Not sure if intentional, but seems like the wolf spawned for the quest, might end up dying anyways... when it spawns on river, during Swidden's thinning ice.
Character got to the area, heard wolf howl NE, while on the wrong side of river. I waited for some days, and the river cleared. Went looking for the wolf for several days, but no tracks, no howls. Lo and behold, it'd gotten (or spawned) on thin ice and drowned.
I do not have a usable save to try and recreate this.
Animals tend to stay away of water, maybe have them stay off thin ice too? Very least don't have them spawn on thin ice.
Edit: Made it back to the village, there's no option to tell the woman that the wolf is dead.