Duskfire Glacier Like you imagined

She could use the distraction, she told him. A frown returned to his face. He wondered if whatever she needed to be distracted from was also to blame for dulling her light. Did she want to talk about it? He knew he wasn't much for talking about things when they were bothering him, but maybe she was different. Maybe he would ask eventually. 

This time she reacted more sternly to his guilt driven words. Really she had sent him to hunt with Moonglow; he had just been stubborn and stuck in his ways, preferring to be on his own rather than with a bunch of strangers. But he refrained from pointing that out to her, even when her tone became softer. He raised an eyebrow. Yes ma'am, was all he offered.

It turned out he wouldn't need to ask her why she needed a distraction because she told him once they had settled in the medicine den. The former Alpha and father of her children had passed away. It seemed like he had been sick for sometime before his passing. His heart was heavy for her. Losing someone close was one of the worst pains to endure.

Lane turned away and quickly busied herself with her medicine plants. Likely trying to keep him from seeing whatever emotion held her expression then. 

He waited until she returned to apply whatever she made to his wound before speaking. I'm sorry, Lane, he offered gently—well as gently as his gruff voice could sound. That's a heavy thing to carry when you have so much to carry already. His dark gaze studied her face whether she looked up at him or not.