins counting again.
Who Appears
- The childNeglected young survivor who tries to warn others, hides during the attack, and is unexpectedly spared.
- The dark manFearsome intruder who kills the Were, finds the child, and rescues her instead of murdering her.
- The motherChild's emotionally distant mother who refuses the child's plea and is apparently killed in the attack.
- The sleeping WereCruel man in the bedroom whom the child warns; he dismisses her and is later found dead.
- Voice downstairsUnseen ally of the dark man who asks what is needed and is told to call a social worker.