45 pages • 1-hour read
Ruthless Creatures
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 9-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, sexual content, and cursing.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Kage”
Kage must communicate with Maxim “Max” Mogdonovich, the head of the US chapter of the Bratva, or Russian mafia. Max is currently in federal prison, so to speak to him, the Bratva has to bribe myriad people within the prison system. Max asks if Kage has finished the job he was supposed to do, and Kage lies and says that he did. Kage claims that Nat knows nothing, so he’s pursuing other leads. Kage knows that if anyone discovers he lied about interrogating Nat, then he and Nat will be killed.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Nat”
After researching the process of opening a safe deposit box, Nat still has no idea how David opened one in her name without her being present. Because of this irregularity, Wells Fargo Bank lets Nat inspect the contents of the safe deposit box. In it is a letter from David to Nat. David confirms his love: He can’t wait to spend the rest of his life with her, loves that Nat finds herself in her paintings when she’s lost, and hopes that Nat will find him in her paintings too.
At home, a confused Nat calls Sloane. They discuss David and the box. Nat won’t tell the police about it. She thinks they’re incompetent; plus, one of the detectives suspected that Nat was involved in David’s disappearance. Switching topics to Nat’s strong sexual attraction to Kage, Sloane affirms that David hasn’t left Nat “damaged.”
Chapter 11 Summary: “Nat”
Christmastime arrives. During a winter storm, Nat is painting again. Suddenly, Kage appears. Despite the storm, Kage, a pilot, ignored calls to reroute and landed his plane at the nearest airport.
Kage asks about Chris, whom Kage calls “Deputy Dipshit.” Nat hasn’t spoken to Chris since Kage threatened him. Nat bakes cookies but burns them. Kage cleans up the burnt cookies and advises Nat to use aluminum foil next time.
Kage hasn’t had sex with anyone since meeting Nat, but he wants Nat to let him know when she’s ready. Nat calls Kage arrogant and wants to kick his shins. Kage agrees but adds that he still wants to spank Nat. Before he departs, he brushes her neck with his lips.`
Chapter 12 Summary: “Nat”
Nat recaps her encounter with Kage for Sloane. After extolling anal sex, Sloane pushes Nat to invite Kage to meet her, Stavros, and Stavros’s friends at La Cantina, a Mexican restaurant.
Nat calls Kage, who announces that he has an erection. Nat asks Kage to be less blunt, so Kage apologizes. After Kage expresses sympathy about David’s disappearance, Nat feels like she could either kiss Kage or push him into traffic. She compares Kage to Christian Grey—the antihero of E. L. James’s dark romance Fifty Shades of Grey (2011)—and admits that Kage arouses her. Kage warns Nat that if he does something she likes or dislikes, Nat must tell him so. Before they hang up, Kage accepts Sloane’s invitation.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Nat”
Kage picks up Nat with flowers. He speaks of his desire for Nat but reminds Nat that he is a bad man. At the same time, he says that he’ll never lie to Nat. This means that, as a criminal, he must withhold a fair amount of information from her. Nat and Kage kiss. Kage suggests skipping dinner to have sex, but Nat wants to go. They kiss again, and Nat calls him an endearing pet name. Kage doesn’t think that David deserves Nat’s devotion. Nat agrees: Her feelings for Kage are proof that she’s ready to move on.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Nat”
At the restaurant, Sloane wears a tight, white dress that accentuates her ample cleavage. She’s with Stavros and two other men, Alexei and Nickolai. The dialogue between Stavros and Kage is tense, with Stavros calling Kage by his full, real name, Kazimir Protnov. As they speak Russian, Nat surmises that Kage is in the Russian mafia, which Kage confirms. Stavros, another member of the Bratva, also owns a software company and has an online gambling operation.
Kage has a signet ring that reads memento mori (Latin for “remember death”) and star tattoos on his shoulders that symbolize his high rank. While Max is in jail, Kage, the second-in-command, is the de facto leader of the organization. Unsettled, Nat retreats to an employee break room. Kage finds her, kisses her, and prevents her from leaving. He locks the door and performs manual sex on her. As she orgasms, she hears gunshots.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Kage”
Members of the Irish mafia are at the restaurant, and Kage blames the gunshots on them. After Kage kisses Nat again, he takes out the gun strapped to his ankle and leaves the break room. The dining room is in chaos, and Alexei and Nickolai are dead. Stavros and Sloane are alive, and Sloane holds up two fingers, so Kage knows there are two armed members of the Irish mafia. Kage shoots them both before fleeing with Nat. He hopes that there are no security cameras and that no one identifies him.
Chapters 9-15 Analysis
Novels in the romance genre differ in how they approach depictions of sexuality; some refrain from any description of sexual encounters, while others offer vivid sexual imagery, using sex between characters to titillate readers and add nuance to characterization. This series falls on the explicit side of this spectrum; Kage and Nat’s first sexual encounter at La Cantina is the first of many sex scenes. Although the portrayal of physical intimacy is graphic, it also explores the potential of desire to aid Women Humanizing Brutal Men. Kage’s lust for Nat doesn’t reduce her to an object; instead, the encounter is one sided, with him bringing her to orgasm without expecting reciprocation. It also occurs within the promise of a caring relationship: Kage focuses on Nat’s pleasure and agency, asking her “to speak [her] mind with [him]. Tell [him] when [he’s] out of line. Kick [his] ass if [he] need[s] it” (176). He wants her to voice her preferences and assert her individuality so that he can’t override her or tell her what to do. To reclaim Kage’s status as a dark-romance antihero after he shows his softer side, the novel sandwiches this sex scene between two reminders of Kage’s capacity for violence: first, a threatening phone call with Max that raises the stakes for Kage and Nat’s survival, and then a shoot-out in which Kage does not hesitate to kill two men. Kage finds it challenging to balance his dedication to organized crime and his burgeoning romance with Nat. While he worries that “[he’s] not a good man,” Nat emphasizes Kage’s positive traits: “A bad man would never warn a woman he wanted that he wasn’t good” (200)—a back and forth that underscores her role in revealing his humanity.
The sex scene, which takes place in a public location where the characters could potentially be found, also highlights The Irrationality of Sexual Desire. The novel posits that lust is so overwhelming that Nat and Kage must give into it wherever they happen to be—a common elevation of desire in romance literature. Nat summarizes this dynamic as a push-pull between rational decision-making and physical need: “Part of me wants to break away […] and tell him to go back to whatever hellhole he came from and leave me alone forever […] The sheer pleasure of tasting him and feeling him against me suddenly takes priority over everything else” (229). For Nat, “pleasure” negates the logic of “breaking away,” and her “priority” becomes the sensation that he gives her. Nat’s sexual growth through Kage’s consensual and deferential approach makes their passion into a source of empowerment and growing agency.
Unlock all 45 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.
- Grasp challenging concepts with clear, comprehensive explanations
- Revisit key plot points and ideas without rereading the book
- Share impressive insights in classes and book clubs