Foxfire

the long version

Long ago, Tavian Kimura watched his mother--a kitsune, or Japanese fox-spirit--leave him in the snow for the dogs. He has lived most of his life in America with his adoptive family and his girlfriend, Gwen. Now he's back in Tokyo with Gwen by his side. It should be a time of celebration, but it becomes a time of nightmares. A faceless ghost haunts Tavian, warning him that "she" is coming. A gang of inugami--fiercely loyal dog-spirits--wants him dead. Why? The inugami believe he strongly resembles one of their most hated enemies, a kitsune named Yukimi. Is Yukimi the mother who abandoned him? Tavian never knew her true name. He doesn't even know his own true name, the key to a kitsune's magic. And soon his untrained magic threatens to kill him, straining his half-human body. Tavian realizes that finding his mother might be the only way to find answers, before it's too late.--