Pray aloud for the victim (4)
I believe the answer is:
prey
'the victim' is the definition.
(prey is a kind of victim)
'pray aloud' is the wordplay.
'aloud' shows a homophone (sound like).
'pray' is a homophone of 'PREY'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for prey that I've seen before include "Animal hunted by another for food" , "Animal's quarry" , "Animal hunted and killed for food" , "Quarry, target" , "Hunted creature" .)