I was a protestant for years. I got a degree from a protestant university. I got another degree from a protestant seminary. I know what they teach. When they say "faith alone", they almost never mean "faith alone", they mean "mental assent alone". Although they never use that term, that is what they mean. Proof? As soon as you mention the necessity of works to go along with that faith, and you say that faith is useless without works (as St. James says multiple times the New Testament Letter of St. James), they resist and say that is not "true" faith. So, for the vast majority of protestants, "faith" is something that can not only be distinguished from works, but it is something the absolutely must be separated from works.
How then does one deal with the places where protestants claim that St. Paul is teaching faith alone? Acknowledging that the only places where the term "faith alone" is used in the Bible are referring to it in the negative (i.e. "you are not saved by faith alone"), we also must acknowledge that the wrong definition of faith will make someone reject the writings of St. James, and also reinterpret the writings of St. Paul. So if the proper definition of "faith" is merely a mental assent to the truthfulness of something, then all the demons are going to Heaven (because they clearly believe the truth of the Catholic faith, but refuse to submit to it).
A true faith is not the same as works, and good works are not the same as faith. Yet, we can distinguish them, but not separate them. A true faith will lead to obedience, and therefore works will be there as well (always). And true good works will only be motivated by a true faith. Thus both are necessary, and if we wish to isolate them from each other so that we can practice only one ("I just do works", or, "I just have faith"), then we do not have either a full good works, or saving faith. This is why St. Paul can say "faith" is necessary, and St. James can say "works" are necessary, and they are not contradicting one another, but rather speaking to two different situations. So let us have faith that is working, and works that are faithful.