I think my hints are bring people too far off. The character was Akela, from The Jungle Book. He first appeared in the chapter "Mowgli's Brothers," where he helped save Mowgli's life from Shere Khan. At the end of the chapter, Shere Khan led most of the pack against Akela when he got old, and Mowgli saved his life. But in the last chapter of the book, Akela died while saving Mowgli from a stampede, and that's when Mowgli decided to return to civilization.